On the road again with Mitt!

New Web Video Shows Mitt Romney Hounded by Dog Problem

Arlette Saenz
@Arlette Saez
Friday, February 17, 2012

It is clear that for as long as Mitt Romney is a candidate for office, his opponents will continue to drag up his dog problem. The fact that a quarter century ago Romney transported a dog in a kennel tied to the roof of the family car has become something of a legend and the subject of half-joking attacks by everyone from the Obama campaign to Newt Gingrich. The latest reminder is a video by MoveOn.org, a liberal advocacy group, that characterizes the former Massachusetts governor as “Bad for Dogs.”

The video splices footage from Romney’s web video “Mitt On the Road: North Country,” which features the presidential candidate driving a Ford SUV through New Hampshire, with video of a fake Boxer strapped onto the roof of an SUV with yellow tethers.

The video interchanges the letters in Romney’s name to spell “RMoney” in the style of the Romney logo with the phrase “Bad for Dogs” sitting underneath it.

Ending the video – a beagle bearing a sign reading, “I ride inside.”



Romney has faced a barrage of criticism for once placing his family dog, an Irish Setter named Seamus, in a kennel atop the roof of a car during a family trip from Boston to Canada.

Earlier in the week, a group called “Dogs Against Romney” protested outside the Westminster dog show in New York City “to ensure pet lovers are aware that Mitt Romney is mean to dogs,” according to a press release from the group.

ABC News’ Jake Tapper noted Democrats plan to make sure Romney’s dog problem continues to hound him throughout the election, and some Republicans already have taken advantage of Romney’s pet faux-pas.  Newt Gingrich’s campaign brought up the dog issue in a web ad attacking Romney’s electability argument earlier this election cycle.

New York Times’ Columnist Gail Collins repeatedly and consistently uses the canine incident in her columns, most recently tying in the story into a column about the politics behind the Susan G. Komen dustup earlier this month.

Postscript


It seems family pet Seamus had the last laugh. As excerpted from Michael Kranish and Scott Helman's recently released book, The Meaning of Mitt.

Then Mitt put his sons on notice: there would be pre-determined stops for gas, and that was it. Tagg was commandeering the way-back of the wagon, keeping his eyes fixed out the rear window, when he glimpsed the first sign of trouble. “Dad!” he yelled. “Gross!” A brown liquid was dripping down the rear 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, Mitt 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 road with the dog still on the roof. It was a preview of a trait he would grow famous for in business: emotion-free crisis management. But the story would trail him years later on the national political stage, where the name Seamus would become shorthand for Romney’s coldly clinical approach to problem solving.