More Mitt and the Mutt

I understand exactly what Romney is talking about, because I can't even play with my dogs without covering the floor with plastic, because they become so happy they get explosive diarrhea.

ONLY a dog that is desperately distressed would defecate in its own cage.... ANYONE who doesn't know that is an idiot.

One might think that the Edwards haircut would be the lasting mental image left with us from the 2008 campaign season, but that's more than yesterdays news in light of ScaredPoochGate, the Democratic condender's gift that keeps on giving.

The story hits so hard that, fast forward six months from now, and Americans will universally have the unshakable perception that *all* the Republican presidential wannabes have at one time had wide-eyed, bowel-indiscriminate canines caged to their roofs.

"all* the Republican presidential wannabes have at one time had wide-eyed, bowel-indiscriminate canines caged to their roofs."

Just think of it as Guantanamo lite. At least there are no firecrackers involved!

What interests me here is how the traditional media is handling this. Or more specifically, not handling it. If it had been a Democratic candidate for any position from school board to President who was revealed to have done this to his family do we would now be in the 2nd day of round-the-clock coverage on Fox, and Coulter, Malkin, and many others would be releasing columns for the Sunday papers. This hammering would continue until the Democratic candidate issues some sort of humiliating apology and/or just dropped out of the race.

IOKIYAR I guess.

Ana, did you see Michael Berube's account of a Giuliani family road trip? Sounds like super good times there, ferrets and all!

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2007/jun/28/tough_leaders_for_tough_times

I wonder which story will get more press: this one or Romney's call for doubling Guantanamo?

That whole column is hysterical. You should read the whole thing. It's all from Seamus' side, so you don't have to harsh your pique in order to appreciate it. To wit:

~~
And who, really, can blame Seamus, riding up there alone and forgotten, eyeing each approaching overpass and anxiously wondering if Mitt had calculated the clearances correctly, while the rest of the Romneys were safely ensconced in the vehicle below, no doubt whiling away the hours with joyous renditions of "This land is your land, this land is my land"?
~~

IMPEACH ROMNEY NOW!

I can't believe this is news. No offense to PETA or the ASPCA, but wow we need to get our priorities in order. Sure it's good entertainment, but shouldn't it be listed under that heading in magazines and newspapers?

I think most sentient beings register happiness with explosive diarrhea.

Please, ana, keep this story alive. It has the biggest wtf factor of any so far.

What makes it doubly fascinating is that the threads seem to bolster the theory that politics are hard-wired. Go down the posts: there are no liberal defenders of dogs are happy on car roofs on interstate highways; the yes-they-are camp is completely republican. I don't see that this means all republicans are horrid people; just that they've allowed all the horrid people to gather under their big tent. Well, what a swell party that is.

Ana, any thoughts on last night's debate?

It's true what Cranky Observer said, that this story would doubtless get a lot more play if Romney were a Republican. Though my ideal solution would be less play for stories about haircuts and treatment of family pets and so on for Republicans and Democrats alike. And more for issues. It's a travesty, for instance, that Al Gore's sighing in a 2000 debate got far more coverage than what he was sighing about: Bush's mangling of his own policy positions on social security. But that's par for the course in the last 15 years or so.

Oh come on, you guys are too hard on Mitt. Haven't you guys ever heard the saying "I'm so happy I could sh!t myself"? Well, see, the mittster and his dog just proved that saying to be true.

This story is the biggest condenmation of the GOP we could ever hope for. Please keep it alive as I am sure it will swing all decent voters over to the Democratic side.

Hillary's latest bold plans to keep the friggin lights and AC on, in her getting old faster than a NEW YORK minute spastic socialist campaign...

1) Hand out hemp hand fans before all Yankees and Mets day games.

2) Blame it on Bloomie, that latest successful Republican mayor of New York City... Whoops, too late!

3) Demand a federal increase in union longshoreman funding, for expedited handling of imported gellato machines.

4) Set up some solar panels around California's almost always burning suburban homes, parks, and campgrounds. Thank Booboo Boxer for the ready tinder and interstate extension cord.

5) Harness the virtually unlimited air power of Michael Moore's fat yapper. If that doesn't fly, say something droll about the Grassy Knoll, to at least keep the TV cameras running.

6) Demand a regime change, somewhere, somehow, for some reason, just to change the freaking subject for cripes sakes.

7) Call Air Gupta, grab the first private jet to Saratoga, hunker down, wait until Ohio restores New York City subway and day care power.

08) Head to Hollywood for another air conditioned, million dollar, limo liberal fundraiser. Laugh almost all the way to Citibank.

9) Attribute it to Global Power Line Kicking.

10) Ban all motorized butt plugs owned, sanctioned, invented, rented, cleaned, or used with Congressional pages by Barney Frank within 300 miles of Staten Island.

11) Carbon credit swap all of Greater New Jersey to Maine, in exchange for clean, reliable nuclear energy for the more important (if eco-testy) New York.

12) Suspect another Right Wing Conspiracy on CNN, then quietly sell all your blind trust fund shares of GE and Exxon-Mobil.

13) Drill and refine whatever the hell's inside John Edwards's petrol-laden head.

14) Ask the EPA how deep Monica can really suck.

15) Tell the local hospital staffers to just be damn glad they aren't down in Philadelphia or Gaza this weekend.

16) Right turns on red (or less) are now not just legal, but strongly encouraged near all crosswalks and remedial summer schools.

17) Ask Iran and Syria for their cooperation. If no help appears forthcoming, advise the Guard and Reserve units in Brooklyn to think of their summer in the city as some very conveniently located preparation for the upcoming heat of Fallujah, Kosovo, Compton, and New Orleans.

18) Propose that all downtown double-decker tour busses be hybrids no later than the year 2025.

19) New Mega Power Ball Game, winner gets a brand new Citgo station in Queens.

20) Organize another DNC junket to Havana, for Castro's technical input.

21) Replace the Statue of Liberty with one big azz glass of iced tea.

22) Skidoo down to Arkansas, where you won't be recognized.

23) Summer performances of Spamalot and The Lion King will now be nude (audience included) and moved to Central Park, all matinées cancelled, all show times 8 PM, find Will Call next to zoo seal pen (ask for Senior Keeper Dinkens).

24) Think cool thoughts, like Jon Stewart, or the editors of Rolling Stone maybe.

25) Blame Bush (primary fall-back position, that's always seemed to work so far when logic or spine eludes).

2666) Pray to your sweet Allah for global freezing, and fast!

Have a terrific, freon-free 4th in your mud huts, you ingrate, petrol powered PC leftards!

= GOD BLESS AMERICA, AND OUR ARMED FORCES =

This story is the biggest condenmation of the GOP we could ever hope for. Please keep it alive as I am sure it will swing all decent voters over to the Democratic side.

Yes, Ana- please keep this story alive- you've gained alot of traction off of it, helping along the impression that you have something important to talk about. Am I correct in thinking thats what they pay you for?

The guys dog had a diarrhea mishap on a roadtrip 24 years ago- and this is newsworthy how? Is this somehow meant to be a litmus test for a good president? My grandmother once accidentally killed a duck trying to move it somewhere more humane via a car- perhaps if you wander down to the local pet shelter you could find someone to threaten her with legal action?

As disgusted and horrified as I am by this story, I too have to register my displeasure at seeing more coverage of this. Compared to Mitt's "doubling Guantanamo" comment (that got applause from the Redneck section of our populace), this is really a non-story. More of a story than John Edwards' haircuts, but still a non-story.

It was "fun" for a day, Ana, but let this go and move on to more important things about Mitt. Can we instead talk about his pandering, flip-flopping, and general creepiness?

The dog was on the way to the No More Puppies Rosie O'Doggie Memorial K9 Abortions On Demand Clinic & Rifle Meet.

FUHGEDABOUDIT.

"I can't believe this is news. No offense to PETA or the ASPCA, but wow we need to get our priorities in order. Sure it's good entertainment, but shouldn't it be listed under that heading in magazines and newspapers?"

most reasonable people think that knowing a first tier presidential candidate is a sadistic sociopath is a priority.

And its REALLY newsworthy when Ronmey says the dog was enjoying the ride.... DOGS DO NOT DEFECATE IN THEIR OWN CAGES UNLESS THEY ARE DISTRESSED. Period. End of discussion.

"Yes, Ana- please keep this story alive- you've gained alot of traction off of it, helping along the impression that you have something important to talk about. Am I correct in thinking thats what they pay you for?

The guys dog had a diarrhea mishap on a roadtrip 24 years ago- and this is newsworthy how? Is this somehow meant to be a litmus test for a good president? My grandmother once accidentally killed a duck trying to move it somewhere more humane via a car- perhaps if you wander down to the local pet shelter you could find someone to threaten her with legal action?"

...

OH HELL YES.

Iran is exporting EFP's and arming terrorists to kill Americans and our allies.

Time-CNN-Turner?

They are above the e-fold with a story about a crowded station wagon and a family pet with bowel control problems.

Stunning coverage!

I don't care what anybody says that's funny!

Expressing one's love this way is known clinically as coprophilia.

It's a good sign for Romney that you clowns have to dig up some lame "incident" that happened 25 years ago.

(So, Cox - are you playing a fictional role here, too, like you did on Wonkette?)

Jason--part of the point here is ROMNEY told this story. He thought it was cute. Nobody had to dig through Texas Air National Guard records that had been scrubbed. This is Romney's idea of a feel-good family moment.

And, Jason, his idea of damage control is to tell us that the dog loved it. He still thinks this is a cute, feel-good family moment.

I think Romney is a slimeball, but got to say that lots of folks down south (including my family) put their dogs in the back of the truck -- and our springer spaniel and lab LOVE it. If they see the truck they'll jump in the back almost demanding a ride. Of course, we usually take them on slow roads out to the park to run not on the highway. Our smaller dog rides in front with his head out the window.

If Romney actually put on a windguard on the crate, I'm not sure this makes him the devil.
(Wanting to double the size of Gitmo makes him the devil)

But I do have to agree that this kind of outright lying about the most important issue of the day is a much more important story:
--------------------
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/17471.html

Facing eroding support for his Iraq policy, even among Republicans, President Bush on Thursday called al Qaida "the main enemy" in Iraq, an assertion rejected by his administration's senior intelligence analysts.

The reference, in a major speech at the Naval War College that referred to al Qaida at least 27 times, seemed calculated to use lingering outrage over the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to bolster support for the current buildup of U.S. troops in Iraq, despite evidence that sending more troops hasn't reduced the violence or sped Iraqi government action on key issues.
-----------------------

So, can someone ask Joe to reconsider the accuracy of the material he was given. It's clearly a message from the top down, not the from the field up, that the enemy in Iraq is the same enemy who destroyed the world trade center.

As a resident of mass when he was in office he did NOTHING for the state untill his last 30 days in office, if you are thinking of voiting for him please look at his record as gov. It is a shame he has the nerve to even run....

Yes, the story is old and all that...

BUT, it offers a revealing glimpse into the psyche of a potential president.

If more people had paid attention to a telling detail like this, chimpy, exploder of frogs, wouldn't be in the WH.

I dunno Teresa. Seems to me that luggage belongs on a luggage rack.

And, yes, I too open the window when riding with my dog on side roads. But to crate a dog and tie him to the roof of a car? Can't imagine doing that.

While the whole abuse side of the dog story is undoubtedly sickening, there is another side that is just as troubling. This whole anecdote is so that the Boston Globe can fawn over him and praise him for "emotion-free crisis management", but here is what I see:

1.) Romney comes up with a plan. Anyone with half a brain should be able to see that this is a BAD PLAN.
2.) Plan takes a dump, (literally).
3.) Romney cleans up the immediate mess a little and forges on, undeterred, with the same BAD PLAN.

Does this sound familiar? Haven’t we had enough of “stay the course”? Additionally, should we praise him for managing a crisis that was created by his own stupidity? Rather than managing a crisis, wouldn’t it be preferable to engage in a little forethought and prevent the crisis from arising in the first place?

I am one not usually into these kind of stories, but it is a revealing story in that Mitt thought his cool calm in hosing down the car was a good story to pass along.

This actually is a character story that unintentionally reveals actual character. It's not a let's pick a narrative and find anything that will re-inforce the thing.

Mitt Romney treats animals this way, and is quite proud of the fact. He was not in the least bit embarassed about strapping a dog to a roof for twelve hours.

Since he is so glib on the campaign trail, this is about the most honesty we can get from him anyways.

I think Trifecta has a good point here.
In the course of life I think everyone is forced to take the course of the "least worst" option. (I honestly can't make a judgement about Mitt Romney's action since the details are so sketchy)

I just can't for the life of me understand why, when you find yourself having go though such an event, would anyone ever want share such an event with someone (save as a cuationary example)?

"I think Romney is a slimeball, but got to say that lots of folks down south (including my family) put their dogs in the back of the truck -- and our springer spaniel and lab LOVE it. If they see the truck they'll jump in the back almost demanding a ride. Of course, we usually take them on slow roads out to the park to run not on the highway. Our smaller dog rides in front with his head out the window. "

Clue time Theresa.... dogs don't defecate in their crates unless they are in severe distress.

The fact that Seamus not merely crapped himself, but was diarrhetic, means that this is NOT a happy dog riding down a country road in the back of a truck, or a happy dog with its head out the window.

If you can't figure that much out, then you really should be declared too incompetent to vote.

Hey Crusty, we don't have to impeach him, he's already out of office. We just need to warn the rest of America before they make the same mistake Massachusetts did.

The reason he didn't run for a 2nd term as Governor is that he wouldn't have been re-elected, which would have foiled his Presidential bid. Massachusetts figured out he was a fraud and his popularity was in the tank. And after 4 GOP Governors in a row, Romney so alienated Mass. voters that it will be years before another is elected.

Those who know him, feel the same way Seamus does about him. He gives us the runs.

I just hope this story gets as much coverage as the haircut story. Because this says a lot more about the candidate and the campaign who actually thought this was a story they should ever repeat. It's casual, routine, cruelty from the guy who wants to double the gulag at Gitmo.

There's a metaphor here. What sectors of American society would a President Mutt Romney throw on top of the roof of the car and hose down later?

We know from the Cheney Administration that they prefer the treatment for liberals used by the Chevy Chase character in "Vacation."

OT, on the Becker/Gellman series on Cheney, Brad DeLong has an excellent post asking why it took so long. (Link on my handle.) In his view, the press should already have known how Cheney operated by July 2001.

Why didn't they just allow the dog in the car with the kids?

You know I'm spending alot of time reading about the recent Supreme Court decisions. As much as I love the Mitt and Mutt story - why don't you folks out in MSM start pushing on the candidates about the decisions; lets start hearing what changes if any they'd make...especially from the Dems...

I think it is so funny that the liberals in here think that this is so damaging to a potential romney candidacy given that most people on my side of the aisle don't think romney was ever a viable candidate at all to begin with. Given his liberal policies as gov of MA I would think you guys would want us to run him as a liberal trojan horse of sorts...

Go Thompson!

That is who you all need to worry about, and Osama and The Smartest Woman Ever are worried about him and so are the staff at Time. They are terrified of him and they know that their dream of a President Osama or Comrade President The Smartest Woman Ever is fading fast.

Ana, I have to say when I loaded up the page and saw your third post on this topic I was a bit annoyed. But when I got to the end, I nearly spit toothpaste all over my monitor (brushing my teeth).

So if you're going to continue to hammer on already old personal issues please make sure they are at least this funny. And if you have the time take this blog back to some relevant topics. A lot of has been happening recently with no mention here.

I'm sorry. I meant Obama.

"I wonder which story will get more press: this one or Romney's call for doubling Guantanamo?"

They are one and the same story. Each inmate will need their own personal person-sized container. This will double the size required for GB.

I'm sorry. I meant Obama.

thanks for linking that, Crust.

I've come to believe that what is going on here is that these people think they are part of the policy-making apparatus. Joe advises candidates on health care. Broder serves as broker between centrists on each side of aisle. Sally Quinn proposes a compromise to save the Bush presidency.

This has the whipsawing effect of turning them into sycophants, bit by bit.

"Why didn't they just allow the dog in the car with the kids?"

And put luggage in the luggage rack. That is the obvious question, isn't it?

Actually, trifecta and jayackroyd made a good point that now has me flipflopping about whether Ana should continue with this story: Mitt *himself* brought up the story as some sort of attempt to show what kind of "leader" he would be. I forgot about that.

I guess in that sense it's not really the media that's obsessing. It's more like the media is reacting to what Mitt himself has obsessed about.

In that light, then, carry on...

That's actually true cfaller, I just think that time and energy would be better spent talking about actual issues instead of a stupid dog.

Fire away, faith and reason.

Describe the position of your favorite presidential candidate on Iraq or health care or the environment (the top three issues in public polling) and then suggest why they are good policies.

Alternatively, point out how none of the candidates have dealt with these issues with sufficient substance and clarity of commitment on these same issues.

These are open comments. You wanna talk issues, please do. I'd love to hear a cogent defense of any of the republican positions on any of those three issues.

that dog is a special being and deserves to have its story told and retold until romney is brought to justice for his cruelty and driven back to utah where he belongs

Can we get some sort of "report abuse" button on this web site? The recent appearance of the right wing trolls is making it really hard to have a reasonable discussion with people. (Although it ought to prove to Joe Klein just where the "hate" comes from on the net once and for all.)

By the way, P-Lusiak, I graduated Phi Beta Kappa from college and am well qualified to make an informed decision on how to vote. If you read my post carefully, you'll see that I draw a distinction between country roads and the highway. It was a poor decision on Romney's part, but not necessarily one that is beyond the pale of human experience.

Can we get some sort of "report abuse" button on this web site? The recent appearance of the right wing trolls is making it really hard to have a reasonable discussion with people. (Although it ought to prove to Joe Klein just where the "hate" comes from on the net once and for all.)

By the way, P-Lusiak, I graduated Phi Beta Kappa from college and am well qualified to make an informed decision on how to vote. If you read my post carefully, you'll see that I draw a distinction between country roads and the highway. It was a poor decision on Romney's part, but not necessarily one that is beyond the pale of human experience.

So tell me...is it worse to strap your dog on the roof or to have an affair behind your wifes back or to estrange your children from yourself? I don't condone what Romney did but certainly it isn't anywhere in the same league as the other cheating politicans we have out there!

jayackroyd, on that Brad DeLong link, Broder briefly replied in today's on line chat (link at my handle).

New York: Brad DeLong (an economist who was in the Clinton administration) argues that much of what Becker and Gellman report could have been reported as long ago as July 2001. You obviously have a lot of connections in Washington. Was the overall content of this report about Cheney's role really a surprise to you? (Of course some particulars are new, e.g. that Cheney apparently tried to fool Bush by getting Gonzales's name on a memo written by Addington.)

According to DeLong: "For it was back in July of 2001 that Bush subcabinet officials told me that:

"1. Cheney had overruled Treasury Secretary O'Neill and Federal Reserve Chair Greenspan on budget policy

"2. Cheney had overruled EPA Administrator Whitman and Treasury Secretary O'Neill on global-warming policy

"3. Cheney had overruled Secretary of State Colin Powell on North Korea policy

"4. George W. Bush had neither the patience nor the intelligence to master the issues

"5. It looked as though Bush had decided to rely on Cheney's opinion on pretty much everything."

David S. Broder: I do not know Brad DeLong and I have no wish to quarrel with him. But as I just said in answer to another question, I think it would have been nearly impossible to duplicate the Cheney series reporting until after the reelect of the Bush-Cheney ticket.

Absolutely I agree with you, Faith and Reason, but I guess what I'm saying is that if Mitt's going to bring this up himself, then he himself inherits the wind on this.

Although I am deeply troubled about Mitt's treatment of his dog and his children on this trip, quite frankly I am more troubled by his "double Guantanamo" comment, and even more troubled than that at the *applause* that was given to it. Very, very disturbing, and given that the applause came from my home state, very shameful as well.

Sometimes I don't know my country anymore...

Wow. Greg Sargent at TPM is calling this "[t]he worst story yet for the Romney campaign" and notes that AP has picked it up.

Again, 24/7, what makes this interesting is that Romney thinks this is fine. It's like Giuliani recounting how mortified Andrew was to find Judy at the breakfast table, or Thompson recounting the time when two women he was currently sleeping with walked into the same watering hole. Or McCain recounting his first wife's reaction when he said he was dumping her for someone with more money, and chuckling about it.

These guys know that what they did wasn't laudatory. Romney doesn't get that this is an embarrassing story about a thoughtlessly cruel man behaving badly. It's not so much the story. It's the fact that he told it.

We've all made terrible mistakes. But to not realize that they were mistakes is a serious character flaw (one we are all two familiar with, these days). That's what gives this story legs.

24/7

What are you tring to say? Are you saying Mitt cheated on his dog? That would be dispecable if he did. REALLY!

Oops, maybe Sargent's comment was intended to be snark. He added an update "The prediction that Romney's finished over this wasn't meant to be taken literally." Whew. I am no fan of Romney. And it is true he brought this story on himself as others have pointed out. But still.

Yeah, I just read the whole thing Crust. Interesting, isn't it? Brad delineated precisely what we knew and when, and Broder said, "Aww, but it's too hard..." I actually haven't read all of the Angler series because there is nothing really new in it. It has brought it together in a coherent fashion, and does represent the official conventional wisdom stamp on Cheney's secretive and illegal behavior.

Delong has been calling for impeachment for a long time based on information that has been available to the public for a very long time. It was astoundingly negligent for the Times and the Post, in particular, to sit on these stories, not to mention Keller stifling Risen's story of illegal wiretaps--before the 04 election.

What??!!! How out of touch IS he not to know who BRAD DELONG is??!! Why O Why can't we have a better press choir?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/014905.php

What Josh says above also applies to Time. Jay, where's the special issue? Where are you going to recount all the different ways laws have been broken, the constitution ignored or worse, the American people lied to, and the nation damaged by these incompetent liars?

It's okay now. Broder's given you permission.

-------------------
Yesterday David Broder wrote a column which one TPM Reader, more or less fairly, described as Broder's expression of shock, shock at just what Dick Cheney has been up to over the last six-plus years. And this is a good opportunity to say that the Post's 'Angler' series seems to be becoming the trigger for that transition moment where consensus establishment opinion goes from seeing the vice president as the powerful administration heavy with a sometimes creepy but largely comic penchant for secrecy to an altogether more nefarious force who has used his unprecedented power as vice president to advance an agenda of official secrecy, non-accountability, untrammeled executive power, legitmized torture and general degradation of the rule of law.

But this is far too easy. Because the simple fact is that we've known almost all of this for years.

James--

You have to wonder. I was thinking along similar lines reading the chat. He supposedly (according to Joe) prides himself on listening to the hoi polloi in the Traverse City coffee shops.

But not those DFHs. And especially not the longhairs at Berkeley (no he hasn't seen a photo either.)

Impeach George Bush. Impeach Dick Cheney. Do it now.

jayackroyd:

I agree with you that on the high level themes there is nothing really new in the Angler series. And it is astounding how the press corps has sat on knowledge of secretive and illegal behavior.

Exhibit A is the Times delaying the illegal wiretap story, as you say. No doubt at great personal risk, anonymous sources talked to the Times before the 2004 election, but the Times decided to stay mum rather than put the information before voters. And Keller tried to dissemble about this, fooling even his own public editor for some time.

But there are lots of new specifics in the Angler series, at least to me. Some examples:

1. even Yoo and Addington personally felt at times that legal theories Cheney was pushing went too far
2. the "quaint" Geneva Conventions memo signed by Gonzales was actually by Addington. Cheney had Gonzales name on it because "Fredo" was closer to the President, which seems to indicate that Cheney was trying to trick Bush.
3. Gonzales threatened to resign over the blocking of the Jefferson office raid. Cheney was the key "pro corruption" figure who ensured that the FBI to this day doesn't have all the docs from Jefferson's office.
4. Cheney briefed Bush about a document he wanted Bush to sign. He let Bush look at it for a bit, but when he left, he took away the hard copy. (another power move over Bush, similar to #2).

And so on.

James from Los Angeles, that was pretty funny.

The biggest issue on my mind is poverty. My family is originally from Chicago and I try and make it there as often as possible. Seeing the poverty and speaking with people who have lived it is something that this country needs to address. I am a Democrat, and I think that social justice is the gateway into a better country. I want to know why few have addressed this so far, why we are wasting time talking about a potential presidential candidates DOG when we have unsolved issues in America.

It basically comes down to the news and journalism practices in America. When I turn on CNN and have "Paris Watch 2007" come onto my screen, I get really upset. I will never be able to understand why on Drudgereport.com the headline that Paris got out of jail early overshadowed the 42 people being killed in a Mosque. This dog story is doing nothing for America's well-being, it can only sink us deeper into the self-prescribed reality TV show we have somehow become.

Listen, guys:

Hosing the dog down? Perfectly normal, no story here.

Cut the dog's hair? Now THAT would have been creepy.

The question for Romney now is "how often did you do this to your dog?" In the Washington Post article today, he said in reply to the controversy:

"He scrambled up there every time we went on trips," Romney said at a campaign stop in Pittsburgh Thursday. "He got it all by himself and enjoyed it."

Every time? This wasn't one bad day of decision making. This is how Romney always transported his dog. Which makes the situation worse.

Each time Romney opens his mouth, he digs in deeper.

Keep talking, Romney.

FandR has made a strong statement. :) But I think that Barbara Bush covered the GOP position-deep seated beliefs on 'poverty' when she was interviewed about the Katrina folk arriving in TX.

The fact that people will react so strongly to a Mitt Mutt story (I wouldn't vote for or take vacation with this 'bowel and bladder trickle down management freak'), says alot.

We have been importing food, kid's toys, toothpaste, etc. from China without inspection or concern until many cats died from melamine in pet food from China. Cats dying made us aware that what we didn't know could hurt us. Says alot.

Linda, if Barbara Bush represents the entire Republican Party we're all in deep dog poo.

See that? The entire conversation has come full-circle :-)

I actually tried to imagine that jumping on the roof thing. My 35 lb mutt can pretty reliably jump into a passenger seat, front legs first, and then scramble.

When I was a kid we had a station wagon, with a "way back" just like Mitt's. And, oddly enough, we had an Irish Setter (an incredibly stupid but very friendly, dog). This is not a dog built for a vertical leap. I really don't think it's possible that the dog jumped up onto the roof of the car. Pawed at the crate, maybe. My dog, when she knows we're going for a car ride (she seems to infer that by the amount of stuff that gets piled up beside the door), will put her front legs on a car trying to figure out which one we're using (rentals).

But the behavior he describes seems very implausible.

Now, again, this isn't a terribly important lie. But it is just reminiscent of the current administration's affection for lies, whether over important issues or trivia.

Mitt Romney is Greg Stillson.

Posted by Faith and Reason
That's actually true cfaller, I just think that time and energy would be better spent talking about actual issues instead of a stupid dog.
****
F&R,
While Irish Setters aren't the smartest dogs in the dog world, Seamus was NOT the stupid one in the Romney family.

The moral of this little Romney family vacation vignette, supposedly told by an adult son years after the event as evidence of Popa Mitt's cool crisis management style, is that Popa Mitt's p*ss poor planning and lack of empathy for poor Seamus created the crisis.

How a person treats animals does give insight into the inner workings of a person, and had we known about George's entertainment with frogs and firecrackers, we would have been wiser.

Yes, there are other issues of substance that we could focus on, especially with the SCOTUS trying to turn back the clock to the 1950s era and with the Veep and POTUS ignoring subpoenas.

But this is one story that most animal/dog lovers can identify with.

F&R:

We are not talking about a politician's DOG. We are talking about the politician.

It is all well and good that you care about poverty. But don't you think that solving the problem requires, you know, electing leaders that actually show empathy and compassion towards others?

Mitt Romney is Greg Stillson.
***
Oh the horror!

Oh, yeah, I believe the dog jumps up ON TOP OF THE CAR when he wants to go for a ride. He grabs the latch of the crate with his teeth to drag the container along with him, then he jumps back down to get the bungee cords that *presumably* were used to secure the crate to the rails. He can't quite secure the crate to the rails with the bungee cords with his paws and his teeth -- lacking an opposable thumb makes it difficult -- so he stands on top of the car next to the crate with the bungee cords in his jaw, wagging his tail until someone helps him out.

And this is an *Irish Setter*? I think not!

Faith And Reason, definitely check this post out by Cenk Uygur.

The Republicans Aren't Even Trying Anymore
http://tinyurl.com/2n9ctv

Cenk points out that we no longer expect Republicans even to give *lip service* to fighting poverty, ending discrimination, improving health care, and other social justice issues. The media and everybody just sort of accepts that Republicans don't care about the poor and the minorities, and yet somehow this isn't a big deal.

It ultimately comes back to this: is half of our political system's implicit apathy and/or hostility towards a large portion of our population newsworthy?

I think so. What do you think? Or, more pointedly, what does TIME think?

According to Mitt, Seamus was super talented and loooooooved fresh air.

Seems he forgot that slick car surfaces and dog toe nails don't work so well together.

James, I don't know for sure, but I don't think bungee cords were around in the 1980s. :0

I'm nervously thinking about exactly how a potential Preznitt Romney proposes to double the population at Gitmo. I know the original prisoners were brought to Cuba in metal shipping containers, presumably with oxygen pumped inside. What is Preznitt Mitt's operational plan?

Did anyone else notice that Hillary and Bill's current dog is also named Seamus?

Uncanny!

ama said:
"How a person treats animals does give insight into the inner workings of a person, and had we known about George's entertainment with frogs and firecrackers, we would have been wiser."
...

I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment, which is why I'm reluctant to let this story go. When we've got ten houses on fire, however, I tend to want to go to the house with the most people in it and resue them before I go to the house with just a pet in it. Ideally we'd rescue them all, but in a less than ideal world we have to prioritize.

In an ideal world with an ideal MSM, we'd deal with all of these issues and more. But as Atrios has said, you go to war with the s--ty pundits and MSM reporters you have, not the excellent pundits and MSM reporters you want, so sacrifices have to be made.

Again, this story is very disturbing to me, but (shudder) there are far worse things going on, and there are far worse things to talk about with Mitt. OTOH, Mitt volunteered this information, so it's not like the MSM is entirely out of line here.

As you can see, I'm flipflopping horribly on this.

cfaller, no problem about your flipflopping, as long as your name is NOT Mitt!

Over and out! :)

The part I can't get out of my mind is not just that the dog voided himself, but that he did it so copiously that the carrier overflowed and the effluent ran down the rear window...

OK.

I'll stop now.

Check this one out:

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/06/28/btsc.malveaux/

Is this a paid political announcement or a book promotion? So were they passing out condoms?

Malveaux is one of the most trusted CNN-Snowjob reporters. Guess she forgot her roots in NOLA.

If this animal cruelty story is what interests them, well, go for it. No one wants to talk about Guiliani's mob connections, too serious. Now, if he and Kerik were hunkered down with the mattresses...

Guiliani: Then you jump first.
Kerik: No, I said.
Guiliani: What's the matter with you?
Kerik: I can't swim.
Guiliani: Are you crazy? The fall will probably kill you.

Oops. Wrong movie.

Guiliani: That Bernie's runnin' wild. He's thinkin'a going to the mattresses already. We gotta find a spot over on the West Side. Ya try -- 309 West 43rd Street. You know any gooda spots on the West Side?

Bernie: Yeah, I think about it.

Guiliani: Well think about it while you're drivin', will ya? I wanna hit New York sometime this month.

(then)

And watch out for the ferrets while you're backin' out.

Check out the comments section for the same subject at CNN.com's Political Ticker. The article focused on Mitt's reaction to criticism about the whole dog on the roof thing, and featured a comment from PETA. It did not mention the mess created by the dog or the "crisis management" angle in the Boston Globe article. Interestingly, many more comments are pro-Mitt in the CNN postings than the comments which have accompanied the articles on Swampland. Also the comments at CNN are way more serious and nowhere near as funny. A lot of comments were along the lines of "If PETA is against Mitt, I'm voting for him". Goes to show how the focus of an article and lack of background information can steer reaction.

"I actually tried to imagine that jumping on the roof thing. "

Well, there is no way that the dog could actually jump into the crate from the ground...

and its difficult to even imagine he could manage to do so from the hood of the car --- and IMPOSSIBLE to imagine that Romney would allow the dog to scratch up the paint job on the hood of the car with its nails...

...and if this dog did manage to get into its own crate on the top of the car, I would think that its the kind of thing that "home movies" would have been made of....

But my question is...did seamus jump back into his cage after being hosed off?

P-luk, I'd opine that Seamus never left his beloved crate; Mittster most likely used the Bull Connor technique, water-blasting the dog through the cage door.

Dogs are especially happy to be going down an interstate at 60 mph on the top of the car when they're wringing wet. Happy happy.

Was there a cute bandanna around Seamus's neck, I wonder? That would have made it all better.

Not to pile it on, but Swampland is making me consider canceling my subscription to TIME. If you're going to have a blog, make it halfway decent. Otherwise, don't and let the print version do all your talking. This blog is just garbage.

Give CNN a week and they will have Mitt saving the Mutt from being euthanized while fostering strong family ties thanks to his dad's saving the auto industry.

As soon as CNN gets done with the BIG AQ terrorist attack on the US Embassy in London while Bush I and Bush II go fishing with Fran Townsend covering HS they will show Jenna Bush, humanitarian, they will get back to Mitt and the Mutt.

No, not one, official Brit statement has mentioned AQ. They have only connected two 'abandoned' Mercedes with each other in a busy Clubbing area [which the CNN reporter mentioned was a 1/2mile from the US Embassy] containing propane, gas and nails which were easily 'defused'. The Brits have raised the terrorist threat and asked that all be aware and report. The Brits have carefully avoided any statements that would support the 'conclusions' that CNN's extensive stable of investigative reports have reached with the tension building through out the day. Drum roll please with some heavy tympani.

But wait CNN's Wolf has asked 'terrorist specialist' Bergen if this was AQ or a 'home grown Cell'. [note no other choices mentioned] This interview followed by the mentioned that the GOP strength is fighting Terror and Promoting the Real Terror Fighter Giuliani. OMG

As much as I love animals as a biologist. When dogs get older the move slower and have more accidents in the same amount of time CHILDREN become adults, vote, buy beer etc. ANIMALS are NOT PEOPLE!!!

This story and Edwards' haircuts get national attention, while the fact that Giuliani has no national security credentials, experience, or interest, is ignored, and Fred Thompson is slavered over. But remember, those of us who criticize the media do so because we're rabid, sour grapes sucking partisans.

More sour grapes:

How long have the DEMs been hollering for better equipment, etc. in Iraq? Especially, to be noted was the coverage of the harsh Biden getting angry over the need of MRAPs to better protect the troops from IEDs in Iraq.

Well, today we have CNN's Barbara 'the Pentagon's' Starr featuring Gates so intense about get MRAPs to the troops. Manufacturers go, go, go and fly, fly, fly them in.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/06/29/friday/index.html

Scroll down to Gates.

Oh, and be sure and catch the arraignment of homeless man that was the "JFK Jet Fuel Farm Plotter" while Fran Townsend [remember her review of Katrina] is holding HS agency meetings.

Be alert and stock up on Tuna [not from China], water and powdered milk.

The media is the best thing to happen to liberals. Now once we get the fairness doctrine back and knock out conservative talk radio then our message will go unopposed!

Support the fairness doctrine
Avenge Air America!

and impeach Cheney

Linda

actually the dems have been hollering for cutting and running from iraq but don't have the stones to make it happen...

"ANIMALS are NOT PEOPLE!!!"

Yes, but that doesn't mean they are yours to be tortured. IMO, torturing animals is a character flaw and a sign of a lack of empathy of those who are below you. This same lack of empathy translates onto people who you feel are beneath you. If he treats the family dog like trash, how will he treat the "unwashed masses?" The even bigger story is that he still doesn't get what he did was wrong. I'm personally sick and tired of an administration that refuses to consider anybody's point but their own.

anony: THEY DON'T HAVE THE VOTES TO STOP THE INSANITY and they have not been hollering about 'cutting and running'. That hollow rhetoric comes from the Jingoist, don't fund the troops or the VA side of the aisle.

ANIMALS are NOT PEOPLE!!!

No! Dude! Why didn't you say so earlier!

If you want the war to end, cut the funding.
Put up or shut up is what we need to tell our Democrats in congress. This is why we elected you. Or we will just put the GOP back in 08.

That is what we need to tell them Linda.

Just like I am going to vote for whoever runs against the senators in my state that let our immigration bill die and now millions of my brothers and sisters will languish and die because of nativist xenophobia!

Can someone explain to me how this is so different from putting a dog in the back of a pickup truck…
At least he had the sense to strap the dog to the rooftop, most dog owners (especially back then) simply let their dogs loose in the back of a truck…

I ride a motorcycle. I saw a truck ahead of me with a dog in the back…some kind of ugly looking german shepherd mutt mix…he didn’t like me, or maybe he liked me too much…but as I passed the truck, the dog started barking at me (uncontrollably) and as I continued to pass the truck, the dog “came at me” and launched himself out of the back of the truck…
Something that dogs don’t understand about momentum…and physics in general is that when you leave the truck, you will slow down…so I was moving at about 70 mph in a 65, and this dog jumps out at me and promptly falls to his death on the freeway.

Why don’t we go whine about those dog owners, instead of someone who set up a “safe” environment for their dog while traveling.

The poor and foolish PETA president who equates strapping a dog to the roof of a vehicle with someone not willing to strap his child there is just lunacy. IT'S A DOG, STUPID!!! This crowd is just a bunch of nuts who will stop at nothing to ensure the creature is exalted above the created.

I'm not a Romney fan or supporter, but if PETA is against him, maybe I should reconsider.

The thread has been soiled by an explosion of diarrheic right-wing loonies! Aaaaaggghhhh! Break out the water hoses! Hose it down, STAT!

Cox! Help! Aaaaaaggghhhhhh!

"IT'S A DOG, STUPID!"

Dogs are alive, they feel pain right. Just because they are less intelligent than humans doen't mean they don't deserve to have lives without meaningless pain or discomfort.

Says the guy who doesn't spay or neuter his dog so there can be more unwanted puppies to die in the pound.

Spaying a dog is not meaningless.

"This crowd is just a bunch of nuts who will stop at nothing to ensure the creature is exalted above the created."

Huh?

MIKEY, have you ever done this to *your* pet?

I asked this question yesterday of a bunch of Mitt apologists, but no one dared answer. I speculate it's because none of them, NOT ONE, has ever done this to his/her own pet. Strange how they think it's really not a big deal for *Mitt* to do it, but somehow can't do it themselves.

It's a bizarre form of hypocrisy, where you give leeway to someone else for something you'd never do. It must be the authoritarian mindset or something...

Ingrid Newkirk was quoted, "If you wouldn't strap your child to the roof of your car, you have no business doing that to the family dog!"

Ingrid, don't EVER compare a child with a dog.

"Ingrid, don't EVER compare a child with a dog."

What about a really smart dog and a person in a persistant vegitative state?

Hey, with everything you could be reporting about Romney, why this?

HaircutGate. DogGate. Whatever. Who cares? How about attempting to raise the level of political debate in this country by better informing your readers? How about respecting their intelligence and deepening their awareness instead feeding them this kind of dulling dreck.

At the very least, how about saving this fluff for a slow news day? And in today's world, we should be so lucky to find one.

It's not either/or child or dog. Demands for others to control bowel and bladder for the convenience of the 'boss'. Endangering the 'loved family dog'. Both are abusive s*ck. Not to mention the treatment of a wife who's way to salvation is to please, in order to get an invite into heaven. My values makes Mitt not my kinda guy.

Pelosi and Iraq:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/06/29/iraq.usa.reut/index.html

Would Mitt have done this to a fertilized egg? Huh? Huh? Would he?

Does this suprise anyone?

Mitt is a nitwit....and a cruel one at that. Anyone with his lack of either compassions or good sense should not be elected garbage collector

Just keep on attacking Romney...
It's exactly what we want.

Well, I was never going to vote for Mitt but now I'm really not going to. What a doofus...

Posted by Proud Member of the VRWC
June 29, 2007

Just keep on attacking Romney...
It's exactly what we want.
~~

Yeah, sure you do, pal. OOOOkay, we're agreed then.

Your boy hangdog Thompson didn't go over so well in New Hampshire, I note. Cluck cluck.

``He looks good onstage, but I don't know if he has the gravitas,'' said Kathleen Williamson, a conservative Roman Catholic from North Weare. ``It seems like he's trying to win over conservatives, but I'm still not sure he has the credentials. I'm worried he's trying to get by on his celebrity.''

Cluck cluck.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/election2008/story/17514.html

Well, that is a pretty nasty comment about who Romney really is: an insensitive, irresponsible, a**hole.

What a horrid prick! I hope that the ASPCA is investigating the creep.

hi

Good heavens! You Democrats are desperate ... scared ... and more than a little silly.

Cox. Hey Cox.

I see that part of my first post made blog comment of the day. Exceeeeeppppppt, it was a quote from Scot LeHigh's column on Boston.com. (Pretty clearly a quote, too, best we can do without blockquote capability.) I'd hate for there to be any, um, accusations about this mishap. Can you please inform the Blog Comment Of The Day Person to attribute the quote to LeHigh? Purty please. I wouldn't want my impeccable reputation tarnished.

hahahaha

Pretty funny, James. Leave it to the DFHs to set things straight.

It'll be interesting to see how they'll handle this.

Probably just a quick clean up on Monday when the bosses get back from the Hamptons, and depute an intern.

Is someone here really commenting under the name "Faith and Reason"? And the right wonders why its internet activities are so ineffectual.

More than a little silly - try very silly and terrified of Thompson.

"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."
- Kris Kristofferson

Plus, they left out my last name ( , Los Angeles ). It is a great quote though; I wish I *had* written it.

Ken Vaughn and Anonymous make excellent arguments in favor of Thompson. Factual, hard-hitting, unassailable logic. They have been schooled well in the art of rightwing rhetoric. I can hardly resist being won over to their side by the awesome force of their argument.

We are, wait for it! *******SILLY!******** My my! I cannot possibly resist such force of logic.

.

.

.

.

.

Oh wait. Yes I can.

Check it out: Fred Thompson v. Michael Moore

http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/Content?oid=oid:28518

don't miss the Fred Cuban Cigar Video

You people are being too hard on Mitt.He certainly was not afraid the next year to have his wife riding in the cage on top of the car and not a peep from anyone.It turns out that his wife like the dog is a fresh air lover.I guess I too would rather ride on top of Mitts car than in it and have to listen to his bullshit.Lucky dog.

how did this person ever get to write for Time?

I hope and pray that Ingrid Newkirk does not currently have or ever have any children, or that if she does they do not look to her for their significance and that they get away from her the second they turn 18. To put your family pet on the same value level as your children is horrifying and anyone who does is not fit to be a parent.

RE: Seamus the Romney family dog.
Cruelty to animals is just what it is.
Punishment should be handed out swiftly.

What would you do if you went over to your new girlfriend's house to meet the parents for dinner, and her wide-shouldered, capped-teeth, perfect-haired lantern-jawed father leanedback in his chair and told family stories:

"ANd I tell you young man, we were about 7 hours into the drive, you see, when Tagg shouted "Gross!" Ha ha, and I looked back and that dog had crapped so much it was running out of the carrier and down the back of the car! Ha ha! hA!

Well, I pulled over a few miles later at a gas station and hosed the car and the dog off, and we got back on the road. A little delayed, but we still made Toronto by nightfall, eh Buffy? Ha HA!"

Would you not wonder what the hell kind of family you were getting yourself into?

Mitt is a walking talking bottle of shelaq and botox.

I would still have sex with him though.

Gay mormon sex is awesome

Jack Jett

Now the above post is the typical level of intelligence one expects from a liberal poster, James from LA.

Cox: "I think his administration might have a more immediate enivornmental pollution problem than global warming on its, uhm, hands." Evidently, Cox missed Time magazine's declaration in the 1970's that the earth was on its way to a catastrophic "Ice Age". Memo to Time and like-minded fools: "Global warming" is an even bigger hoax and fraud than your declaration (along with the New York Times, Newsweek and other leftist useful idiots) of a "global cooling" "crisis" in the 1970's. Get over it.

Gotta love it when people use three-decade old news to refute current science. So who is the useful idiot?

has cheney been impeached yet?

Alert all progressives, check out the 'Don Skipper' post on Klein's 'Iraq' post. "we gotta stay in Iraq to attract foreign investors" OMG slime this guy.

Seems the Mitt met up with the 'Dutch Reformed' over religious issues in Pella, IA. Another OMG, I bet that was no 'tulip festival'.

Poor Anonymous. A perfect specimen of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Thinking his comment is especially intelligent and insightful at the 62nd percentile, but in fact is only at the 12th percentile. cluck cluck.

And again, to me the core issue is that if this had been reported against a Democratic candidate for any office in the land, and whether or not it was true, said candidate would have already been hounded out of his candidacy by the traditional media. But IOKIAYR.

Cranky

Better 12% than your 5% James

Cluck Cluck

Oh, now that hurt! Here I thought I was making a witty comment about how Anonymous illustrated the Dunning-Kruger effect so perfectly, and he comes back with a perfect #2:

Dunning-Kruger effect:
1. incompetent individuals tend to overestimate their own level of skill,
2. incompetent individuals fail to recognize genuine skill in others,
3. incompetent individuals fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy,
4. if they can be trained to substantially improve their own skill level, these individuals can recognize and acknowledge their own previous lack of skill.

And the superior skill of others, as well.
ahahahahahah.

Listening to Mitt speak is "torture for dumb animals" Need to find a real republican leader once and for all.

Why have a dog if it is not part of the family? Would you strap Aunt Alice or Uncle Gus to the roof of of the car? It may have been a small decision, but it was the wrong decision....Mitt is going down,,,hard.

sorry I can get the link in but PULLLLEEZ Google this and read 'article and comments'

......Pat Buchanan, The Martyr of Mosul.......

It is worth the effort.

Wow. Come on, is this the best thing you can come up with! Ana Marie, if you don't like Romney just say it- this petty character assasination on every aspect of Romney's life is comical. If you really want to stop his campain, you're going to have to come up with something a little more practical. By the way, I'll bet Hillary returns her Blockbuster rentals late occationally, maybe you should investigate that story- just to be fair.

Sometimes politicians from Massachusetts aren't very careful when it comes to their driving habits and don't exercise good judgement. You could look to Senator Kennedy as someone that falls into that category.