Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney Transported Irish Setter Seamus on Roof of Car For Twelve Hours
What the heck was Romney thinking????? Would he have packed his child into a box and strapped it onto the top of the car to ride for twelve hours?
I guess Seamus was lucky that Romney didn’t think he should have simply tied him to the car so he could get some exercise on the way…
I think I can safely go on record at this point as NOT supporting Romney for President.
Thanks to Mila’s Human for barking in this revealing set of articles.
Thanks to Boston.com for the original article in which Romney tried to show his crisis management skills by not freaking out when the Irish Setter who had been riding on top of the car in a crate for twelve hours had diarrhea.
Journeys of a shared life
Raising sons, rising expectations bring unexpected turnsBy Neil Swidey and Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff | June 27, 2007
The white Chevy station wagon with the wood paneling was overstuffed with suitcases, supplies, and sons when Mitt Romney climbed behind the wheel to begin the annual 12-hour family trek from Boston to Ontario.
As with most ventures in his life, he had left little to chance, mapping out the route and planning each stop. The destination for this journey in the summer of 1983 was his parents’ cottage on the Canadian shores of Lake Huron. Romney would be returning to the place of his most cherished childhood memories.
Even for someone who had always idolized his father, the similarities between his path in life and the one George Romney had cut before him were remarkable. Husband to his high school sweetheart, father to a brood of young children, bishop of his local Mormon church, and businessman on the threshold of life-altering success.If anything, 36-year-old Mitt, who had just been tapped to lead a new venture capital firm, was on track to achieve more at a younger age than his famously overachieving father.
His father had known poverty as a child, Mitt only privilege. His father had succeeded without a college degree while Mitt was launched with the finest educational pedigree. Given all his advantages, Mitt seemed restless to make his mark sooner.
Before beginning the drive, Mitt Romney put Seamus, the family’s hulking Irish setter, in a dog carrier and attached it to the station wagon’s roof rack. He’d built a windshield for the carrier, to make the ride more comfortable for the dog.
Then Romney put his boys on notice: He would be making predetermined stops for gas, and that was it.
The ride was largely what you’d expect with five brothers, ages 13 and under, packed into a wagon they called the ”white whale.”
As the oldest son, Tagg Romney commandeered the way-back of the wagon, keeping his eyes fixed out the rear window, where he glimpsed the first sign of trouble. ”Dad!” he yelled. ”Gross!” 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.
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.
Follow this link to read the rest of the article.
And Romney’s response to the criticism? “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.”
So Romney tells us 1) this cruelty happened more than once and 2) he doesn’t even understand he did something cruel and stupid. Someone PLEASE get this man a course in sensitivity training immediately!
What kind of a father teaches his sons to abuse a dog in this way? Not a good one. What’s the lesson? Dog’s are chattel to be stuck in boxes, transported however you want no matter how hurtful it could be to them? Then when its apparent the dog is in distress the boys’ responses are not to worry about the dog who is their family companion; their responses are simply that the runny defecation is gross! Gosh, how grossed out would they have been if that crate had fallen off the car and the dog had been violently killed?
What an amazingly empathetic family! Sheesh!
Here is an article from The Washington Post on the reaction from those of us with with the good sense to realize Romney’s actions didn’t show coolness in crisis (one which I should point out he actually caused through his inhumane actions); his actions suggest an almost pathological lack of empathy. Not exactly someone I’d like to see as the next US President.
Romney Accused of Mistreating Family Dog
By GLEN JOHNSON
The Associated Press
Friday, June 29, 2007; 4:03 PMBOSTON — 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.”
Follow this link to read the rest of the article.
Andif you think only dog people are ticked off at Romney, check out political blog Wonkette for their satirical comparison of Romney’s callous behavior to the tortures of Abu Ghraib:
Mitt Romney Swears Those Abu Ghraib Prisoners ‘Enjoyed It’
Oh my dog! How cruel! I sure won’t vote for this sick jerk!
I still support Romney. Something does not sound right about this story…kinda sketchy.
He is a noble man with great values and would make a fine President. I doubt this story has anything to do with how he treats his animals.
This one story would bring down the candidate when it is between, say, Romney and Clinton????????????????
Harsh.
Not that putting a dog on top of the car is not cruel, but this was 14 years ago and nobody knows if it happened each time a road trip took place.
I am trying to find out how this story came to be, 14 years down the road.
There are always left-wing wackos looking for dirt to dig up on a current candidate, no matter when or where it happened.
Yeah, comparing this to the twisted actions at Abu Ghraib??
Me, proud to be a registered Independent.
Does it really matter that it was 14 years ago? Show me how a person treats animals and you can get a pretty good idea of his character. I have a member of my extended family who treats animals poorly and I would not trust him to watch my dogs for a day let alone run the country! Shame on the Mittster!!!
Goldie and Somebody,
Thanks for barking in but I have to encourage you to read the articles.
This information was fed to the media by Romney himself. If you read through the Boston.com article you’ll see that he was trying to prove his leadership qualities by relating this incident. So this is not a “leaked” or hatchet job article. The whole series was designed to make Romney look good!
As for did it happen more than once, Romney himself made the point that Seamus rode on the roof quite a bit.
So to sum up, Romney proudly announced this incident as well as the fact that it was a regular occurance.
There’s no way around it… Romney showed poor judgment with his dog AND poor judgment in announcing his actions to the world.
Dogs are NOT BAGGAGE! Why does this need to be said??? What is wrong with people???
I would venture a guess that this story has just lost Romney quite a few votes!
I won’t vote for someone like that.My dogs are our kids,they have feelings too.I don’t care weather not the dog want up there or not.You don’t do that!
i don’t think that was a very nice thing to do. how would he like it if he was strapped to the roof of a car & went for a 12 hour ride on the highway?
You couldn’t pay me to vote for this man. I grew up in the era of paneled station wagons and long family trips but, this behavior is outragues. Fourteen years ago or today, unexceptable.
I posted this in Plus Info and Laws and Leg. I’m not American.. but I felt the American Dogster gang had a right to know who they may be voting for. Most Dogster members would find this to be grounds enough to bypass this clown.
Whether it happened 20 years ago or 20 months ago.. the fact is that still to this day he doesn’t see it as wrong and justifies it. And to say the dog “enjoyed” it.. how moronic can this guy be???
Thanks Kaiser for publicising this post and this issue! The US has such a large impact on the rest of the world it seems only fitting that even non-citizens would like to know this side of a potential US President.
If this person can not treat his own dog with the tinyest bit of dignity than we will not get any either!!!! Only a glory hound is this man and a liar to our faces. We need to listen to his Dog.
Nickolas
Wow.
Does this guy not understand that the amount of stress he put on Seamus was the likely cause of the diarrhea? Poor dog.
And what kind of idiot brags about solving a problem that they caused by his own lack of judgement? I think we can see many parallels in the current global condition, and would caution anyone who would think that this level of “unintelligence” is fitting for a global political leader (present leadership definitely not excluded).
Man, I feel guilty if I don’t put filtered water in my dog’s bowl.
I would categorize this as definite abuse. As a human or aminal guardian, it was and is his responsibility to ensure safety and well being for his family. He wouldn’t let his kids go play in the freeway, even if they thought it was fun, and even if they wore helmets. What an a-hole. He should not have had a dog (or probably kids, for that matter) in the first place.
I don’t think he’s going to ever understand that. He doesn’t think what he did was in any way even a problem. I didn’t know anything about him or his campaign. I frankly don’t even know what party he’s running under. But given the way he’s treated this, I guess I really don’t need to!
You have to read what his “supporters” have written on his fivebrothers website. It’s the only website I’ve found with comments about this that aren’t talking about how STUPID his actions were!
http://fivebrothers.mittromney.com/blog/comments/151
Another redneck Republican! I made a comment on the five brothers website but they read them before they are published so that’s why there are no negative comments there.
How about we put HIM on the top of the car in a crate for 12 hours. We’ll give him a windscreen so he’ll be more comfortable, and stop to hose him off occasionally.
It shouldn’t be too much of a problem, as long as we stay on schedule…
The reason I still support this candidate is because it was FOURTEEN years ago people!
This is a good man with good non-partisan morales.
I am not condoning what he did, it was terrible and probably a phase of lack of judgement.
If he is talking about it, he is probably regretting it and not trying to deny it. Sounds like a good guy to me who feels bad about what he did to Seamus.
Furthermore, if you are going to get upset about this, why not make hell over the millions of dogs who ride in the back of pickup trucks…and most of them restrained only with a leash or NO restraints at ALL!!!!!!!!
It is just as dangerous and stupid to transport a dog that way, even if the dog is crated. There are cases where the crate flies off of or out of the back of the pickup bed, even if the driver thought it was properly stowed!
My doG…libs will stop at NOTHING to find crap about whatever candidate they may be racing against!!
Let’s dig up all the #&%$ on Clinton and Obama while we are at it, okay folks!!
So glad not to be a part of Dogster anymore. It’s like an army of Libs an AR activists against the normal Americans.
Again, why not make hell about all the other candidates who have more than likely stowed their dogs in the back of their pickups.
How many of YOU have stowed your beloved furbabies in the back of your pickups, restrained or not?
Am I appealing to your emotions now?
That to me is an equally terrible and cruel thing to do to a dog.
Just because your favorite candidate screwed up does NOT make it a vast left wing conspiracy any more than the Democratic presidents screw ups were a vast right wing conspiracy.
I’ve been a republican, I’ve been a democrat. But I have NEVER put my dog on top of a car for 12 hours. Nor have
I ever put a dog in the back of a pickup, restrained or not.
My ENTIRE family goes in the car with me, or I get a bigger car.
Yes, 6 people and a large dog is a bit cramped on a 12 hour drive in a station wagon, but guess what? we did it on a 2 week driving vacation in the same kind of station wagon, and everyone including the dog survived. Interesting concept, How about putting the luggage on top.
AR activists against normal americans? Puleeeze! I don’t see normal americans transporting their Irish setters on the tops of cars.
The More I see of these sorts of posts, the more I want to go back to being a democrat. excuse me while I re-register to change party affiliations.
I’m sorry Goldie, but he has not shown ANY remorse for the action. He still claims his dog ENJOYED it!! Yeah, I wonder how much his dog would have enjoyed it had the straps come loose while he was going 80 clicks down the highway.
and HE brought it to the table.. it was not some conspiracy pulled out from nowhere. HE came out with it thinking it would make him look good. The guy is a tool!
Did you even READ the article??
Does it really matter how long ago he did it? No, not when to this day he still doesn’t think what he did was wrong.
Go ahead and vote for whomever you want.. that’s your right. But I honestly can’t see how a true blue dog lover could seriously vote for this guy.
Goldie,
Thanks for barking in. You have a very good point that putting dogs in the beds of pick up trucks is terribly dangerous. I completely agree! I cringe every time I see a dog in the back of an open pickup truck.
While many Dogsters and Catsters are involved in working to prevent animal abuse I don’t think anyone can call this blog partisan. If you read through the posts, I have made a point of shedding light on all dog and cat abuse, no matter who does it. I also have thanked Republican and Democratic politicians when they have made efforts to help our furfriends.
So if you have evidence that ANY public figure has done something good or bad in regards to cats or dogs, I want to know. If its provable then let’s share it with the rest of the Dogsters and Catsters!
I agree with Joy and others with this… No vote from me. Whether the dog enjoyed it or not, that is not how a dog should travel. The dog should be inside the vehicle with the other family members. I don’t know what the weather conditions were like that day but I can’t fathom letting my dog ride on the roof of a moving vehicle. It’s too dangerous!
He is supposed to be a well educated man, not some hillbilly hick farmer that might cart his dog around in the back of his pickup. I too abhor that kind of treatment of dogs in pickups but the fact that even today he still thinks it’s OK and funny that the dog pooped everywhere shows just what a moron he is.
[...] Here’s a link to the original blog post on Romney: Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney Transported Irish Setter Seamus on Roof of Car For Twelve Hours [...]
Wow. I just brought my puppy home for the first time, and I was so paranoid about her getting hurt, I had her in her carrier, seatbelted in, and still drove under the speed limit! How anyone could think it’s a good idea to put a living creature on the roof of a car, even for a short trip is beyond me. I am glad I heard about this now, I agree that things like this say much about a person’s character. Especially because much of what is said and promised during a political campain is written by someone other than the candidate.
Well, Romney just lost my vote, too!!!