Making a Splash- Kennedy's book about his dog: "My Senator and Me"

Follow the senior senator from Massachusetts, known for beating up tobacco lobbyists and conservative Supreme Court nominees, into his Capitol Hill office - the inner office, the one decorated with a framed, handwritten note from John F. Kennedy as a child, with pictures of Edward M. Kennedy standing alongside Martin Luther King and past presidents - and he quickly morphs into 8-year-old Teddy Kennedy. "Do you know how much I missed you? Do you KNOW how much I missed you?" Kennedy coos at Splash, his Portuguese water dog who has been awaiting his owner's return from a Senate committee hearing. Kennedy bounces a tennis ball, sending the large, curly-haired canine running around the bustling office before settling comfortably next to the senator. Kennedy (and Splash) sit down to discuss not the Iraq war, election politics, or health care initiatives, but rather his new 56-page children's book, My Senator and Me: A Dog's-Eye View Of Washington, D.C., due out this month from Scholastic.

I hope you weren't thinking this was going to be an easy interview because it's about your dog. So let's start with the tough question: Isn't it true you stole Splash from your wife?
That's unfair. But probably true.
...
What made you decide to write a children's book?
Do you want to see a trick?

Sure.
Splash, Susan would like to see the ball, if you would show it to her. Can you show me the ball? Will you show me the ball? Splash. Please. SPLASH. Will you show me the ball? Come on, come on, show me the ball. Thank you. You know I want that ball, and you know I want that ball now. SPLASH. Please. Now you know I want that ball, and you're not going to give the ball to me? Come on, come on. Look. Show it to ME. Where are you going with that ball? Why are you teasing me? You know I want that ball more than anything in the world. Well, I guess you won't let me see it.

Is there anywhere Splash can't go?
The Senate floor. He is a little upset about it. (He opens a copy of the book.) "I know the rules, no dogs allowed on the Senate floor. But I don't like it. I see plenty of senators, and they don't behave any better than I do."

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2006/05/07/making_a_splash/?page=2

Too. Too. Cute.