Romney's "dog story" is picked up by the Associated Press

I first posted this story on June 27, 2007, after finding it on Shakespeare's Sister, and the Boston Globe. You know the story--Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was going on a 12-hour family trip from Boston to Ontario in 1983. Romney placed the family dog, Seamus, in a dog carrier which was attached to the station wagon's roof rack. Romney then fashioned a windshield at the front of the carrier. Now this dog story was published by the Globe to show the trait of an emotion-free crisis management that Romney has used in his political and business career. Well, the story got picked up by the blogosphere, Time Magazine, and now the Associated Press through The New York Times:

BOSTON (AP) -- An example of Mitt Romney's crisis management skills has turned into something of a political problem for the Republican presidential contender.

Romney placed his family dog, an Irish setter named Seamus, into a kennel lashed to the top of his station wagon for a 12-hour family trip from Boston to Ontario in 1983. Despite being shielded by a wind screen the former Massachusetts governor erected, Seamus expressed his discomfort with a diarrhea attack.

Now the story, recounted this week in a Boston Globe profile of Romney, has touched off howls of outrage from bloggers and animal rights activists even though it was presented in the story as an example of Romney's coolness under trying circumstances.

When Romney's eldest son, Tagg, and his four brothers complained about the brown runoff down the back windshield, their father quietly pulled the car over, borrowed a gas station hose and sprayed down both the dog and the kennel before returning to the road.

''Massachusetts animal cruelty laws specifically prohibit anyone from carrying an animal `in or upon a vehicle, or otherwise, in an unnecessarily cruel or inhuman manner or in a way and manner which might endanger the animal carried thereon,''' wrote Steve Benen in a post on the blog ''Crooks and Liars.''

Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, told Time magazine's ''Swampland'' blog: ''If you wouldn't strap your child to the roof of your car, you have no business doing that to the family dog!''

Romney dismissed any outcry about the 24-year-old incident, saying the dog enjoyed his rooftop perch.

''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.''

Talk about getting doggy-doo on your face here. This just might haunt the Romney campaign here.

First, I understand that this incident took place 24-years ago, and that Mitt Romney probably didn't have any common sense when he embarked on this Clark Griswoldesque "Vacation." But what really angers me here is Romney's response to the incident--He scrambled up there every time we went on trips. He got it all by himself and enjoyed it. Romney doesn't admit that putting the dog in a cage, and strapping the cage up on the station wagon was a mistake, nor does he apologize for his actions here. In fact, he dismisses the story a joke--the dog loved it! Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! What is even worst is that the Boston Globe used the dog story as a positive highlight to Romney's crisis management skills, even though it was Romney who created the entire crisis himself when he stuck the dog up on the roof in the first place. And the Romney campaign had no objections to the Globe's printing that particular story. This was a stupid mistake--we all make our own share of stupid mistakes. But what is especially cold here is that Mitt Romney refuses to admit that he made a stupid mistake here with the dog. And if Romney refuses to admit that he made a stupid mistake here, how many other, more serious, mistakes will he refuse to admit to if he becomes president--especially if those mistakes will cost American lives?

On a final note, I propose that the Romney campaign adopt "Holiday Road" as their official song. From YouTube: