Romney Strapped Dog to Car Roof (ABC reports)

ABC News ^ | June 28, 2007 | Jake Tapper

[jmyrlefuller]

ABC News' Jake Tapper Reports: Republican presidential candidate former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., has angered animal rights activists for strapping his dog to the roof of his car on a family trip from Boston to Ontario, Canada.

According to the Boston Globe, in one of the family's 12-hour drives to their family's cottage in Canada over 25 years ago, Romney strapped a dog carrier to the roof of the car for the whole trip -- with the family Irish setter, Seamus, inside.

Seamus protested in a scatological way, going to the bathroom on the roof of the car.

Animal rights activists reached by TIME Magazine said the tale seems a little cruel.

"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," Time quoted Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals as saying.

Newkirk said it was "a lesson in cruelty that was ... wrong for [his children] to witness."

[jmyrlefuller]

Now this is what I call a useless, laughable report.

The funniest thing about it is that this incident supposedly happened 25 years ago. Can we say hit piece??

[irishtenor]

That does it, he’s out of here.

[thackney]

What is the difference from the top of a car to the back of a pickup?

[Sybeck1]

Here in Mississippi, I see hunting dogs put in the trunk of cars all the time. It happens.

[wideawake]

I have to assume this is satire.

[lovecraft]

My dad wanted to do this to us kids all the time!

[LottieDah]

“The funniest thing about it is that this incident supposedly happened 25 years ago. Can we say hit piece??”

Just wait for someone to come forward and say that Romney farted in a dorm room in college.

[SnakeDoctor]

I’m not a huge Romney fan ... but that he strapped a dog to a roof 25 years ago isn’t really a relevant complaint (how in the WORLD does anyone find this stuff ... who is keeping records of Romey’s dogs BM’s?).

Good grief.

H

[Silly]

Seamus, Seamus, Seamus on him!

[RexBeach]

Well, I’m sure Seamus doesn’t bear a grudge about his “torture.” Of course, Seamus is probably pushing up the daisies by now. But what abhout his puppies? Do they bear any ill feelings against the former Massachusetts governor?

PETA people are putzes.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

At first it appeared that he did something like what Chevy Chase did in the movie “Vacation.” However, while not a good thing, strapping a dog carrier to the roof of a car is hardly animal cruelty.

[NonValueAdded]

And we would have loved it! At least for the first few miles, anyway.

[Defend the Second]

I am disgusted. We are at war, and this qualifies as news? Well maybe the Marines are at war, but America is at the mall.

[Clam Digger]

My dad wanted to do this to us kids all the time!

Mine did. :(

[elizabetty]

How much longer did old Seamus live after this trip?

[KJC1]

I think it’s really lousy, if this is true.

I suspect that everyone blowing this off and downplaying it would be doing the exact opposite if the person in question was Edwards, Kerry, Hillary, etc.

[jdm]

any dog who's under extreme stress might show that stress by losing control of his bowels

[nina0113]

Just wait for someone to come forward and say that Romney farted in a dorm room in college.

And LIT it!!

[KarlInOhio]

How could he have done this? Had he never seen how dogs cower from open car windows and try to hide under the seats?< /no animals were harmed in the creation of this sarcasm>

[doorgunner69]

At first it appeared that he did something like what Chevy Chase did in the movie “Vacation.”

LOL! That's what first popped into my head! Hilarious, if you like dark humor..........