Dog lovers and normal folks are steaming about about Mitt Romney's treatment of his dog. This story has been around for two weeks. Where have I been?
From the Boston Globe:
The Globe's disclosure this week that Mitt Romney put his Irish setter into a dog carrier on the roof of his station wagon for a 12-hour trip to Ontario in 1983 has become a surprising flashpoint in the presidential campaign.
OK, this is from back in 1983, but what was he thinking? What does it tell you about what kind of man he is?
For some, the story has become an occasion to consider larger issues of ethics and animal abuse. Romney, who has built an image as a strong manager, is now facing concerns about his ability to empathize with the less powerful, in this case, his dog, Seamus, riding atop his station wagon.
....
Family members told the Globe that Romney attached a special windshield onto Seamus' carrier to protect him from the wind. Romney was traveling that summer with his wife, five sons, and Seamus to his parent's cottage on Lake Huron. But hours into the ride, Seamus apparently suffered diarrhea, which ran down the back window of the car. Romney's sons, all under 14, howled in disgust. Romney pulled off the road into a service station. There, he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car, and they drove on to Ontario.
Apparently, with the dog back in his place on the roof, but cleaned up and out.
....
TIME's Ana Marie Cox was among the first to weigh in. Under the headline, "Romney's Cruel Canine Vacation," she quoted Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, calling Seamus' ride "a lesson in cruelty" for Romney's sons.
"Thinking of the wind, the weather, the speed, the vulnerability, the isolation on the roof, it is commonsense that any dog who's under extreme stress might show that stress by losing control of his bowels," Newkirk told Cox. "That alone should have been sufficient indication that the dog was, basically, being tortured."
....
The issue gained enough momentum that by the time Romney landed in Pittsburgh for a campaign stop Thursday, reporters were ready with questions. Romney told them that Seamus liked his rooftop perch.
"He scrambled up there every time we went on trips," Romney said. "He got [up] all by himself and enjoyed it."
And Romney noted that he has never been one of PETA's favorite politicians.
I don't know how it is in other countries, but this is the kind of story that can dog (pun intended) a candidate throughout a campaign. Frankly, I wish the dog had crapped on Romney's well-coiffed head.
Here, here.
ReplyDeleteWhat a dolt.
The rogues gallery of white men who represent the best of the Republican Party are a sight to behold, a far, far cry from any resemblance to the diversity of the people who actually make up the population of the country.
ReplyDeleteGrandmere Mimi, thank you for telling me about this poor dog--I haven't heard of it. Maybe I don't watch enough tv news or read enough news.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of Brian Swimme saying at that conference I went to a few weeks ago that Descartes started the western mind into the separation of humans and everything else by saying that nature (esp. animals) equal(s) machinery. No wonder we think of the earth as our "hardware store."
But back to candidates--too much time, too much money, too much media--and no sense. As my mother used to say, "educated fools."
And thank you for putting me down as a friend. I so appreciate that.
Jan, welcome to the friends. It should get you thousands of new visitors.
ReplyDelete{Eyes narrowed and growling}
ReplyDeleteI'm a cat person, but mistreating, disregarding any animal speaks of an immature, callous personality.
As for the Mormon thing, I've never forgiven them for the Osmonds.
Mark, yes. We can't forget the Osmonds.
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to be a dog-lover or a cat-lover or a goldfish-lover to know that this poor dog was being tortured.
ReplyDeleteAnd those who torture animals will eventually move on to humans. Wasn't it Romney who said we should "double Guantanamo?"
PJ, I hope the story follows him everywhere in the campaign.
ReplyDeleteTake Romney out of the equation, and just so that the front of the cage was sheltered from the wind, flying objects, bees, etc., I can't get that upset about this one. Travelling dogs can be happy in the oddest circumstances, and Irish setters, if you cast your mind back to the seventies, when Nixon made them fashionable, were pretty ditzy dogs. Serious inbreeding problems in those days.
ReplyDeleteI've driven from Cleveland to South Carolina with a chow that insisted on sitting on top of a harpsichord. Worse, years back, I drove from Hilton Head to Columbia, SC, with three dogs in my car trunk, after the second of the three cars in which a large group of us was traveling broke down - the trunk door was propped open but tied down, and, for space reasons, it was either dogs or folks in the trunk. The guy who drove behind us to check that nothing went wrong, said that the sight of three pairs of highly-reflective eyes (it was after nightfall) peering out of that trunk all the way home was "pretty spooky".
And where in a car would one put a red setter with a bad case of what my mother used to call "the squitters"?
Lapin, the ride in the trunk with the top propped open seems better than a carrier on the roof. We've had pets vomiting in the car, but it would not have occurred to us to put them on the roof.
ReplyDeleteWere "the squitters" the result of the ride on the roof?
Romney could have boarded him with a vet, or hired someone to care for him at home while they were gone, if he didn't want the dog in the car.
You're completely right Mimi - truth be known I was just using your blog as an excuse for trawling through Stupid Pet Tricks of times past. Roger
ReplyDeleteNaughty, naughty, Lapin.
ReplyDeleteI would crap on Romney's head myself without too much provocation after reading about the poor dog!
ReplyDeleteJudith, me, you, or the dog. Whatever. Anyone will do.
ReplyDeleteYUK! What a jerk!
ReplyDelete"The rogues gallery of white men who represent the best of the Republican Party are a sight to behold, a far, far cry from any resemblance to the diversity of the people who actually make up the population of the country."
AMEN
Serena, I cannot watch them on TV. I just cannot. I want to laugh at them, but it's no laughing matter.
ReplyDeleteIt's not like I would have voted for him anyway. But, maybe there should be an additional requirement for running. In addition to being 35 years old, a natural born citizen, and whatever else, you also have to not be a freaking moron. Besides eliminating Mitt, we would surly have had someone (anyone) else for the last six years. Yes. There should be a "not moron" requirement.
ReplyDeleteCool blog Grandmere.
Lindy
The rogues gallery of white men who represent the best of the Republican Party are a sight to behold . . .
ReplyDeleteMade me think of the movie, Dick, when Woodward and Bernstein are trying to find out who was behind Watergate from two teenaged girls. Asked what "he" looked like, the girls said he was "Kinda doughy, wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a dark suit." "Can you pick him out of a picture of the cabinet?" asks Woodward. "Sure." She is give a b/w photo of a group of doughy men, most wearing horn-rimmed glasses, and all in dark suits.
Lindy, welcome. Thanks for the good words.
ReplyDeleteShould we write into the Constitution that the candidate must be capable of speaking and writing a complete sentence? I guess that would be going too far.
I love your blog name.
Mark, they are quite a line-up.