WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Animal Politicians 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:06.600 Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff. I'm Josh, and 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:11.479 there's Chuck, and this is short stuff. Dave's here, he says, hi, Um, 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:13.520 he's not really Harry. Jerry's here, she says, hi to 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.240 at any rate this short stuff. And I've just wasted 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:19.599 a terrible amount of time, that's right. And this, uh 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:23.599 episode makes me think of the great song pet Politics 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:29.320 by Silver Jews R I P. Dave Burman full stop. Okay. 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:33.120 Uh so it makes me think, Chuck, of animals that 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:36.880 have been elected to office, because that's what we're talking about. Yeah, 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:39.199 we are. It's there's apparently a long tradition, not just 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:43.000 in the United States, where it's surprisingly prevalent, but around 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:47.000 the world. People have elected animals to office, sometimes to 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:51.520 make a point, sometimes to raise money for the local whatever, um, 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:55.680 sometimes to insult people, usually other politicians. But there's like 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:59.000 a pretty lengthy history of it, there is. And it's 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:02.520 funny when you sent me the sources for this, uh photoors, 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:05.679 how do you pronounce that? I think you just said it. 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:07.840 Photors was one of them, and then I was like, 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:09.560 Reader's Digests has got to be one of these, and 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:14.680 sure enough, Reader's Digests was one of those sources. Yeah, totally. 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:18.560 Um so one of the one of the first UM 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:22.840 examples that came across as UM of a guy who 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:24.520 was a mayor. He was a human. His name was 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:27.640 Kenneth Simmons and he was the mayor of Milton Washington 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:32.199 back in night and he put up a donkey. Uh 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:36.680 he nominated a donkey as a committee committeeman, a precinct committeeman. 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:39.160 Uh too, I guess work with the donkey. And the 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:43.319 donkey's name was Boston Curtis. But the thing was, Milton 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:47.160 Washington didn't tell anybody that Boston Curtis was a donkey. 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:49.840 He just nominated him and added him to the ballot. 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:52.480 That's right. And this was clearly one of those cases 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:56.400 where someone was like, our constituents don't even do their 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:59.640 due diligence, they don't do their homework, they don't even care. 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.680 They would just assume vote for a donkey. Is how 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:05.880 the movie scene would go. And even though this mule 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:08.959 ran unopposed, I think it was a mule. Is that 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:12.440 there's a difference, right, Oh yeah, there is. Please God 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:15.080 tell me it wasn't a mule, because I've been saying donkey. 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:20.480 This whole time. Well, the photors says it was a mule. Okay, 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.480 I'll take it, I'll take the hit. Uh So the 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:27.440 mule did run unopposed. But still I think the point 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:29.920 was made that these the constituents still did not do 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:33.520 their due diligence, because it's not that they didn't think 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:36.080 he was gonna win because it was uncontested, but the 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:38.760 fact that it got so many votes clearly indicated that 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:41.720 no one was doing their homework, right. Yeah, I mean, 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:44.320 even if it is uncontested, if you know it's a donkey, 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:47.440 you don't just vote for the donkey, exactly, unless it's 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:50.040 possible that all those voters were like, yeah, I'm I'm tired, 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:53.919 I'm ready for a change. Yeah. So that's a pretty 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:57.400 good example. That's an unusual example. More often than not, 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:00.960 if an animal is elected to office, it is out 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:04.320 improud as an animal, you know what I mean, Like, um, 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:07.880 there's there's a there, like everybody's everyone knows that they're 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:10.960 voting for an animal, like there's And it usually takes 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:13.960 place in a town that's unincorporated, so there's not an 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:18.680 actual official mayoral position. And then usually they're trying to 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:22.160 raise money for that town. Yeah, and it works too. 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:24.960 It's a fun thing, so they will put up. Here's 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:29.240 an example in Michigan. In Omena, Michigan, there'll be seven 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:32.639 grand for their historical society. And this is just a 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:37.040 few years ago in uh when a cat named sweet Tart, 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:40.080 which I love, a great name for a cat, uh, 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:43.560 one as mayor and then they just filled up the 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:47.440 town's government with other pets. I think there was the 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:51.920 vice mayor was a puppy named Punkin Anderson Harder. Uh. 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:56.040 Special assistant for foul affairs was Penning the Chicken, and 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:58.720 then press it secretary was Harvey the Goat. Am sorry, 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:02.200 Harley the Goat. Hardly right, not hard that would not 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.120 have worked out, um so me and Michigan is actually 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:08.600 fairly uh um well known for that. Uh. And there's 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:12.320 another town that's pretty well known for it called rabbit Hash, Kentucky. 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:15.240 Let that one sink in for a second. And in 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:18.160 rabbit Hash they had a long standing mayor dog named 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:21.480 Lucy Lou who was mayored for eight years and then 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:25.800 I think Lucy Lou resigned or retired, I guess, not 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:29.960 resigned in disgrace or anything like Richard Nixon, but instead 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:32.800 said I'm going to go, you know, enjoy my retirement. 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:37.400 And so Lucy Lee was succeeded by a dog named Brenneth. 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:42.880 Paul Trow and Brenneth I found out or in on 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:47.400 a platform, Chuck of restoring the general store. It's a 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:50.560 pretty good platform in a town like rabbit Hash and 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:53.680 then quote to bring the yokels of rabbit Hash and 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:56.800 beyond plenty of peace and love and quote. I thought 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:58.520 the platform you were going to say was that they 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:04.280 ran on? Was usin together? All right? Man? You just 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:09.720 triggered me. Oh, I'm sorry. Thanks. Uh should we take 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:12.240 a break and talk about more of this silliness afterward? 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:42.719 I think so? All right, we'll be right back. So remember, 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:46.400 way back, probably a week or so ago, in the 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:50.080 a choir that escaped that explosion episode like five minutes 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:52.880 for us, and you said that you were glad there 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:55.760 wasn't some like dark part to the whole thing. Well, 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:57.360 this one does kind of have a dark part. And 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:00.880 we're about to enter. Yeah, this was believe you're probably 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:05.480 talking about Lahitas, Texas, uh and on a unincorporated town 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:09.640 and they have another symbolic cameral seat that they do 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:13.760 for animals, and this one involved, uh, I guess what 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:17.320 you would call it a dynasty, a family of goats. 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:22.360 The first one was Clay Henry, not Henry Clay elected 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:27.599 in nineteen six, and then Henry was and this is 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:32.160 all just like shameful. They fed Henry beer and I 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:35.360 was like, look, let's go drink beer and get like 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.760 wasted drunk. From accounts that I read, yeah, it said 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:40.680 like up to thirty five beers in a single day, 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:42.720 which you should not give an animal alcohol. This is 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:47.880 all very shameful. And uh, this animal, Clay Henry, lived 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:50.000 at the general store there where it would lap up 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:55.039 this beer, and was succeeded by Clay Henry Jr. Who 0:06:55.160 --> 0:07:00.440 it looks like killed Clay Henry Sr. Yes, allege they 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.520 were both drunk, and Clay Henry Jr. Head budded Clay 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:06.560 Henry sor and killed him, oh my lord, and then 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:09.960 took over his mayor or was appointed mayor I guess 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:14.280 by the human who runs the general store by divine right, right. 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:17.960 And then there was a third two right, yeah, you 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:22.640 talk about the third alright, Clay. The third was also 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:26.000 a beer drinker, because these people in Texas just kept 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:29.040 giving these goats beer, not just any beer to lone 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:32.920 star beer, of course, it was uh. And this goat 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:39.240 was castrated by a local man who was upset that 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:43.080 the goat mayor was drinking on Sunday. And as I 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:45.600 was about to crawl out of my skin with anger, 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:48.280 I read the next line that this person did face 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:52.320 animal cruelty charges. Yes, so that's according to Roadside America. 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:55.800 I couldn't couldn't find it anywhere else, but it's a 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:57.800 heck of a story either way, it is. And thank 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:01.480 you for putting that last part on me. Welcome. And 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:05.360 and then also another long tradition of animals becoming elected 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:09.440 to office, Chuck is uh to basically shame politicians, to 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:14.080 basically say, you stink, we think you're terrible. In animals 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:16.280 better than you and as a matter of fact, you know, 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:18.600 we think you're rats, so we're gonna elect a cat. 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:23.680 Or we think you're um uh lazy, so we're going 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:26.720 to elect a cat or you know, so on and 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:29.600 so forth. I'd say a sloth. But sure, yeah, so 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:32.080 that's kind of a tradition as well. Right, Yeah, there 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:35.079 was one actually happened in Mexico not too long ago 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:38.680 in uh, and they were upset about the rats in 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:41.559 the town. Are you know, rats in the political sense 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:45.600 and maybe rats period, who knows. And they elected a 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:49.079 cat named Morris, who was not orange tabby, but a 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:51.920 black and white cat named Morris a tuxedo, I guess. 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:59.559 And Morris was nominated for mayor of uh Lahappa Wapa 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:06.360 what Hallapa? I think it's Wahapa, probably Wallapa Hualapa. I 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:09.439 nailed it that last time. Uh. And then there was 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:11.040 a couple of students, and as you'll see with a 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:13.760 lot of these, sometimes it's the younger generation who would 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:16.120 do it as a joke, but then it caught on 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:18.760 on social media. This cat gets about a hundred and 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:22.240 fifty thousand likes on Facebook and then got seven thousand, 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.320 five d actual votes on election day, which in the 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.280 twenty one century, if you get the most votes on Facebook, 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:33.360 you automatically are elected to political office. Um. There's another cat, 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:36.680 this this one in Alaska was elected because he was 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:39.400 a write in. I believe the town's nine hundred residents 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:42.160 wrote him in even though there are humans on the ballot, 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:44.800 to basically just show their disgust that how bad the 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:49.319 human candidates were. And a similar thing also happened way 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:52.840 back in nineteen fifty nine and Sal Paulo, Brazil, where 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:59.360 there was a rhinoceros called Cacareco which means garbage. Um, 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:03.800 and he beat five hundred other city city council candidates, 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:08.120 garnering a hundred thousand votes, which is pretty pretty great 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:11.360 for a rhino, that's right. And then about ten years 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:17.280 later in Canada there was an actual rhinoceros party, um 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:19.080 and I don't know what's it literally inspired by the 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:23.160 Brazilian rhino. I couldn't tell. Okay, I could not tell, 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:28.040 but it's obviously a satirical political party. And the argument 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:31.920 that was being made was, uh, these they're perfect politicians 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:35.040 because their quote thick skin, slow moving, not too bright, 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:39.160 but can still move fast when in danger. Uh and 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:42.760 not not the rhino that you hear these days bandied 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:46.280 about an American politics, different kind of thing. What's the 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:50.559 rhino these days? Are a Republican in name only? Yeah? 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:53.800 Man I, As I was asking, I was like, shut up, Josh, 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:59.480 if you know this, that's dumb. There's another legendary one 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:02.160 too that I had not heard about. But when I 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:04.280 started researching, I was like, oh, this is a thing. 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:08.200 There was a pig called Pegasus the Immortal, that was 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:11.880 nominated as president for president by the Yippies back in 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:15.880 the nineteen sixty eight Democratic Convention, and that was an 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:19.440 enormously turbulent, brutal convention. It took place in Chicago. The 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:22.880 CPD showed up and beat everybody up every night, arrested 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:26.199 everybody for protesting the Vietnam War and all sorts of stuff. 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:30.559 Um and the Yippies where the Youth International Party UH 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:34.080 co founded by Abby Hoffman and eventually became the Chicago 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:36.520 Eight and then the Chicago Seven. So that whole jam, 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:42.320 and that's right, and then and then just Peter Satera 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:46.760 and then so in the midst of this crazy chaotic event, 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:51.120 this the Democratic Convention in Chicago in night, the Yippies 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:54.280 nominated Pigasus, and they brought this hundred forty five pound 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:58.240 pig to a press conference to dominate him, basically saying like, 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:00.920 we're just going with a will pick because all the 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:04.360 other politicians are pretend pigs were why why not just 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:07.360 elect a real pig this time? And they got about 0:12:07.360 --> 0:12:09.640 half of that out into the microphone before the Chicago 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:14.160 police arrested him. For breathing in public and confiscated poor Pegasus. 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:18.400 They arrested a pig. Yeah, technically they confiscated it, but 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:21.080 we like to say it arrested the pig along with 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:24.920 the seven yippies that we're you know, protesting, and I 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:28.760 guess caring for this pig. And I believe that Pegasus 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:33.360 was handed over eventually to the Anti Cruelty Society and 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:35.920 the Yippies would go and visit and then was like, 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:39.400 you got a free Pegasus. I'm sorry Pegasus, and let 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:43.640 Pegasus fly, and they did so eventually in Pegasus if 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:46.160 you if you believe the story that you tell every 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:48.839 kid when you actually put an animal down, they went 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:51.880 to live on a farm outside the city for the 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:54.800 rest of its life. I saw in the Chicago Tribune, 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:59.320 so hopefully it was. Yeah, and then we really can't 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:01.480 talk about and was in politics if we don't talk 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:05.880 about the o g right, Caligula's horse, Yeah, what was 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:10.760 uh Insatatus? That's yeah, that's what I think too, all right, 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:15.080 So this was big Instatus. This is Caligula's favorite horse 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:19.120 and was appointed to serve as uh consul to the 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:23.880 Roman Senate and uh, but aren't people saying that, like, 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:26.920 this isn't true. Actually this didn't happen. Yeah, they think 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:29.080 that it was part of a smear campaign by some 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:33.480 of his contemporary or shortly after him, like political enemies, 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:36.959 who were smearing him, and they're saying that it's probably 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:41.360 like not true. But they also caveat that, which is 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:46.880 another kind of Roman thing um with the idea that 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:49.760 if Caligula did do that, he didn't do it because 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:52.960 he was mad or insane. He would have done it 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:57.280 as an act of humiliating the senators, saying like, my 0:13:57.360 --> 0:14:00.200 horse is a better senator than you guys are, which 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:02.840 is sort of in the tradition we see today. Yeah, exactly, 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:04.800 it's a long standing tradition. I love it all the 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:07.480 way back to Roman times. Yeah, So get out there 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:11.280 and vote, everybody. Rock the vote by rocking your favorite 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:15.000 animal candidate next time you go to the polls. The 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:20.760 short Stuff is out. Stuff You Should Know is a 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:24.160 production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my Heart Radio, 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:27.480 visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:28.840 listen to your favorite shows.