Talk:Socks (cat)/Archive 1

Socks and Barney

I removed the reference to the webcomic Socks and Barney since its only 3 panels old, and not established. Seems to me like advertising more than anything. JoDB 21:53, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

Notability?

I believe Socks may not be notable on its own. Articles about kids of Ronald Reagan and JFK were deleted as the kids died young and more importantly, as they were not notable on their own. Also, as it is a short article with less than 1000 words, I doubt if this can be considered DYK material. --Gurubrahma 05:39, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

Cats always get top billing over kids! --malber 14:26, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

Absolutely right. But apart from that, a glance at the list of presidential pets indicates that US presidents overwhelmingly prefer dogs. Many of the cats on the list apparently belonged to presidents' wives. Which is unsurprising - you'd sort of expect someone who spent their time rising through the ranks of the state to be more into dogs (pack animals) than cats (individualist). That makes Socks fairly unique; plus those pictures are just great :-). --Last Malthusian 12:12, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

First off, what the other's have said. Socks got plenty of media coverage while in the White House, kids who die young and DON'T have media coverage just need a stub on their parents' page(s). Also, plenty of stubs get DYK'ed. Staxringold 12:56, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

Just to add for the rationale for notability: Presidential pets are noteworthy due to the fact that the pet is specifically chosen by the president. A president's choice of pet might reveal something internal about the person, though this is left up to individual interpretation. Children of presidents, on the otherhand, are born not chosen. And they have a voice for themselves. They'd have to do something remarkable, like say underage drinking to be noteworthy. --malber 15:29, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

Polydactyl

Does anyone know if Socks is a polydactyl? Those paws look big! --malber 14:23, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

Video game

I removed this, inserted by an anonymous editor:

"Socks the cat also got his own videogame, Socks the Cat Rocks the Hill. it was unrealeased."

because it was unverified, and I don't understand how he could have been said to have got his own game if it was unreleased. --Last Malthusian 15:58, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

I remember hearing about this in video game mags at the time. I didn't realize that it was ultimately not released, but it happens with videogames (such as Tattoo Assassins and Dino Rex). There is a page on the game at [1].--216.165.33.63 00:13, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Wow, and I thought it was referring to some kind of Flash game. I'm putting that back in. --Malthusian (talk) 00:30, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Done, and much kudos to 216.165 for finding that article. I removed one of the photos to make way for the game's cover art, which I didn't really want to do but the article doesn't seem big enough for three photos on the right. I tried to put the box art on the left but it made the text go behind the picture, and even if it hadn't the article would have been a bit cramped. If anyone can manage to get all three photos on the page without making the pictures dangle past the text, that would be great. (Best case scenario would be if we could expand the article another paragraph, of course.)

I think if worst comes to worst we should have the box art instead of a second photo, because if someone reads that Socks was going to have a computer game, their natural reaction would be "er... what?" Of course we have the external links to prove it, but much better to have a picture right next to the paragraph, in the article. --Malthusian (talk) 00:56, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, article's been expanded, based mainly on the Purr 'n' Fur article, and is now long enough to have the three pictures. Using that website as a source may skirt standards of verifiability, but I'm going by the bold-revert-discuss cycle here. --Malthusian (talk) 01:26, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Category:Living people

I removed Category:living people, I think, its wrong. Do exist a similar category about animals? --Nolanuss 20:55, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Still alive?

The article says Socks WAS the cat of the Clinton family. According to his birth in 1991 he could still be alive, being 15 years old right now. Does anyone have information? --89.54.161.82 23:09, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

• Was refers to him no longer being the Clinton's cat. Staxringold _talk^contribs 16:15, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

Socks is alive ? Gridge 11:59, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

• I don't think we know for certain. If he was alive he'd be about 15, which is getting very old for a domestic cat (though they can live longer). I would have thought that if he had died, it would have been in the news - when Humphrey, the Downing Street cat, died it was reported by the BBC at least, and Socks seems to have had similar fame in America. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 15:24, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. I guess... Gridge 12:43, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

I could well be wrong about the possibility of his death being reported - stereotypically the British care more about cats and dogs than most, so perhaps an American presidential cat wouldn't have the same attention. In which case we might just have to put a '?' after his birth date in maybe one or two years' time, when he'd be pretty ancient if he was alive, and leave it at that. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 16:59, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Sounds like a good idea. Gridge 19:28, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

There are photos of Socks taken in 2005 at Andrews Air Force Base with his new owner, and I located a website which attests that the animal was still extant as of mid-06. Fishhead64 17:25, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Wow, yeah, a lot of cats live until their late teen's. Gautam ^Discuss 01:24, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

Breed

So what breed is Socks? Doesn't seem to be mentioned in the article. —Lowellian (reply) 09:54, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Democat. --NEMT 13:26, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

Tuxedo cat {black/white} —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.53.145.162 (talk) 03:25, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

"Tuxedo" is not a breed...it's a coat color pattern (more properly called a "black and white bicolor"). Being a rescue cat originally, Socks was most likely a DSH (domestic short hair)....in other words, a mutt. he was a beautiful cat, and I'm sure Ms. Currie misses him terribly (as anyone who'd had a long-live pet knows, when they leave it takes awhile to get used to them being gone) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.112.239.142 (talk) 22:12, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

Cats vs. dogs

I have removed a sentence noting that popular surveys showed more Americans owned cats than dogs; it was unreferenced, and it merely added confusion to the material directly before it - if more Americans have cats, then the joke that Socks was replaced with a dog for political reasons doesn't make sense. And really, there is no reason to elaborate on the tangent of how popular cats are versus dogs, anyways. Brianyoumans 16:45, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Doonesbury got it wrong

http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2013/04/29

Bush's never had a first cat--that was Socks Clinton Cat! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.83.72.154 (talk) 12:53, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:President Veroart.jpg

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BetacommandBot (talk) 15:11, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

This article needs to be expanded!

...as the image of Socks at the lectern surely bespeaks all that is Cat -- this furry friend's indescribably incredible and utterly brilliant --- charisma! As a long time observer of public affairs I assure fellow Wikipedia editors that Socks is the cat of the twentieth century. Just can't wait for an Oscar-winning film treatment of Socks's bio, with some talented performer playing its lead such as Felix the Cat or The Cat and The Hat or a tremendous new talent discovered from YouTube, I'm not sure, but anyway, who cares about that, the persona of this CAT is just SO INCREDIBLE, I think about it and just get dizzy, please, somebody discover and edit in the coordinates for this miraculously gifted companion and personality's final resting place so that faithful fans such as myself can make pilgrimage and leave tokens of appreciation for this supercalfragerlousiexpialadociously whizbangboingingly wonderful feline. Once exposed to the style, grace, and felinity of this cat makes a person rethink their whole approach to life and never be able to look at anything the same way again forevermore. SOCKS THE CAT...AMAZING...TRULY THE CAT OF CATS...FOREVER!...and to sway those inexplicable few who doubt this estimation, I submit the following summation of his personality and being from one who knew Socks themself on a first-person, human-to-cat basis:

"Socks, my cat, is a cat with a great imagination. He likes to watch TV. When there is a show with tweeting birds, his ears perk up. Then he crouches right in front of the TV. He acts like he wants to jump at the images he sees. When he hears cats meowing or fighting on TV, he begins to howl and acts like he wants to join the fight. This Citzen cat named Socks seems to see himself in another place. When he is staring at TV, could he be transporting himself into an imagined adventure? Who knows what is in the mind of a cat!"----FROM THE BACK COVER OF WHEN SOCKS WENT TO THE WHITE HOUSE (1994)

↜Just me, here, now … 02:57, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

I think it would be helpful to expand the investigation section in particular- not a lot of detail considering it has its own heading Kayla.kingston (talk) 18:30, 10 October 2016 (UTC)

Name

"Socks Clinton"

Is there any source that says that the cat's full name was "Socks Clinton"? --Millionsandbillions (talk) 16:50, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

132 for "Socks Clinton" from Google News[2][3]--Caspian blue 16:59, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Discrepancy?

In the intro, the article claims that Socks was a stray cat. But then in the first part of his biography, it's stated that Socks had a sibling named Midnight and that he was apparently living with Chelsea's piano teacher. So which was it? If it was both, this could use some clarification. If it wasn't both, then shouldn't one of these claims about his origin be removed?Adrigon (talk) 22:53, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps the piano teacher rescued both of them as kittens? 75.76.213.106 (talk) 07:13, 5 September 2010 (UTC)

Uncited material in need of citations

I am moving the following uncited material here until it can be properly supported with reliable, secondary citations, per WP:V, WP:CS, WP:IRS, WP:PSTS, WP:BLP, WP:NOR, et al. This diff shows where it was in the article. Nightscream (talk) 21:02, 1 March 2021 (UTC)

He eventually lost the position of principal Clinton pet in 1997 when the Clintons acquired Buddy, a Labrador Retriever. Socks found Buddy's intrusion intolerable: according to Hillary Clinton, Socks "despised Buddy from first sight, instantly and forever."

In December 2002, Socks was part of the Little Rock Christmas parade.

In October 2004, Socks made a then-rare public appearance when Currie was guest speaker at an Officers' Spouses Club luncheon at Andrews Air Force Base. Socks accompanied her and took part in a photo op.

It included more than 50 letters written to the First Pets by children and more than 80 photographs of Socks and Buddy.

Socks Goes to the White House – A Cats-eye view of the President's house, written by Kenneth T. Blackshaw with illustrations by Mary Beth Burns was published in 1993.

Socks was a character in If..., Steve Bell's cartoon strip in The Guardian, where he was described as the "world's most powerful cat," and as "Chief of Staff for Fish".

In 1996, Socks appeared on a series of stamps in the Central African Republic with Bill Clinton.

On the 1994 Oscar Brand album I Love Cats, the song "Socks' Song" is dedicated to Socks.

A cartoon of Socks appeared in 2 Stupid Dogs in the episode "The Rise and Fall of Big Dog".