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Mitt Romney dog incident

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Seamus
SpeciesCanis lupus familiaris
BreedIrish setter
SexMale
Nation fromUnited States
OccupationPet
Known for1983 incident (see text)
OwnerMitt and Ann Romney; later, Jane Romney

Seamus was a pet dog owned by Mitt Romney and his family. Seamus, an Irish setter, was a subject of media attention for Mitt Romney in both the 2008 presidential election and the 2012 presidential election because of a 1983 family vacation where Romney transported Seamus on the roof of an automobile for twelve hours.

Incident

In June 1983, Romney and his family were preparing for their annual vacation from their Belmont, Massachusetts home to a family cottage in Beach O'Pines, Ontario. Seamus was enclosed in a carrier that Romney had equipped with a windshield and strapped on the roof of the family's Chevrolet Caprice station wagon. Sometime during the 650-mile trip from Massachusetts to Ontario, the dog became afflicted with diarrhea, causing excrement to flow down the windows of the car. Romney stopped at a gas station to wash Seamus, the carrier and the car, then put Seamus back in his carrier, and continued the twelve-hour trip to the family's vacation home.

Political response

The Massachusetts American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) stated that Romney's actions may have been illegal under Massachusetts law, though the statute of limitations has passed. Ingrid Newkirk, the president of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has labeled the incident as animal cruelty and torture. According to Russell Cummings, a professor of aerospace engineering at California Polytechnic State University, Seamus could have had around three pounds (ten pounds per square foot) of air pressure pressing against his head during the trip. Cummings' wife, a veterinarian, said that she was worried that the air flow could cause fatigue and dehydration of the eyes.

During a 2012 interview with Chris Wallace of Fox News, Romney stated that Seamus enjoyed being in the dog carrier, an "air-tight kennel," and that he was not aware of any violations of Massachusetts law. Ann Romney, Mitt Romney's wife, said that the news media had exaggerated the severity of the incident, and compared traveling in the roof-top dog carrier to riding a motorcycle or riding in the bed of a pickup truck. According to Snopes, the incident has been "pointed to as an example of Romney's emotion-free crisis management style. Others viewed it differently, regarding the mode of canine transport the dog was subjected to as unnecessarily callous and cruel."

During the 2012 U.S. Republican presidential primaries, candidate Newt Gingrich aired an anti-Romney attack ad that featured the story. During an appearance on the ABC show This Week, Republican candidate Rick Santorum stated, "As far as Seamus the dog ... the issues of character are important in this election. We need to look at all those issues and make a determination as to whether that’s the kind of person you want to be president of the United States.” In order to contrast Barack Obama with Mitt Romney, David Axelrod, Obama's chief political consultant, tweeted a picture of Obama and his dog, Bo, in the presidential limousine, with the caption "How loving owners transport their dogs".

Mark Halperin, the senior political analyst for Time magazine and MSNBC, opined that "for a lot of voters" the incident was "a serious issue". Scott Crider, founder of the Dogs Against Romney website, said that the incident had "struck a chord" because people "look at their own pet and say, ‘This is a member of my family. How can you even think about putting it on top of a car?’" Conversely, journalist Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post defended Mitt Romney's treatment of Seamus, stating, "Doesn’t the fact that Romney chose to bring the dog on the family vacation, rather than dump him in a kennel back home, suggest that he’s a dog lover, not a hater?"

In order to draw attention to the Seamus incident, there was a small protest outside the 2012 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York City. A Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey found that 74% of Democrats, 66% of Independents, and 63% of Republicans consider it inhumane to put a family dog in a kennel on the roof of a car. The poll also found that 35% of voters would be less likely to vote for Romney because of the Seamus incident, whereas 55% of voters said that it would not affect how they vote.

During an April 2012 interview with Diane Sawyer of ABC News, Mitt Romney said that the "Seamus attacks were the most wounding of the campaign so far." During the same interview, Ann Romney stated that Seamus got diarrhea from eating turkey off the table before the trip, and that the dog loved the crate. Scott Crider of Dogs Against Romney criticized Mitt Romney's comments, stating, "While last night was the first time Mitt Romney indicated he wouldn't do such a thing again, he qualified it by saying he wouldn't do such a thing again because of all the attention it got. In other words, he doesn't see anything wrong with it still, but he wouldn't do it anymore because of the political blowback it cost."

Blogger Jim Treacher of The Daily Caller responded to the Seamus story by pointing out a passage in Barack Obama's autobiography Dreams From My Father in which Obama recounted eating dog meat as a child in Indonesia. This resulted in tens of thousands of jokes and quips on the "Obama eats dog" story, responses from Obama and Romney campaign spokespeople, a statement from White House spokesman Jay Carney, and a response from 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain.The Daily Beast named the conservative "Obama Eats Dogs" campaign their "Meme of the Week". The founder of "Dogs Against Romney" defended Obama's eating of dog meat, saying that the Romney campaign "seems desperate".

Super PACs

In 2012, two super PACs, 'Mitt is Mean - The Animal Lovers Against Romney Committee' and 'DogPAC' were formed with the intent of publicizing the Seamus incident. The Mitt is Mean super PAC has the goal of raising at least $1,000,000, in order to inform voters of Mitt Romney's inhumane treatment of Seamus in ten swing states during the 2012 presidential campaign. DogPAC seeks to get more than one million people to put bumper stickers on their cars which feature a cartoon logo of Seamus’s ride.

Romney neologism

In 2012, in response to Mitt Romney’s road trip, web designer Jack Shepler created the neologism 'romney' which means 'to defecate in terror'. The neologism was inspired by the neologism 'santorum', which gay rights activist Dan Savage had created in 2003. Shepler stated that he set up a website, spreadingromney.com, which uses the new word, in order to draw attention to "Romney's mistreatment of a family pet" and "how Romney reacts to situations". According to Google and Bing, the romney neologism's prominent web listing is due to its popularity, and not because of Google bombing or search engine optimization.

Supplementary information

Seamus had the nickname 'Mr. Personality' because he was a social dog. A few years after his ride to Canada, Seamus was given to Mitt Romney's sister, Jane Romney of California, who said, "He kept ending up at the pound. They were worried about him getting hit crossing the street. We had more space, so he could roam more freely." The dog has since passed away. As of March 2012, New York Times columnist Gail Collins had mentioned the car trip more than 50 times.

References

  1. Jennifer Parker (June 28, 2007). "Romney strapped dog to car roof". ABC News.
  2. Jeanne Moos (January 13, 2012). "Mitt Romney 'dog-on-the-roof' story appears in Newt Gingrich ad". KSDK News (St. Louis).
  3. Neil Swidey & Stephanie Ebbert (June 27, 2007). "Journeys of a shared life". Boston Globe.
  4. ^ Barbara & David Mikkelson (January 21, 2008). "Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney transported a dog atop his car". Snopes.
  5. Ana Marie Cox (June 27, 2007). "Romney's cruel canine vacation". Time Magazine.
  6. Blair Soden (June 29, 2007). "Dog on roof? What was it like for Romney's pooch?". ABC News.
  7. Sue Kottwitz (January 8, 2012). "Dog politics: Mitt Romney, Seamus & the now infamous vacation". Zimbio.
  8. Ann Romney (June 30, 2007). "From Ann Romney". Mitt Romney - Road to the White House.
  9. James Oliphant (January 12, 2012). "New anti-Romney ad by Gingrich goes to the dog". Los Angeles Times.
  10. Kasie Hunt (January 14, 2012). "Attacks on Romney getting personal". Associated Press.
  11. Amy Bingham (March 19, 2012). "Santorum team doggedly resurrects Romney's Seamus tale". ABC News.
  12. Justin Sink (January 30, 2012). "Axelrod tweaks Romney over strapping dog to car roof". The Hill. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  13. Mark Halperin (January 15, 2012). "Newt: Seamus story paints a 'picture' of Mitt". Time Magazine.
  14. Jerry Kronenberg (January 17, 2012). "Canine support goes to the dogs". Boston Herald.
  15. Ruth Marcus (March 15, 2012). "Doggone it, stop hounding Romney". Washington Post.
  16. Hunter Walker (February 14, 2012). "Canine-loving protesters dog Mitt Romney outside Westminster Kennel Club show". Politicker.
  17. Tom Jensen (March 20, 2012). "Polling on Romney's 'dog problem'". Public Policy Polling.
  18. Russell Goldman & Emily Friedman (April 16, 2012). "Dog Seamus 'loved' trips atop family car, Says Ann Romney". ABC News.
  19. Morgan Little (April 17, 2012). "Mitt, Ann Romney defend putting dog on car roof; fallout continues". Los Angeles Times.
  20. Brett LoGiurato (April 17, 2012). "Dogs Against Romney: Mitt and Ann endorsed putting dogs on roof". Business Insider.
  21. Rachel Weiner (18 April 2012). "David Axelrod and Eric Fehrnstrom, Twitter frenemies". The Washington Post. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  22. Noveck, Jocelyn (20 April 2012). "Mommy Wars give way to Doggy Wars in Twitterverse". Associated Press. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  23. John Podhoretz (19 April 2012). "A really ruff race - Behind the dueling dog tales". New York Post. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  24. John Cassidy (19 April 2012). "From "Nugent Goes Nuts" to "Bam Bites Dog": The Phoney War of 2012". The New Yorker. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  25. Natalie Jennings (19 April 2012). "Obama, Romney dog fight: Carney and McCain enter the fray". The Washington Post. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  26. "Meme of the Week: Obama Eats Dog". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  27. James Crugnale (18 April 2012). "Dogs Against Romney Defends Obama Over Dog Consumption Revelations". Mediaite. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  28. Morgan Little (March 29, 2012). "Animal lovers' anti-Romney 'super PAC' aims to publicize dog tale". Los Angeles Times.
  29. Brad Bannon (March 28, 2012). "Will Mitt Romney treat you like a dog if he's President?". Mitt is Mean Super PAC.
  30. Julianna Goldman (April 12, 2012). "Campaign going to dogs as PACs fix on Romney pet's ride". Bloomberg News.
  31. Ron Carver (April 11, 2012). "Bloomberg News Runs with the DogPAC". DogPAC Super PAC.
  32. Doug Gross (February 17, 2012). "Is Romney developing a Santorum 'Google problem'?". Cable News Network (CNN).
  33. Melanie Jones (February 17, 2012). "Rick's 'Google Problem' spreads to Romney, Gingrich". International Business Times.
  34. Tim Dickinson (February 14, 2012). "Mitt gets his own 'Google problem': SpreadingRomney.com". Rolling Stone.
  35. "Google problem spreading from Santorum to Romney -- Newt next?". New York Post. February 16, 2012.
  36. Danny Sullivan (February 14, 2012). "Bing & Google: "Spreading Romney" ranking tops for "Romney" is normal". Search Engine Land.
  37. Scott Helman (July 10, 2007). "Introducing Seamus Romney, 'Mr. Personality'". Boston Globe.
  38. Kristina Chew (January 12, 2012). "The curious incident of Mitt's dog on the roof of his car". Care2.
  39. Philip Rucker (March 14, 2012). "Mitt Romney's dog-on-the-car-roof story still proves to be his critics' best friend". Washington Post.

External links

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