West Virginia governor Jim Justice gave his State of the State address Thursday, and it featured what will surely be one of the most memorable political stunts of 2022, when he held up his dog Babydog rear-end first to the legislature (words alone can’t do justice to the visual):
Justice turned West Virginia’s most famous bulldog around and had her deliver a message to the world on behalf of the Mountain State. “They told every bad joke in the world about us,” the governor said. “So from that standpoint, Babydog tells Bette Midler and all those out there, kiss her hiney.”
(Midler tweeted in December that Joe Manchin “wants us all to be just like his state, West Virginia. Poor, illiterate and strung out.” She later apologized.)