Dogs Crucial to Obama Victory:Lamont Analyzes U.S. Election U.S. Presidential Results
There were reports that between 2 and 3% of the American electorate would refuse to consider Mitt Romney for President because of the outrage they felt over his now infamous strapping of his sick dog to the roof of his car for 12 hours during a trip to his vacation home, stopping only to hose him down after he defecated all over the windows. And Mitt Romney said on Tuesday he would get a new dog if he won the election. Asked on his final campaign flight whether he might get a puppy if elected, Romney said "one of the benefits would be to get another Weimaraner."
Romney and his Dog
Given that the election as a whole, and in many key battleground states, was decided by less than 2% it is entirely possible that the dog vote was a key to Romney's defeat.
That might have been the clincher. Anyone who would strap a dog to the top of the family car for a TWELVE HOUR road trip has something wrong with them, like, say a pathologically severe lack of empathy.
During the car ride, according to Romney's own website, Romney's son "noticed a brown liquid running down the rear window of the station wagon" whereupon Romney pulled over into a gas station, borrowed a hose and washed down the dog, Seamus, and the car. Romney's website said it was an example of Romney's "emotion-free crisis management."
I personally was concerned I would end up like Seamus in a Romney administration.
Romney Takes a Vacation
In February, a satirical redefinition of the word "Romney" leapt from obscurity and into the limelight this by cracking a list of the top 10 Google search results for the Republican presidential candidate's last name. "Spreading Romney" referred to the Republican candidate, to the campaign's dismay, defines the word "Romney" as a verb meaning, "To defecate in terror." The page was #4 overall in Google's search results for the term "Romney" at time of this story's publication.
The Boston Globe reported in 1983 that the Romney family made a 12 hour drive from Boston to Canada with Seamus, their Irish Setter, in a crate strapped on the top of their car. Newt Grincich released an ad with a video and story about Romney's poor judgement. Romney's response was this was a completely air tight kennel, mounted on the top of our car." Then Romney went on: " He was in a kennel at home a great deal of the time as well.
Lamont Organizes his People
Here is a video of Romney commenting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPpaJrJecjA&feature=player_embedded
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."
"The president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says — "If you wouldn't strap your child to the roof of your car, you have no business doing that to the family dog." They 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." ■