BUSHY BARNEY

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In The News
(March-December 2004)

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Cabinet Hound: Just in time for the holiday season, the new Barneycam featuring the First Dog makes its Internet debut. In the latest video (the fourth in the series), dubbed Where in the White House is Miss Beazley?, Barney is spurned for a Cabinet post in the second Bush administration. Instead, the great Scot is charged with finding his new baby sister, Miss Beazley. Barney asks various White House officials and staff members where the puppy is. Crestfallen when he fails to locate her, Barney finds a substitute.--BB, 12/15/04

Cozy Companion: "A new presidential pooch will soon be roaming the halls of the White House. President Bush marked first lady Laura's 58th birthday today by announcing he would give her a Scottish terrier puppy that is a relative of the current first dog, Barney.

"Miss Beazley, as the first lady and twins Barbara and Jenna have already named the pup, was born on Oct. 28. She is due to arrive just before Christmas. The dog was named for the character Uncle Beazley, a dinosaur in Oliver Butterworth’s children’s book, The Enormous Egg.

Barney’s half brother is Miss Beazley’s father, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. The Bushes lost a long-time pet earlier this year. Spot, an English springer spaniel who regularly ambled around the West Wing with Barney, died in February."--The Scotsman, 11/04/04

In the Middle of It All: "As aides juggled nerve-racking election returns, President Bush invited reporters into his residence last night to record the tableau of the president, his family and his dog serenely watching the numbers that would determine whether he achieved the reelection that had eluded his father....

"With cameras crowded into his West Sitting Hall on the White House's rarely visited second floor, Bush broke the ice by asking Barney, the family's Scottish terrier, if he had anything to say."--Washington Post, 11/03/04

If You Can't Say Anything Nice: Former Daily Show correspondent Mo Rocca has some mean-spirited things to say about Scotties. Rocca, author of All the President's Pets, tells the Washington Post that a Scottie is "a feisty, likable but sometimes rash, impulsive -- one might say preemptive -- dog. It was bred for ratting, for killing vermin in houses and bars... It urinates on itself uncontrollably at times, but it's forgiven over and over again." We can only surmise that Rocca has never met one.

If they're so bad why does President Bush have Barney as a companion? "The Scottie is a ploy by Bush to make himself look more like FDR, the war president he keeps invoking!" Rocca says.--BB, 10/12/04

Doing His Bidness: "Why we love Dubya's dog, Barney: He's a real party pooper. The lovable little Scottie left his own mark on President Bush's news conference yesterday in Crawford, Tex., when he appeared about 15 feet behind his master, squatted on the lawn and did his business. 'This is perhaps why the president does not let him in the Oval Office,' a witness in the press corps quipped. --Washington Post, 8/24/04

G9: Barney joined the Group of Eight world leaders in Sea Island, Ga. Despite a rrrrruff beginning, when the First Scot insisted on being heard, the meeting went well. The official picture of a meeting between President Bush and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder showed the two smiling, with Barney "trotting alongside. According to Schroeder, Barney made them laugh," Reuters reported.

The German publication Deutsche Welle said Barney played a key role in helping restore U.S.-German relations: "Barney the Terrier's ice breaking skills on the fringes of the G-8 summit on Sea Island off the coast of Georgia came better late than never.

"Meeting for their third bilateral talks since the end of the Iraq war, Bush and Schröder seemed at ease in front of the camera as the First Dog of the United States bridged the gap between the two leaders and offered light relief from the tensions of the past..."--BB, 6/8/04

Barney's New Look: Barney's got a new look, at least his official White House home page does. It now highlights a Photo of the Day, featuring Barney playing soccer and other images of the First Scot from the White House photo archives. Check it out.--BB, 5/19/04

Hole in One: Scottish Terriers are good at chasing things into holes in the ground, so it's no surprise Barney's great at golf, which is quite similar.--BB, 5/4/04

Garden Tourist: Barney accompanied First Lady Laura Bush as she gave a preview of the White House spring garden tour. But the First Scot won't be on hand for the real thing. "So Barney won't be here tomorrow," she said. "He won't be here guiding the tours."

Why not? Isn't he a perfect gentleman?--BB, 4/16/04

At Least it Wasn't Catfish: President Bush on Wednesday walked to the pond at his Crawford, Texas, ranch, "dropped a line and caught a nice crappie, about a pound and a half, and let (Bush's Scottish terrier) Barney sniff at it a little bit," Roland Martin, host of the Outdoor Life Network program, "Fishing with Roland Martin," told the The Associated Press.--BB, 4/11/04

He's Toony: Barney was gets a key role in the 9/11 Commission hearings in a recent Dayton Daily News editorial cartoon. by Mike Peters.--BB, 3/26/04