What our fascination with Mitt Romney’s dog Seamus says about our culture

I have written before that I grew up in a big family, with lots of dogs, in the 1970s. We had a station wagon and a large truck. We took our dogs all over, loose in the truck when we added the camper shell, and in the back of the station wagon. With five kids and four Dobermans, there is no way, my parents would have ignored such obvious distress from one of our dogs like that. Ever. Mitt Romney's lack of compassion for an animal, in 1983, is disturbing.

via www.bostonglobe.com

To recap: Sometime during a 12-hour drive from Boston to Canada in 1983, Mitt’s oldest son, Tagg, noticed a brown liquid running down the rear window of the family station wagon. Realizing the liquid was being discharged by their dog, Mitt pulled off the highway and into a gas station, borrowed a hose to wash down Seamus and the car, and then returned the dog to his rooftop carrier for the duration of the trip. Most media reports have accurately relayed those basics. However, exaggerations and faulty assumptions have been advanced, most notably by New York Times columnist Gail Collins, who has trotted out the ghost of poor Seamus in more than 30 of her pieces since 2007.

For me, in a nutshell, this last excerpt below by the author, is why I would never vote for Romney:

What is beyond debate, though, is that this far into this particular trip, Seamus had ceased enjoying his ride. Faced with such irrefutable evidence, most people, I suspect, would have relented and let the ailing dog cram into the back of the wagon, even if logic dictated that cleaning up a repeat episode of his gastric distress would be a whole lot messier than if he were returned to the roof.

Comments

[Vicki Cook]

The whole thing is just unbelievable. Who puts their dog in a carrier on the roof? And then to take the dog out, hose out the carrier, and put him back? It just shows a serious lack of judgement and/or compassion.

[Sharon/Cleo]

I agree Vicki. How people treat animals speaks volumes.

[Ryker's Boyz 'n' Allie]

We agree!
It reeeally bothers us to hear of an act of apparent callousness like this. (you see how we're trying to be nice & objective, but RILLY! Tied to the ROOF of a CAR?!?!?)