The incident: dog excrement found on the roof and windows of the Romney station wagon. How it got there: Romney strapped a dog carrier — with the family dog Seamus, an Irish Setter, in it — to the roof of the family station wagon for a twelve hour drive from Boston to Ontario, which the family apparently completed, despite Seamus's rather visceral protest.
Massachusetts's 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." An officer for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals responded to a description of the situation saying "it's definitely something I'd want to check out." Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals:
"...it is commonsense that any dog who's under extreme stress might show that stress by losing control of his bowels: that alone should have been sufficient indication that the dog was, basically, being tortured." Romney, of course, has expressed support for the use of "enhanced interrogation" techniques when it comes to terrorists; his campaign did not return repeated calls and emails about the treatment of his dog.If I were Seamus, I'd have had quite a bone to pick.
10 Comments:
Hey ME!
Yep, we are uncanny, aren't we?
Ha, yeah, add in more poop, another kid, a couple of cats, and his wife and form a pyramid. They could call the roof of his car Abu SUV.
Unbelievable.
I'm just sitting here with my mouth open in amazement. What a tool!
Another thing about this story that blows me away is that the kids now probably think that this is an appropriate way to treat your pet.What a roll model he is for his kids, eh?
Just another example of how twisted, cruel and inhumane REPUBLICANS can be.
How could anyone vote for such an evil, immoral person for president ?
Just think of what he would do to belong he doesn't like !
Excuse me. But isn't it true that in 1983, Yes 1983 when this event supposedly happened that it was legal to hold your baby on your lap in your car? Does that make everyone who did that THEN guilty of child cruelty NOW?
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, 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
I can't even believe this is news worthy. Give me a break. Is this as much dirt as anyone can find on Romney?
No, anon., it's only the most recent and visible. It's early yet.
anon
Ummm...since it was already mentioned in the story, do you read?, it was illegal to put a dog on top of a car while traveling. So,yes, it does make Mitt guilty of cruelty and breaking the law.
May not be news worthy to those who don't care about the rule of law, or the fact that the law was made because it was cruel, nevertheless...it is newsworthy.
With the story having been presented as an illustration of Romney's "crisis management" chops, it's actually pretty important to consider the incident. It's clear that somebody in the campaign, if not the family, was comfortable putting out the story as if building some legend or narrative about Willard "Mitt." I don't recall the detail of who told the journalist, but it's quite possible this is an internal family legend that they've laughed about for years, and that the campaign and the family is one and the same for all intents and purposes.
It's not "digging up dirt," you need to disabuse yourself of that notion. It's analyzing the narrative the candidate has fashioned to discover whether it's representative and durable as offered. Whoever thought this episode would be a positive contribution to the narrative should have run it past a few strangers.
Post a Comment
<< Home