Bette Midler hits back at West Virginia governor’s request she kiss his dog’s derrière

By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN

Actress Bette Midler on Friday hit back at West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice, who earlier this week told her and critics of his state to kiss his dog’s “hiney.”

“BTW, here are the state rankings of all the areas and agencies for which the so-called “Governor” of WVA, #JimJustice, is responsible,” Midler responded in tweet Friday, including a photo of West Virginia’s rankings from the US News & World Report’s “best state” list — where it finishes 47th in the country.

“Judging from these rankings, I’d say his dog’s ass would make a better Governor than him!” she added.

At the end of his State of the State address on Thursday, Justice name-checked Midler, seemingly because she had tweeted last month that West Virginians were “poor, illiterate and strung out” in response to West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s opposition to President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan. Midler later apologized for the tweet.

The Republican governor said in his speech that people “never believed in West Virginia” and “told every bad joke in the world about us,” before lifting up his family’s bulldog, Babydog, and showing off her behind.

“And so, from that standpoint, Babydog tells Bette Midler and all of those out there, ‘kiss her hiney,'” he said.

While the moment from Justice got much laughter and cheers, West Virginia House Minority Whip Shawn Fluharty, a Democrat, on Twitter called it a “stunt” that was “nothing short of embarrassing and beneath the office.”

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