Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Would dog owners support Romney?

As a dog owner, I would never support Romney for any political office.  I love my two dogs and abhor animal cruelty.  The article from Time explains why Romney should not ever receive one vote from dog owners, and animal lovers.

TIME (June 27, 2007):


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 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....

....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 refused to comment about the treatment of his dog...

I've traveled with my dogs many, many times, and I have never put them on the roof of my car.  If you love your pets, and truly care for them, you would never put them in a place that is uncomfortable, cruel, or unhealthy.

Romney would never get my vote.  


By the way, Huckabee also has a dog problem (see YouTube video).