Huckleberries Online

Call Doc Otter, Old California Mare Ill

Posted by DFO

Feb. 16, 2012 8:54 a.m. • 5 comments

California Gov. Jerry Brown has a lot on his plate. His budget is in crisis.The housing crunch hit California hard. Unemployment is in the double-digits. Call in Doc Otter. Speaking to the Idaho Credit Union League Government Affairs Conference at Boise earlier this month, Idaho Gov. C.L. (Butch) Otter volunteered that a California lawmaker marveled at Idaho's balanced budget. What advice would Otter offer, this lawmaker asked. “And I said, 'Listen, I was born in a family of nine kids in Caldwell, Idaho, and I have lived on farms and ranches and raised horses all my life,' ” Otter said. “And I would tell you without any equivocation whatsoever, that if California were my horse, I would shoot it. … I would put it down. Obviously easier said than done' “/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here. (AP file photo)

Question: If Idaho was a horse, what would you do with it?

Five comments on this post so far. Add yours!

stebbijo on February 16 at 9:06 a.m.
I don’t know about Idaho being a horse but that is one of the best lines I have ever read that has come out of Governor Otter’s lips. Talk about calling the kettle black.
duroc on February 16 at 9:09 a.m.
If Idaho was a horse, I would spook it in order to buck Otter off onto his face in the dirt.

Guess what, Otter. I was born on a farm and ranch, too. And my hard-working farmer/rancher of a father taught me to be kind and humane to our animals with no exceptions. I once got so frustrated with a sick calf that wouldn’t go into the squeeze chute (so we could give it an injection) that I punched its hindquarters. My dad grabbed me by the ear, hauled me behind the barn, and gave me a very strongly-worded lecture about proper animal husbandry.

Of course, Otter was just engaging in hyperbole. It seems to be his primary function as governor of late. I find it embarrassing as an Idahoan. A governor should be a leader and a diplomat, not a half-drunk good ol’ boy talking a tough game to impress his buddies.
HonestGeorge on February 16 at 9:21 a.m.
My first reaction in a smart arse way was to think that “Butch got it right”. But then I read Duroc’s comment and was a bit ashamed because Duroc got it right on every count.Way to go Duroc!
stebbijo on February 16 at 11:54 a.m.
That is the kind of stuff I loved to read about Idaho when I was out of state, it’s what puts Idaho on a national platform of entertainment. Duroc is correct, but, this is Idaho and these kind of lines are pertinant to the old west cowboy logger image that we are so famous for besides spuds that is. This should make major media news - somehow.
Stickman on February 16 at 5:42 p.m.
Duroc is definitely correct. I’m not sure though about proper animal husbandry. Sounds like a sick sport.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.