http://www.time.com/time/nation/arti...638065,00.html

Wednesday, Jun. 27, 2007
Romney's Cruel Canine Vacation
By ANA MARIE COX

The reporter intended the anecdote that opened part four of the Boston
Globe's profile of Mitt Romney to illustrate, as the story said,
"emotion-free crisis management": Father deals with minor - but gross
- incident during a 1983 family vacation, and saves the day. But the
details of the event are more than unseemly - they may, in fact, be
illegal.

The incident: dog excrement found on the roof and windows of the
Romney station wagon. How it got the 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." The officer, Nadia Branca, declined
to give a definitive opinion on whether Romney broke the law but did
note that it's against state law to have a dog in an open bed of a
pick-up truck, and "if the dog was being carried in a way that
endangers it, that would be illegal." And while it appears that the
statute of limitations has probably passed, Stacey Wolf, attorney and
legislative director for the ASPCA, said "even if it turns out to not
be against the law at the time, in the district, we'd hope that people
would use common sense...Any manner of transporting a dog that places
the animal in serious danger is something that we'd think is
inappropriate...I can?t speak to the accuracy of the case, but it
raises concerns about the judgment used in this particular
situation."

Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals, was less circumspect. PETA does not have a position on
Romney's candidacy per se, but Newkirk called the incident "a lesson
in cruelty that was ... wrong for [his children] to witness...Thinking
of the wind, the weather, the speed, the vulnerability, the isolation
on the roof, 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.

As organizer of the Salt Lake City Olympic Games, Romney came under
fire from some animal welfare groups for including a rodeo exhibition
as part of the Games' festivities. At the time, he told protesters,
"We are working hard to make this as safe a rodeo for cowboys and
animals as is humanly possible."

I just saw a report on CNN. Mitt Romney claimed the dog loved riding up
on top of the car on the car carrier. That is really awful to think of
someone that irresponsible even running for President.


Be Free.....Judy

In article ,
Judith Althouse wrote:
I just saw a report on CNN. Mitt Romney claimed the dog loved riding up
on top of the car on the car carrier. That is really awful to think of
someone that irresponsible even running for President.

I hope you're not proposing that someone shoot him.

Anyway, I don't think it's irresponsibility as much as,
well, I don't know. Romney's always struck me as if he's
got a piece missing - much too cold or something. Even if
he were stupid enough to think it's okay to ride the dog on
the top of the car, once the dog lost control of its bowels
you'd think he could do a *wee* bit better than hosing it
off and leaving it up there.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

Oh Heck Nooooo Melinda,
I am not proposing shooting Mitt Romney for taking his dog on vacation
via the car carrier or for anything else for that matter.
He is fun to watch in political debates.
I just can't imagine even when the **** started flying he didn't see a
problem.


Be Free.....Judy

In article ,
Judith Althouse wrote:
I just can't imagine even when the **** started flying he didn't see a
problem.

I can't, either. Even if he didn't understand that the dog
was frightened the diarrhea should have been a big fat
clue. You know what they say about insanity being doing the
same thing over and over and expecting different results.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

"Judith Althouse" wrote in message
...

snip
I just can't imagine even when the **** started flying he didn't see a
problem.


Be Free.....Judy


Oh, what this simple phrase insinuates - especially if you take it
figuratively - many politicians in office don't see a problem when the ****
starts flying - that there, is the problem. And then again, literally -
well, I would assume he was driving forward, which, would make sense that he
never did see the **** start flying... but the poor guy behind him did.

In all seriousness - I feel horrible for the dog. I can't even imagine what
would possess someone to even *think* about strapping a dog in a carrier on
top of your car - for a 5 min. trip or a 5 hour trip...... I am completely
blown away by this story. sigh

I can't imagine how Atty would react if this happened to her - she so loves
to sprawl out on the back seat asleep on our pillows when we travel. This
would traumatize her to no ends.

Sue and Atty

on Sat, 30 Jun 2007 03:22:45 GMT, "Sue and Atty"
wrote:

I can't imagine how Atty would react if this happened to her - she so
loves to sprawl out on the back seat asleep on our pillows when we
travel. This would traumatize her to no ends.

Thankfully Atty and none of our dogs will ever have to know! (Heck, I felt
guilty for locking the kitten out of my room at 6 am this morning when he
wanted to play and I wanted more sleep.) Roxy rides in the car in the lap
of luxury, too and LOVES going for rides. That poor dog.

--
Lynne

(Melinda Shore) wrote in
:

In article ,
Judith Althouse wrote:
I just saw a report on CNN. Mitt Romney claimed the dog loved riding
up on top of the car on the car carrier. That is really awful to
think of someone that irresponsible even running for President.

I hope you're not proposing that someone shoot him.

Anyway, I don't think it's irresponsibility as much as,
well, I don't know. Romney's always struck me as if he's
got a piece missing - much too cold or something. Even if
he were stupid enough to think it's okay to ride the dog on
the top of the car, once the dog lost control of its bowels
you'd think he could do a *wee* bit better than hosing it
off and leaving it up there.

I saw a pickup truck with dogs in the back while driving on the freeway
the other day. The dogs were tied to something in the back of the truck
with prong collars. I was praying he didn't have to stop suddenly for
any reason. I wouldn't blame those dogs for pooping their figurative
pants.

Paula