(UPDATE II) The Romney Crate-Gate Scandal Deepens. Maybe.
While I don’t imagine that it will be a game changer in the mad charge for the Republican presidential nomination, animal rights activists have created a Web site to remind voters that Mitt Romney once put his Irish Setter, Seamus, in a carrier on his car roof for a 12-hour family vacation trip.
As the Boston Globe first reported in 2007, in 1983, Romney drove his 
station wagon packed with five sons and his wife on a 12-hour trip from Boston to Ontario, where his parents had a cottage on Lake Huron.
He took a dog carrier and attached it to the roof rack of the white Chevy station wagon with faux wood paneling (think National Lampoon’s Vacation), built a special windshield, and put his dog Seamus into the carrier, where the dog remained for the 12-hour trip.
During the trip, the Globe reported, Romney’s oldest son, Tagg, looked around through the rear window and yelled, “Dad — gross!” A brown liquid was dripping down the back window — diarrhea from an animal that just might have been caused by the stress of being inside a cage for 12 hours on top of a car going 60 miles per hour or more.
Here’s how the Globe described what Romney then did:
“As the rest of the boys joined in the howls of disgust, Romney coolly pulled off the highway and into a service station. There he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car, then hopped back onto the highway. It was a tiny preview of a trait he would grow famous for in business: emotion-free crisis management.”
Romney’s wife has said that Seamus lived to “a ripe old age,” but a tipster now tells Politicker that the dog ran off when the Romney family arrived at their destination. Romney’s campaign has not yet commented on the revelation, while Romney has said in the past that the dog enjoyed riding on the roof so much that he would jump up there on his on.
Meanwhile, a new Newt Gingrich add goes after Romney for the incident.
“This is a completely air-tight kennel, mounted on the top of our car,” Romney says in the ad, defending his dog placement in a Fox News clip. “He was in a kennel at home a great deal of time as well. It was where he was comfortable.”
The video then shows white words flashing across a black screen: “Imagine what Obama would do with a candidate like that.”
Was the dog distressed? Was it illegal under Massachusetts law as cruelty? There is evidence that both are true.
Click here for more.
59 Responses to “(UPDATE II) The Romney Crate-Gate Scandal Deepens. Maybe.”
R, please feel free to help me out by providing the answer you think I would provide.
No, I actually would love it if you would just answer the question. Again, I know I’m just a starry-eyed optimist, but I really would like to see you actually defend your position. Pretty please? It seems like others out there agree with you, I can’t for the life of me understand such a position, and I would be just pleased as punch to have someone explain it to me.
Ask, the others then, I’m signing off, nite.
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Duck,
Socks the Cat, who happens to be my favorite presidential pet, was never mistreated like that. And Clinton cried when Buddy died.
I don’t think you are getting the point. A person who can’t empathize with their own dog wouldn’t be able to empathize with the millions in this country who are hurting.
BB, I emphasize up the gazoo. I wouldn’t have done that to my dog. We have had cats only, but I love and dote on animals.
I apologize about Socks, I thought he had been left behind when the Clintons left the WH. My bad.
Perhaps I am bending over backwards, but I don’t think this story makes Mitt a non-empathizing person.
BTW: I do get the “point”, but I happen to disagree with it.
Duck- Socks, I believe, ended up living happily ever after with Clinton’s secretary– I think he could not get along with their dogs and was attacking them– and that is why the decision was made.
I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree- because I could never traumatize my cats (like you I have no dogs) rabbit, or bird on a long trip like that. I don’t think the dog would have had diarrhea if he wasn’t traumatized. I think most dog owners would see that as a bone headed plan.
In any case the issue will probably be dogging him through the election (pun intended)
American memories of Socks the Cat, the famous Clinton kitty, were strong enough to make the black and white feline the nation’s favorite first pet, beating Bo Obama by a few whiskers in our latest Whispers poll.
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/12/21/poll-socks-beats-bo-as-top-first-pet
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