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Slate torched over article about George HW Bush’s service dog Sully: ‘Clearly written by a cat’

by Emily Birnbaum - 12/04/18 9:30 AM ET

Slate is being torched online for an article telling readers to tone down their excitement about the late George H.W. Bush’s service dog, Sully.

An image of Sully, a yellow Labrador, lying in front of the former president’s casket has been circulating online for several days, with people on social media fawning over the dog’s apparent loyalty to his former owner.

{mosads}Slate on Sunday published an article titled “Don’t Spend Your Emotional Energy on Sully H.W. Bush,” which argues that Sully was only Bush’s service dog for six months and was “not his lifelong companion,” as some have assumed.

“Sully is not a longtime Bush family pet, letting go of the only master he has known,” the article reads. “He is an employee who served for less than six months.”

“This was clearly written by a cat,” BuzzFeed News’s Los Angeles bureau chief, Jon Passantino, tweeted in response.

This was clearly written by a cat https://t.co/SWfCNY30Bt

— Jon Passantino (@passantino) December 4, 2018

Slate’s original tweet promoting the article had received 395 retweets and more than 7,300 replies as of Tuesday morning. This is known as a Twitter “ratio,” a phenomenon reserved for tweets that are received poorly.

“Is this the most pointlessly dickish piece yet published about GHWB’s passing in the mainstream media?” one Twitter user asked. “Why yes, yes it is.”

Is this the most pointlessly dickish piece yet published about GHWB’s passing in the mainstream media? Why yes, yes it is. At least Franklin Foer was making a political argument. This is just the author being a shithead for cash. https://t.co/c7eRfnLEuz

— Jeff B. (@EsotericCD) December 4, 2018

“Breaking: Sully the dog isn’t 90 years old,” wrote another.

Breaking: Sully the dog isn’t 90 years old

— Bopper (@bopper33) December 4, 2018

Am furious to learn from this that not only was George H.W. Bush’s service dog not 94 years old, but that he also will NOT be buried alive in Bush’s tomb like an ancient Egyptian pharaoh dog https://t.co/wy572Jup1O

— Tom Gara (@tomgara) December 4, 2018

That Sully was only with George H.W. Bush for six months makes him sleeping next to his casket all the more amazing, you soulless monster. https://t.co/hWzR0eUwGc

— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) December 4, 2018

Sully is a service dog that began working with Bush starting in the summer of this year. He began serving Bush shortly after former first lady Barbara Bush died in April.

The dog accompanied Bush’s casket when it was flown to Washington, D.C., on Monday.