At least, on our side. We talk about you like you are a schmuck – which, while rude, also has no relationship to ‘dog’ whatsoever*.
“Some powerful interests that have been setting the agenda in Washington for a long time, and they’re not always happy with me. They talk about me like a dog.”
However, I would find it very believable that Democratic powerful interests may in point of fact speak of you in such a fashion. Long tradition in your party leadership, and all that.
Moe Lane
*Not to plumb the depths of Yiddish – a language which has almost as checkered and crooked a past as English does – but ‘schmuck’ usually carries the connotation of ‘penis’ (or, more vulgarly, ‘dick’). Of course, several Yiddish words of roughly equivalent meaning have been known to creep into the language – thus making it tricky to determine which one is best for the job – but that’s part of Yiddish’s charm: it taps into all the languages that Yiddish speakers picked up while they were being kicked around Europe and being put on various enemies’ lists by clinical paranoids.
You simply have to be resigned to that.
I like “Schmendrick” better.