Romney in Deep Doo-Doo?

If Gore had done this pre-2000, we would still be hearing about it.

But, as always, IOKIYAR.

Did Mitt the zit live in Mass then?

Romney is like Clark Griswold, except he has never done, said, or thought anything funny. At all. Ever.

Hee hee, those PETA people are so earnest!

Ms. Cox:

Great job amplifying this gruesome anecdote. I don't like Republicans, but it wouldn't occur to me that any would be so stupid and unfeeling to do this, even someone like Cheney who massacres birds with clipped wings. It's joltingly bizarre, and reveals clinical sociopathy, as opposed to the situational socipathy common among politicians.

Sounds like that droid born-again Kyra on CNN touting Mrs. Graham for putting Franklin in the car trunk for punishment when you can Google to see how Mom's are getting arrested for such acts of child abuse.

It's okay though 'cause Coulter is the 'Quote of the Day' for her response to Elizabeth for calling her out for 'using her dead son' to spread the hate. Way to go, idiots.

But wait, Candy Crowley has switched from the 'straight talk' drooler to the Big Dred, Pardon Me Fred.

All's right with the MSM world. B*** gets 3 hours + radio time.

American kids are dying for the MSM's right to spread 'stupid', 'fear', and 'AQ' talking points.

Well, no the "would you do it to your children" thing is BS (would you kill your child with a lethal injection if they had an extremely serious illness?). That being said, strapping your dog to the roof of your car IS stupid and dangerous. Dogs should be in the passenger compartments. If they are in the back of your truck, they should be secured so that they can't fall or bounce out of the bed unless the entire trip will be at low speeds.

So, yeah, dumb and not something you should really be bragging about Mitt...

"...a lesson in cruelty that was also wrong for them to witness...that alone should have been sufficient indication that the dog was, basically, being tortured..."

Please. Is such hyperbole necessary? Romney made a bad decision, an error in judgement...which, while not a commendable quality in a presidential candidate, does not qualify as 'torture'. Like Romney wanted to cause the doggie pain.

"If you wouldn’t strap your child to the roof of your car, you have no business doing that to the family dog!"

I agree with that.

It wasn't just the dog he was cold about (though 12 hours strapped to the roof each way was pretty, um, shi++y).

"'Think about it,'' Tagg says, ''a 12-hour drive and the only time we stop is to get gas. When we stop, you can buy your food and go to the bathroom, but that's the only time we're stopping, so you'd better get it all done at once.''"

The youngest boy was only 2 at the time.

Ana, you missed the freakiest part of the whole story:

"Mitt, then 22, and Ann, 19, exchanged rings in a civil ceremony in her parents' home. It was officiated by church Elder Edwin Jones, the man after whom teenage Mitt had patterned his hairstyle."

I'm not sure Mitt is an Earthling.

But...but...you can STILL land a 737 on his shoulders!

"...a lesson in cruelty that was also wrong for them to witness...that alone should have been sufficient indication that the dog was, basically, being tortured..."

Along with the kids, I think. This is not hyperbole, this is a look into the recesses of the Republican sociopathy that is so well-evidenced in this administration. Mitt would happily attack Venzuela because of a remark by Chavez, and we don't need any more of these barely-human scumbags in office. Strapping your dog to the roof for a 12-hour ride is TORTURE.

I'd like to know who told them this was a good story to make public?

A rat is a pig is a dog is a Mitt.

"...a lesson in cruelty that was also wrong for them to witness...that alone should have been sufficient indication that the dog was, basically, being tortured..."

Along with the kids, I think. This is not hyperbole, this is a look into the recesses of the Republican sociopathy that is so well-evidenced in this administration. Mitt would happily attack Venzuela because of a remark by Chavez, and we don't need any more of these barely-human scumbags in office. Strapping your dog to the roof for a 12-hour ride is TORTURE.

Just this weekend I said to a friend that people should have paid more attention to the stories about young Bush sticking firecrackers into frogs and exploding them, that that kind of cruelty to animals in his case definitely was a warning sign.

Now, this?

What's with these guys?

Warning enough for me!

Uh, WHAT?!?

That is so wrong.

It's overshadowed by the animal abuse anecdote, but I recommend reading the entire Boston Globe series on Romney --- it is stenography at its finest.

The piece's admiration for Romney doesn't stop at his "cool" and "emotion-free crisis management". When the article isn't painting extreme acts of human stupidity as brilliant demonstrations of leadership skills, it's making the case for Romney as, possibly, the greatest, smartest American ever.

Really, this could have all been written by the Romney campaign.

"I don't want to just torture my dog on the roof of my car, I want to torture TWO DOGS on the roof of my car for a 24 hour car trip."
-Mitt Romney

"Really, this could have all been written by the Romney campaign."

Except for the cruelty to animals part that torpedoed his entire campaign.

This is not hyperbole. Mitt doesn't see this as an error in judgment. He is BOASTING about it

thanks Ms. Cox, I think you may have just single-handedly tanked Mitt Romney's chances for the Republican nomination. they were a bit slim already, but this story is going to get people talking. hehehe. hehe.

Ana, did you contact the Mass. chapter of the ASPCA?

mikeg - the difference between Clark Griswold and Mitt, besides the humor that Chevy Chase once displayed, is that Mitt did this INTENTIONALLY and Clark absent-mindedly forgot to put the dog in the car.

Plus Clark is a fictional character and Mitt, sadly, is not.

Always remember, Jeffrey Dahmer got his start torturing small animals, too.

This second post is also genius. There's got to be a Frist cat angle here somewhere

"the dog was, basically, being tortured."
What's wrong with reporting that? I think it probably pick up some Republican primary votes for Mitt- now we know he won't let some foreign dogs terrorize our country.

Ottnott-- and I always thought Mitt's persona was based on Wink Martindale. So yeah, that is a weird anecdote.

I'm inclined to think Romney is a jerk, but if he's pissing PETA off, then he can't be all bad!

So, now can we strap Cheney on the top of Air Force One?

My word for Romney has always been "hinky"; something seemed wrong about the man, but I didn't know what it was. Seems I was right.

Of course, let's be reasonable: It's not like Romney blew up frogs with firecrackers, or anything like that. Or put severed deer's heads into mailboxes. Or stole cats in order to dissect them. Leaving aside the whole "man on dog" thing....

What pure crap this post is.

The dog was in a dog carrier - the kind like people use to ship their dogs on airplanes. Romney even created a wind screen to block the dog from the wind.

There is absolutely no evidence or any reason to believe that the dog was "tortured".

Plus there is the fact that Peta's president, Ingrid Newkirk is a 24 carat nutjob. PETA believes that animals should not be kept as pets at all and that it is immoral to eat meat of any kind. How can you give a forum to such an insane turd like her?

Look, people - get off Romney's back.

It's all Christie Brinkley's fault. She shouldn't have been stalking the Mittster.

Only liberal weenies worry about strapping dogs to the roofs of cars. Conservatives (i.e. real Americans) understand that such enhanced canine transportation methods are vital tools in the global war against the varmofascists. Besides, as ex-governor of Massachusetts (a.k.a. the Communist Republic of Harvard) Mitt isn't actually part of the executive branch, and therefore isn't subject to the state's laws against animal so-called cruelty.

I mean ask youself: Would Jack Bauer strap a dog to a car to save Boston from nuclear annihilation? Well, no, not as long as that gay marriage law stays on the books. But still, Mitt's clearly on the side of the angels here, even if he is a follower of the Morman Anti-Christ.

I don't think putting the dog on the roof was all that bad. With a wind shield it wouldn't be much different then having a dog ride in the back of a truck. The dog won't like it, but it isn't going to physically harm them. I am curious how they got a carrier with a big dog in it on the roof of the car. That sounds like a pain.

What really stood out in the story was that he was pro abortion, gay rights, and gun control. Doesn't sound that popular to the Republican base to me.

"PETA believes that animals should not be kept as pets at all and that it is immoral to eat meat of any kind. How can you give a forum to such an insane turd like her?"

tde -- It seems only fair, since they gave one to you.

Unthinking, yes, but not necessarily cruel. The dog was in a pet carrier with as much protection it would have in a plane's belly. Of greater concern to me is his calculating flip-flops to deny his true secret: he's a closet moderate.

It may not have been torture.

But the fact that the dog *shat on the roof of the car* tells you all you need to know the quality of the thinking that went into this plan.

Animal cruelty is certainly "emotion-free." He's got the Dick Cheney thing down pat.

My favorite quote from the article: "Then Romney put his boys on notice: He would be making predetermined stops for gas, and that was it."

A foreshadowing of President Romeny's foreign policy?

I'm pretty sure it's illegal to jettison anything from your car (other than water and chicken feathers). I know I wouldn't appreciate dog poop flying into my windshield.

"wouldn't be much different then having a dog ride in the back of a truck."

-ever seen a dog after it was riding in the back of a truck on the interstate when the driver had to break quickly? Dogs SHOULD NOT RIDE in the backs of trucks.

I have to say "More to come" reads more like a threat than a promise to me. This is pretty shallow doo-doo, especially with so many angles unexplored in the MSM on Cheney, eavesdropping, etc., etc. Though I have to say Dittohead's comment above is brilliant.

"Unthinking, yes, but not necessarily cruel. The dog was in a pet carrier with as much protection it would have in a plane's belly."

I didn't realize dogs were transported in planes by tying them with rope to the bottom of the plane and leaving them exposed to the elements while hanging from twine. Interesting.

>"Then Romney put his boys on notice: He would be making predetermined stops for gas, and that was it."

As opposed to random stops for gas?
This is why people hate newspapers, not for being pinko.

Hey, Anna

Did you take a second to tell Ingrid that she's the stupidest f**ucking person the face of the Earth for going after Michael Moore? Swimming upstream's a gas, but do the idiots actually think they're gonna win wingers? Ever? Jesus.

Bad Romney!

Woof woof woof grr grr grr!

I'm voting for Edwards...

maybe he will sue my master for me

Correction to an earlier post about PETA. PETA does NOT believe that animals shouldn't be kept as pets -- PETA folks love animals, and most have a whole bunch of dogs and/or cats. PETA does believe that people should know how to take care of their pets, should spay or neuter them to prevent pets that no one wants to take care of, and should save dogs and cats by rescuing them from shelters rather than getting them from puppy mills or breeders. While PETA might not be correct on every issue -- who is? -- I'm surprised at the garbage people believe about them.

These people are just filth. Romney is a snake oil salesman and it looks like he puts a little of that oil in his hair, too. Grotesque people the Republicans have become.

I love animals, like cows.
Especially done medium well with a nice side of salad and green beans.

Yum.

FWIW, I'm not confident the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. could successfully clean dog poop off a car window.

Ana Marie, please call the Romney campaign to get a comment on whether or not the candidate was driving the speed limit.

Quoting PETA is a sure way to kill any chance this story has of getting legs, as it were. They are an organization with no national credibility, because of the perception that their views are extremist and out of touch. Organizations and individuals that, on the other hand, advocate bombing Iran and Peru and so on are considered "serious" and "credible."

The article itself was fascinating. Romney is presented as a strong family man who worships his wife, a driven man of business, and on and on and on. I haven't seen a writeup that lauditory in a major publication of a Dem since Clinton ran. In 1992. And that's Romney the shameless, wild flip flopper getting loved by a paper, the Boston Globe, in a state Romney has gone out of his way to piss on like his dog pissed on his car. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I suspect if the Globe knew the animal cruelty bit would get traction, they would have found some other way to highlight Mitt's singleminded determination and discipline.

All pets and children should be placed on, not in, modes of transport.

What Mittens did to the kids with his piss nazi routine was pretty cruel in itself. They had a choice: forego fluids so they wouldn't have to pee, and risk dehydration, or drink and risk pissing their pants. Definitely father of the year material here.

Did Tagg spill all this stuff in a passive/aggressive attempt to torpedo dear old dad for torturing the dog and making him dance all those years ago? If that was his plan, it was brilliant.

Well, Romney was never really anyone who is conservative felt was a real conservative candidate. The dissonance between his policies in MA and his positions for this election are impossible to ignore and there is no way he will be the GOP candidate, nor will McCain after his support for amnesty for illegals, so anything that further marginalizes Romney is a good thing as far as I am concerned. He is a Democrat in Republican clothing at best and a RINO at worst and Lord knows we have enough of them already.

Once Fred Thompson enters the race we will have a viable candidate and I expect to see all kinds of hit pieces (especially here - I am sure Ann, Karen, and Joe are frantically digging for dirt as I speak) on him like that laughable piece about his days being a lobbiest.

Well, Romney was never really anyone who is conservative felt was a real conservative candidate. The dissonance between his policies in MA and his positions for this election are impossible to ignore and there is no way he will be the GOP candidate, nor will McCain after his support for amnesty for illegals, so anything that further marginalizes Romney is a good thing as far as I am concerned. He is a Democrat in Republican clothing at best and a RINO at worst and Lord knows we have enough of them already.

Once Fred Thompson enters the race we will have a viable candidate and I expect to see all kinds of hit pieces (especially here - I am sure Ann, Karen, and Joe are frantically digging for dirt as I speak) on him like that laughable piece about his days being a lobbiest.

I don't find this funny at all. I certainly didn't like it when it was done to me.

-

The article is such a puff piece. Who in Romney's camp dictated this story the writer? It must be Tagg.

I can't wait for the Romney/Thompson ticket. What ol' Mitt does with Freddie's pickup will be comedy gold!

Romney can put this whole dust-up behind him by stating that he had been brainwashed prior to lashing the canine to the top of the car.

Incidentally, this is nothing.

John McCain used to tie his wife to the wing of his jet before he shipped off to 'Nam.

And legend has it that Giuliani would strap his kid to the roof of the #4 train when the Yankees would lose.

What a completely inane and fabricated controversy. Placing your dog in a carrier is exactly what you're SUPPOSED to do when traveling. What's irresponsible and stupid is letting your pet free in a vehicle without any restraint. Just one sudden, unanticipated stop and the dog could go flying.

There was obviously no room in the station wagon for a crate of the size necessary to carry a large dog. Instead the crate was secured to the roof -- but the dog was protected from the wind and elements so that it was comfortable.

Based upon the nature of these postings, it's no wonder vetrinarians are seeing an epidemic of neurotic dogs in this country. It's because we've got a bunch of neurotic owners who think dogs should be treated just like people.

"And that's Romney the shameless, wild flip flopper getting loved by a paper, the Boston Globe, in a state Romney has gone out of his way to piss on like his dog pissed on his car."

Hoplite, that was pretty darn funny.

"it's no wonder vetrinarians are seeing an epidemic of neurotic dogs in this country."

Apparently there is an epidemic of pet owners who drive around with their pets on the roof until the pets crap themselves. That'll drive a dog neurotic.

BTW, maybe I'm being tough on Mittens here, but isn't there something really annoying about naming your IRISH setter Seamus? Was "Leprechaun" vetoed?

Well he fashioned a freaking windshield, what more do you want?

"If you wouldn’t strap your child to the roof of your car, you have no business doing that to the family dog!"

But the point is that I would strap my child to the roof of my car, given sufficient provocation. So like, um, where's the problem here?

It's called "tough love", you idiot moonbats. Try it sometime, and your kids might actually go to college and make something of themselves, instead of taking drugs, having babies and collecting welfare.

Well, space. You're not really that great at names yourself.

Yeah. All those dogs detained on the battlefield are in for a rough ride if Mitt becomes president. Torturer.

Was the dog named Splash?

"The dog was in a dog carrier - the kind like people use to ship their dogs on airplanes."

Y'know, I've never seen dog carriers strapped to the roof of a jet. Perhaps they do things differently in your part of the world.

OMG!!! There's an epidemic of neurotic dogs! STOP THE FREAKING PRESS.

Kudos to AMC for picking up the tidbit from this piece. Do Republicans like this sort of sadistic/amoral s--t? I mean, really, are they into supporting this kind of person?

I see a few commenters have already shrugged their shoulders about Mitt's treatment of his family dog, and I find that interesting. Here are some questions for you to ponder:

How many of you who think this is no big deal have actually done the *exact same thing* that Mitt did? How many of you have strapped your family pet to the roof of your car? And when your family pet showed a clear sign of distress at being strapped to the roof of the car, how many of you simply hosed the pet and the car down, and continued to put your family pet in distress?

I'm betting few to none of you have done this, because it's stupid and cruel. That should instruct you on the kind of person Double Gitmo Mitt is.

You see, for many people, it's one thing to mistreat a dog, but it's quite another to mistreat *your* Oscar or Max or Buddy or whatever. BUT NOT TO MITT. To him it's perfectly fine to mistreat one of his own. Huh.

Are Republicans into this sort of thing?

This has to be the stupidest, most puerile controversy since Edwards' purported $6 million hair levitation. Just because I wouldn't walk my children with a leash doesn't mean it's cruel to walk my dog that way. Most dogs like sticking their heads out the window and letting it all hang out - by 'it', I mean the tongue - in the breeze. How is this any different? The dog in the crate is even more secure than the one in the front seat, in that it is impossible for him (or her) to hop out of the car. The crate is strapped to the roof, not precariously balanced on top of it, like some forgotten cold drink.

Anyhow, it's a Mormon thing. During the great migration to Utah, Mormon settlers didn't have leashes for their dogs - the use of leather being a prohibited by the Book of Marconi - so they had to seal them up in barrels and carry them on the roofs of their wagons. All Mitt was doing was teaching his children an odd-seeming yet traditional custom that has been handed down from father to son ever since the days of the Elders.

"Well, space. You're not really that great at names yourself."

Yes, well, my father was Gus Grissom and he used to strap to the side of his Mercury rocket.

Needless to say, I never recovered. But part of my mission in life is to make sure that no animals suffer the torture that I went through as a small child.

ana, the link you made in the "more formal version of this story" between this and "enhanced interrogation techniques" was facking hilarious. In my mind, we outta DOUBLE the amount of dogs strapped to cars.

Sullivan said:
"Most dogs like sticking their heads out the window and letting it all hang out - by 'it', I mean the tongue - in the breeze. How is this any different?"

Sullivan, I guess your dog s--ts all over your carseat when you take it on a trip, huh? *That* was the indication that this was "different" and plainly NOT all right with the dog, you moron.

Have you ever done this, Sullivan? Careful- it *is* considered cruelty, and it *is* a crime, your protestation notwithstanding.

The the state legislatin really say, "...a fine of not moe than $2,500..."

It seems like an obvious mispelling of moe AND and obvious no-no.

"OMG!!! There's an epidemic of neurotic dogs! STOP THE FREAKING PRESS."

Yes, dk. And an epidemic of neurotic posters, too.

The dog-on-the-car-roof aspect of this story is disturbing. But I am also disturbed by the mindset that Mitt thinks his wife belongs on a pedestal. This is typical of how Mormon's describe how they view their wife's rightful place, as if they're saying, "See how we revere our women?"

There are just a few teensy problems with being on a pedestal. For one, she's pretty much stuck up there with no were to go but down (metaphorically, as in falling from favor). She tries very hard to stay on the pedestal. This describes why many, many, many Mormon women are diagnosed with depression. It's that damn pedestal. They all think they have to be perfect. That's what their God tells them through their prophet. They are here on earth to strive for perfection, just as God is perfect.

Also, the pedestal limits her from other experiences. She is up there to take care of her family, serve in the church, and spread the gospel. There is nothing wrong with spending you life doing these things, if it's what you really want to do. But Mormon women are taught that a good Mormon woman wants these things, and if she wants other experiences, she is selfish, and not listening to what God wants her to do. Plus, whatever she wants to do in her life, she must get her husband's permission, because he is the leader of the family. She is taught that her ticket into the highest degree of heaven after she dies is her husband. He on the otherhand, is not bound by this requirement.

Pedestals - not all their cracked up to be.

Regarding the nutjobs at Peta and pets - this is what they say on their website:

"We at PETA very much love the animal companions who share our homes, but we believe that it would have been in the animals' best interests if the institution of "pet keeping"—i.e., breeding animals to be kept and regarded as "pets"—never existed."

Look Romney is a horrible person because of his position on the issues - we don't need to invent these inane little stories about how he supposedly tortures dogs. That's what a-holes like Limbaugh and Coulter make a living doing. Let's not join them. Let's beat them.

You have to be joking! The Globe article stated that Mitt put up a "windscreen", thus protecting the dog from direct wind buffeting. This would be akin to riding a motorcycle or putting the dog in the back of a pickup. There is no way of telling if the dog was scared or not. Dogs poop occasionally. I'm sure the dog loved the ride. Heck, I'd love the ride - of course I'm a motorcycle fan and I love the wind in my face. This is the most ridiculous political attack ever!

tde:

Nobody INVENTED this story. If you want to defend strapping your dog to the roof of your car until it craps itself, be my guest. Just don't act like WE MADE THIS UP.

I think all the Romney apologists and/or operatives are missing the essential detail over at Anna Marie's original post:

A brown liquid was dripping down the back window, payback from an Irish setter who'd been riding on the roof in the wind for hours.

The dog is sh*tting itself. Kinda like those photographs of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, eh? Good times...

Give me a break, mkd. So would you prefer wife-beating instead? All kinds of kids everywhere would be a lot better off if there were more relationships like this -- and you're criticizing it? Besides, the article makes it clear that the feeling's mutual. Who are you to judge their happiness?

Excuse me... the dog crapped so much that it leaked out of the carrier, onto the roof of Clark Griswold's station wagon, and down the windshield. We're talking seriously scared Seamus here.

The denouement, where Clark puts the un-beshatted dog back on the roof, is the most priceless part of the story. I guess he figured, given that Seamus was LITERALLY scared shitless, that there would be no further mess.

"Dogs poop occasionally."

Boy, I bet Seamus wished that someone had told Mittens that before he headed off on the 12-hour journey.

You don't get it. The beauty of this story isn't that Mitt strapped his dog to the roof. It's that he strapped the dog to the roof AND didn't let it take a rest break AND barely let his family take a rest break AND thinks that cleaning up the resulting mess revealed a strength of character.

If the "windscreen" was effective, how did the dog poop get propelled out the crate?

Was the dog poop runny because of the considerable wind generated at speeds higher than 60mph or does the dog not get enough fiber?

I don't understand why the MSM isn't all over this. You know who also hates dogs? Muslims. Especially the ones who hate us for our freedom. Surprised CNN hasn't noticed this.

Ana, when do we get the scoop on how much the Romney campaign spends on tanning booths and tanning products?

There are a good number of states where it is illegal to transport an animal, unrestrained, in an open vehicle, including a truck bed.

Not children or people of course, but animals, certainly.

And anyone with half a mind or any knowledge of animals would know that to do this to an Irish setter is just obscene. Nervous little bastards at the best of times, adult dogs do not lose control of their bowels except under extreme stress or illness - the fact that the creature did so is demonstration of the cruelty.

Just effing unbelievably cruel.

People keep saying the dog was "strapped to the roof of the car." NO. The dog was in a crate -- exactly where you're supposed to put a dog when you travel. The dog was also protected from the wind and elements.

The fact the dog pooped doesn't mean a thing. Presumably everyone else posting here is able to predict their dog's every bowel movement? You've never had the experience of your dog pooping minutes after you took it for a walk?

And this is somehow supposed to equate to Abu Ghraib?

Heaven help our democracy.

Hey Michael:

Yeah, I guess the Abu Ghraib comparison was a little, er, over the top.

I mean, after Romney's strong statement against torture--

Oh, wait...

Why didn't Mitt double the size of Guantanamo, I mean the dog crate?

Windscreen or no there are a few screwed up things here, and you're talking to a guy who believes dogs are pets, not kid.

(1) he failed to pull over and walk the dog to let it relieve itself until the poor dog did what dogs never do - crapped where it slept.

(2) HE HOSED THE DOG OFF AND THEN KEPT DRIVING, with the wet miserable dog still on the roof of the car.

(3) it was the middle of summer. Ever touch the top of your car in the middle of summer?

And

stray "And"

No idea what I was going to say next

Michael F says: "People keep saying the dog was "strapped to the roof of the car." NO. The dog was in a crate -- exactly where you're supposed to put a dog when you travel. The dog was also protected from the wind and elements."

----

Michael, don't be purposefully stupid. Yes, you are "supposed to put a dog" in a crate when you travel. However (and this is the part where you are being purposefully stupid), the crate goes INSIDE the car.

Just one random website on traveling with a dog:

"The crate is a bed inside the car or van, at the motel or lodge, or next to the tent or picnic table... Small dogs can ride in a crate on the back seat or floor; large dogs should ride in the crate in the rear of a station wagon or van. If there’s no room for a large crate, the dog must learn to sit or lie quietly in the back seat or cargo area, with or without a harness that can be attached to the vehicle’s seat belts. Crates or carriers placed on the seat should be buckled in so they do not shift when the vehicle turns."

You find me one source that says strapping a crate to the top of a car is how you are "supposed" to travel with a dog.

Ridiculous. Why be an apologist?

"Presumably everyone else posting here is able to predict their dog's every bowel movement?"

I could predict with absolute certainty that my dog's bowel would move during the course of a 12-hour trip. Your mileage may vary.

Strapping your dog on the roof is an American tradition. Nixon strapped Checkers on top of Marine 1 on August 9, 1974 when exciting the White House.

The end was relatively quick.

BTW, Michael F, you may think that people are piling on Mittens because we are simply out to destroy his candidacy. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I can't speak for everybody here, but many Democrats, myself included, would not judge Romney particularly hard based on his record. Indeed, on paper, Romney is the type of Republican who SHOULDN'T scare me: A governor of a Northeast state. and a record of relative moderation.

(Do I find the backstory on Mormonism absurd? Yeah, but not significantly more than I do the Christian myths of the Virgin birth and resurrection or the Islamic beliefs in virgin-filled paradises. So, I can give Mitt a pass on religion.)

And yet, Mitt's creepy, flip-flopping, vacant persona keeps rearing its ugly head. I can't help but be horrified. I don't want Mitt to be the Manchurean Candidate. I'd much prefer it if a possible GOP nominee wasn't a complete freak, but you blog with the candidates you have, not the candidates you want.

Mitt's just lost the vote of every pet-lover...but gained the vote of every semi-sociopathic right-wing, animal torturing good ol' boy Republican, most of whom live below the Mason-Dixon line, of course. But whoever the Republican candidate is will get the votes of those hillbillies anyway.

Clark Griswold isn't a fictional character, he's real! Just like Jack Bauer, hero of millions of Republicans including a Supreme Court Justice.

I'm left shaking my head in disgust every time I read one of these fluff pieces on the Republican presidential candidates. Unfortunately to the MSM a haircut is worse than strapping a family pet to the roof of a car. First Bush and now possibly Mitty or Rudy, or Walnuts...the country can't survive another Republican president.

jbk - you're an idiot.

This is something only Homer Simpson coud have thouight up! Naww, even in the world of cartoons people are not that cruel to animals.

Let's try to be a little more fair, here, people.

"Creepy, flip-flopping, vacant persona"?

C'mon. I mean, faced with a dog that had been cr*pping itself for the last few hundred miles because you strapped its carrier to the roof of your car, what would you do?

Now, if Romney had cut the dog's hair instead of hosing it down...

THAT would have been creepy. And our famously free press just loves them the hair stories, so we'd never hear the end of it.

Let's try to maintain a baseline of civility here.

Our Betters demand no less.

Michael F, have you done this to *your* family pet?

I call bulls--t on some of the Double Gitmo Mitt apologists here. Either they don't have pets, or they don't care about them. Either way, no self-respecting and loving pet owner is going to claim that you're *supposed* to put your family pet on the roof of your car.

Slim Tyranny says: Michael, don't be purposefully stupid. Yes, you are "supposed to put a dog" in a crate when you travel. However (and this is the part where you are being purposefully stupid), the crate goes INSIDE the car.

Actually, Slim Tyranny, it's those who are drawing wild and sweeping conclusions about this incident who are being "purposefully stupid." The event occurred 25 years ago and
was related by someone who was 13 at the time. Who knows if things even happened the way they were recounted in the article?

It's ironic, though, that had the article stated the dog was "inside the station wagon cuddled up next to the kids," none of these posters would have said a thing. And yet, that's a far more dangerous place for a dog to be when traveling -- completely unprotected in a sudden stop.

It would make no difference to a dog whether the crate in which it was riding happened to be secured to the roof. They're still in a safe and confined area and the article makes it clear that, in the case of Seamus, he was also protected from the wind. It's a heckuva lot safer than the dogs you see riding in the back of a pick-up truck -- completely exposed to the wind and also obviously loving every minute of the ride, by the way.

Valentinian, if Rush or Pat or Sean had even thought to accuse Gore of such a thing pre-2000, irrespective of whether such a thought had ever occurred to Gore, the Washington Post would still be alluding to it as fact.

Ahh, and the pet torturer contingent is heard from. Thanks drfranklives. Hope your neighbors are monitoring the pet deaths in your neighborhood. Or are you a Neil Young Southern "man" perhaps? Either way, oy, your poor neighbors.

This proves my longheld contention that the Boston Globe is the worst newspaper in the world.

Nobody at the Globe reading this story saw this coming.

They are all brain dead.

Michael F, you have Joke Line's 'I was wrong technically but correct substantively argument down cold. Congrats, I guess.

Judy Nathan Giuliani thought this story was no big deal.

Jus google her name and puppies. Trust me :)

pet torturer contingent?

Dude, you've got some serious issues.

thanks, trifecta! i bet judy and mitt were separated at birth, or at least went to the same dog trainer.

that said, what's all this i hear about strap-ons and dogs?

Is this the best yo can do by bashing Romney. I don't even like the guy, but is this journalism.

WOW, you don't have much to say since the Imus bashing is out of fashion.

Who are the people (who aren't, you know, 14-year-old California surfer types) who use the word "dude?" That's a story right there, Time mag. Now I've seen K-Lo on NRO use it, I guess trying to be, um, cool? But, seriously, what's that all about?

cfaller96:

Before you start waxing quite so self-righteously, a few pertinent questions for you and anyone else criticizing Romney:

Are you among those who don't give a second thought to driving around with your dog unsecured in your car?

Even worse, are you among those I see running around with little FeeFee sitting in your lap -- between you and the steering wheel?

If so, you're putting your dog in far more danger than Romney ever did his. Such nauseating hypocrisy.

I know some pretty stupid, careless people, but none of them, not one, would have done this to a dog.

The reason Michael F's argument is so effective is because Seamus, the Irish setter, would obviously have been aware of the immense improvement in his odds of surviving a car crash if he was put in a crate and strapped to the roof of a car travelling at highway speeds, compared to being inside the car, and hence, would in no way have been terrified by the experience.

Well, except for the part about a crate strapped to the roof of the car NOT being a remotely safe place to put a dog; Irish setters not actually understanding the physics of automobile crashes; and the dog literally shitting itself in terror. Other than those niggling details, he's totally right about the wisdom of strapping dog carriers, with dog, to the roof of your car and driving to Ontario.

A dog that can stick its head out a window, or move away and lie down on the seat, might well enjoy the wind in his face. That doesn't mean that being strapped to the roof of a car is fun for a dog.

This is how republicans treat animals. Just look at Bill Frist who adopted cats from animal shelters, kept them as pets for a month or two, and then vivisected (live diasection) them.

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22bill+frist%22+vivisect+cats&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

The sick thing is they seem to tell these stories as though they are just another goofy anticdote. Why does the John Edwards haircut get endless coverage when stuff like this seems to get mentioned once or twice before being forgotten all together? I'm glad that this story is getting play here atleast.

"People keep saying the dog was "strapped to the roof of the car." NO. The dog was in a crate -- exactly where you're supposed to put a dog when you travel. The dog was also protected from the wind and elements."

uh, no, the dog was not protected from the wind and the elements. Basically Romney put a "windscreen" in front of the cage, leaving the sides of the cage exposed to the elements.

But what i find most interesting is something mentioned above --- Tagg's reasons for telling this story. Either Tagg is completely brainwashed, or he is acting out his own trauma related to this incident in a passive/agressive manner.

The dog was freaked out not merely enough to crap itself, but to be diarhetic -- so I think its safe to assume that the dog was barking/crying during the trip. Personally, if I was a thirteen year old, and the family dog was being tortured, I'd be traumatized.

I'd be begging my dad to let Seamus into the car...he could sit with me, I'd make room for him. But one gets the definite impression that any serious protest about the treatment of the dog was forbidden by Mitt --- in the same autocratic manner that the kids were told to control their bladders, or else.

Here's the thing....dogs don't crap in their cages unless they are in extemis. Dogs may enjoy rolling around in dead birds, but they don't roll around in their own crap.

(one minor quibble with Ana -- rather than go to PETA, could she not have gone to the SPCA?)

and one other thing....I would never transport my dogs in an airplane, because that is also tortuous to the animals, to the point where quite a few die in transit

http://www.sfspca.org/advocacy/pdf/pdf_airplanes/airplane.pdf

He was always so good to me.

Vote Daddy 2008!

He was always so good to me.

Vote Daddy 2008!

IMPEACH HIM NOW!
THROW HIM IN JAIL!
BAD GOPER!

If he had done this to his cat I would vote for him.

Imagine the terror that poor animal experienced.

If Romney would treat a helpless, trusting animal in this manner then what is his attitude toward the weak and helpless in our society. Makes me want to vomit.

McCain dumps the wife who stood by him while he was a POW and marries into a wealthy family able to finance a political career.

Giuliani beds his girlfriend in the same house where his wife and children sleep, then tells the public before he tells his wife that a divorce is pending.

Fred Thompson works as a lobbyist for fat cats and fast money hustlers while he appears in a rented red pick-up truck to look like a good ol' boy.

and Gingrich serves the wife who put him through school with divorce papers while she's in a hopital bed recovering from cancer.

In my life I've personally known all too many Republicans who've exhibited the same sterling character.

The dog Seamus was not listening to Mitt, it should have waited 'till the next gast stop, car full of people and no one thought about the prisoner upstairs, out of sight out of mind i guess.

The article was a plant by his campain staff, lets praise stupidity

" I don't think putting the dog on the roof was all that bad."

Doesn't seem all that bad? The dog emptied its bowels all over the car. In short, it was terrified.

What part of that doesn't seem all that bad?

Is this how low we've sunk as a nation when we produce candidates who are either cruel, stupid or (most probably) both and people who actually think its not "all that bad."

" I don't think putting the dog on the roof was all that bad."

Doesn't seem all that bad? The dog emptied its bowels all over the car. In short, it was terrified.

What part of that doesn't seem all that bad?

Is this how low we've sunk as a nation when we produce candidates who are either cruel, stupid or (most probably) both and people who actually think its not "all that bad."

Probably half the people in here posting about how awful Romney was to his dog

a) don't buckle their kids when in a car
b) don't know where their kids are after school
c) don't know who their kids run around with
d) leave it up to the schools/peers to teach about sex and its consequences
e) don't know their kids do drugs or drink alcohol

Now THAT is scary. Much more so than a third rate second tier candidate for President.

"No, no, you've always had that wrong about me.
I really am this shallow."

Well, let's see: It's a station wagon. 15 years ago, The dog was in a dog carrier - strapped to the roof - with a protective windscreen, and it survived the trip and continued as a beloved family pet. Is this the same event all these folks are talking about?
Get a life!

If I had $350million,or $1 million,my dog would have his own car and driver for a move!

Sorry but you don't put a dog up on a carrier on the roof for 12 hours. You take the dog with you. You take the dog inside the car or SUV or station wagon, not on top like a trophy deer after it gets shot.

This story will sink Willard Romney most likely. pet lovers will not like this mistreatment of animals.

I do expect Republicans to begin attacking people who repeat this sad story because it's all about the money, the tax cuts, the punishing of the poor and the middle class and the profits oover people's lives values of the Republiklan party leaders.

What kind of man calls his dog Seamus and his son Tagg.

What is also very revealing about this incident is the lengths to which apologists will defend Romney's actions.

They can't even admit it was a stupid, reckless thing to do to a family pet. Michael F wants to pretend dog crates are SUPPOSED to go on the top of a car. Caljimw thinks that the "protective windshield" plus survival means all ended well for the pet (other than the shitting-itself part, I guess).

What kind of people will defend this to the point of saying it was the RIGHT choice to make? Note to the apologists: once you go this far, your opinion starts to become especially worthless.

maybe he plans to replace waterboarding in guantanamo with this method of interrogation. "If it worked for Seamus, it'll work on terrorists!"

Boy, this is really a city-bred discussion. There are people who still consider dogs outside creatures. This incident occured in the eighties, think how much more prevalent that kind of thinking was then. I'm not saying the dog should have been there, but it wasn't considered "maliciously cruel" at the time.

By the way, not letting your dogs ride in pick-up beds is crazy! What kind of crazy liberals have you let run amok in your states?

Boy, this is really a city-bred discussion. There are people who still consider dogs outside creatures. This incident occured in the eighties, think how much more prevalent that kind of thinking was then. I'm not saying the dog should have been there, but it wasn't considered "maliciously cruel" at the time.

By the way, not letting your dogs ride in pick-up beds is crazy! What kind of crazy liberals have you let run amok in your states?

"Boy, this is really a city-bred discussion. There are people who still consider dogs outside creatures. This incident occured in the eighties, think how much more prevalent that kind of thinking was then. I'm not saying the dog should have been there, but it wasn't considered "maliciously cruel" at the time."

SUre, despite the fact that all of us are well over 15 years old, and have never heard of treating a dog in this fashion, "it wasn't considered 'maliciously cruel' at that time." I mean, get a clue.

"By the way, not letting your dogs ride in pick-up beds is crazy! What kind of crazy liberals have you let run amok in your states?"

what kind of conservative morons show up here? Go take a ride on any interstate...you don't see dogs in the back of pick-up trucks. And this isn't a story about a rural dog who travels in the back of a pick up truck on a trip to the General Store. Its about a "citified" father who engages in an act of extreme cruelty to a family pet.

Can someone tell me why the GOP is still synonymous with "family values"? Maybe the new Dem slogan should be "GOP = Family Values of Christian Sadists" and showcase Mit, Ann Coulter, and Dick Cheney.

Well, anonymous, I'm about as far out in the country as you can get, and yes, it makes you sooo happy to see a doggie in the back of the pickup, along with all the laughing kids, then sooo sad later to read about the big splat. So you get two emotions for the price of one, really. Even better, the herd gets thinned.

There's a sort of creepiness to this thread, and it has to do with the interweaving of Clark Griswold's hilarious goof, and Tagg Romney's hilarious retelling of a hilarious family vacation.

Maybe all these Republicans and apologists for them think the National Lampoon Vacation movies were documentaries.

Note to Mittens: You have plenty of money. Board the dog in a kennel.

An interesting story for somebody trying their best to find any character flaw in this man. Is this the best you can do? You must try harder than this.

The likely story here is that like any other American family they took their dog with them on a family trip. Very possible the dog took ill during this time and was not fit to be riding with them in the car. So, the next best option was to place the family dog in a PREPARED location on the roof of the vehicle.

I find it highly unlikely that the dog found this to be too much of any issue. How many of you have ever been driving down the highway and viewed unrestrained dogs in the back of open bed trucks going down the highway? Or a dog with its head out of a window of a car going down the highway? I would suggest that this is not something that dogs find unusual. Likely the wind in their face is enjoyable.

I highly doubt that the dog had any issues with this situation, given their propensity to seem to enjoy riding down the road with the wind in their face.

Why do we as humans feel compelled to place human emotion on everything we come in contact with? How do we assume that the dog was so afraid that it defecated in fear? Certainly we as a human would feel fear under these circumstances (which is why this story get any air time), but this can not be assumed for other creatures.

As for squirting the dog down to clean it up - would you rather the dog sit in its own excrement or would you clean your dog off also once you found out that it was dirty?

Given this probable scenario this situation does not seem to far fetched.

And, by the way where did the prejudice comment about “Mormon efficiency” go, that was included in the original version? Why was that edited away from the original version of the blog? Perhaps your true purpose behind this post was revealed in your prejudice against this man and his religion, and in an attempt to seem more credible - you edited it away…hum…interesting…

"I see a few commenters have already shrugged their shoulders about Mitt's treatment of his family dog, and I find that interesting."

I wish DNA experts would identify the defective/missing gene that causes these people to become GOPers. That way we can insist that our children and grandchildren have their future spouses tested to avoid the devastating consequences of breeding with these people.

Remember what happened when Pres. Johnson picked his dog up by it's ears? It makes Romney look extra stupid because he learned nothing from that incident. Then when Bill Frist took cats from a shelter under false pretenses just to experiment on them, Romney didn't get the message then either. It's pretty easy to figure out what's wrong with him.

Nice story you pulled out of your butt, there, Anonymous.

(Ref: The likely story here is)

.

The other Anonymous: I'm with you, Bro.

(Ref: That way we can insist that our children and grandchildren have their future spouses tested to avoid the devastating consequences of breeding with these people.)

.

I hope that our efforts here and Time's continuing coverage of what I will refer to as Doggiegate will lead to the withdrawal of Romney as a candidate and then there will be one less GOPer. We must find other scandals and skeletons and use our collective powers until there are no GOP candidates and our way is clear for a President Obama or President Clinton. I think immigration will do McCain in, so we don't need to worry about him. We do need to find more dirt on Guillani (and marriage/wifes won't do it) and especially on Thompson.

This was all Bush's fault.
If only Gore had been elected in 2000 then none of this would have happened.

"It would make no difference to a dog whether the crate in which it was riding happened to be secured to the roof.
--Michael F"

Let me guess: You've never had a dog.

"They're still in a safe and confined area and the article makes it clear that, in the case of Seamus, he was also protected from the wind."

Oh yeah ... I know lots of dogs that, when totally happy, have explosive diarrhea. I've seen that tons in the numerous dogs I've owned over the past 30 years.

"It's a heckuva lot safer than the dogs you see riding in the back of a pick-up truck -- completely exposed to the wind and also obviously loving every minute of the ride, by the way."

And show me one single post where anyone here posted anything about dogs riding in the backs of trucks as being okay. (Oh, BTW, I live in Missouri and see dogs in the backs of trucks all the time ... trucks with a "Bush/Cheney" sticker right next to their rebel flag).

You see, when non-psychotic and decent people travel with their pets, they either: a.) put them in a crate INSIDE the vehicle while putting the luggage OUTSIDE of the vehicle; b.) put the dogs in a harness which they then attach to the seatbelt.

Anyone who does otherwise, or tries to justify doing otherwise, is a f***ing idiot.

Period.

Mitt is a walking POS for treating a loving and trusting animal this way.
It also shows his completely rigid personality in not allowing any unscheduled stops. What fun.
But still, I'd love to have a beer with him- just so I could cuss him out in person and let him know what a POS he is to his face.

Mitt's act was not just cruel, it was dumb and unnecessary. The story reflects a lack of common sense, since the problem had other solutions. The number of empty seats inside the car was at least 1, and possibly as many as 3.

The Globe presents it as a story about crisis management, but the crisis was easily avoidable. We don't need another president who's cruel (remember what Dubya did with frogs and firecrackers, long before he applied the same attitude to prisoners), but we also don't need another president who blunders into crisis on account of poor planning. He's supposed to be smart, but maybe his intelligence is of a shockingly narrow variety.

Lots of facts and proof here: http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2007/6/27/15342/6665/474#c474

God has a special place in hell for for you Mitt and the other nattering posters who think rooftopping dogs for 12 hours without a break is cool. Mitt you say you are a smart guy so you can figure it out. Don't forget it includes wallowing in your low fiber waste for all eternity. See ya soon. Lassie

What a stupid item for a news story -- something that took place back in the early 1980's. Give me a break. Is this as much dirt as anyone can find on Romney?

I've been poo-pooing this story, but Brad Delong makes a good point:

"[I]t is extremely unusual and a sign of great distress for a dog to defecate in anything that it regards as its den--like a dog carrier."

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2007/06/the-wall-street.html

PETA kills pets and thinks ALL pets would be better off DEAD!!!

Most of the postings here are bewildering. Somehow an incident that took place more than twenty years ago -- in an era before mini-vans and SUVs -- somehow makes Romney and all Republicans evil, cold-hearted people.

The irony is that those making allegations of animal abuse, are the same that advocate abortions -- even late-term ones. This no story at all. Enough of the pious comments on how to treat a dog from those who have no issue with a fetus having its brain punctured.