that Americans love Dogs! I can't look at this character without associating him with Michael Vick, another Dog torturer.

and.....he's still an asshole.

It's only been after the massive revulsion that Mitt has backtracked and tried to justify his actions through lies (it was an "airtight cage, he made a windshield for Seamus, etc. ... yeah, right).

soul-less demon AND a liar.

why the dog eventually crapped himself- because he was soo comfy..

I don't think I could even vote for Bernie Sanders if I were to read that he did such a thing too.

It's called a karmic adjustment to clueless cruelty. If he can't feel remorse then he can feel acute disappointment at having one of his deliberate actions fuck his life and dreams up. This will go to his grave with him.

that says it all

just the THOUGHT...............



(she's not a dog, actually. She's my furry, sweet and pure baby)

How scared to death that poor dog was after 12 hours of being alone and isolated on top of a car, then hosed off wet, thrust back into the cage and made to endure it even further.

I wouldn't do that to my worst enemy. One of my best friends is a cat (she acts more like a dog than a cat, too, interestingly enough). She has never done anything but offer unconditional love. I had a humongous Doberman pinscher growing up, and he was 105 lbs. of pure devotion.

It really makes me wonder at the callousness of this man

Do slaughterhouses even terrorize animals for 12 hours straight? I would think not. At least their terror (or lack of it) ends quickly. This poor thing was subjected to hours of an unfamiliar environment, trauma of moving at high speeds, and an owner so callous that he just hosed the shit off of him and let him bear the cold of being on top of a moving vehicle at 60 or more mph.

... Never to be seen again.

I hope that some reporters follow up on this during the general election.

I saw an article not too long ago that said that Seamus ended up with Mittens' sister in California. Hopefully she's not as clueless or callous as her brother.

I don't trust him with the truth... One of his son's told a reporter "off the record" that the dog ran away in Canada... I'll look for the articles.

I hope Seamus wound up with a loving family, but why give away the family dog?

as cold a human being as her husband. I have to admit I'm assuming she was in the car also.

So he may have been sitting in a pool of water for the remainder of the journey.

He has no concern for anything other then his own success (or lack of it). Even the gullible braindead tea baggers see through his cliches and phoney promises.

Dogs like to stick their heads out windows when they ride in cars anyway.

Not at 75 mph for 12 hours straight genius

Are you sure he was going 75? I have had more than two dogs stick their heads out at 60 mph for more than a little bit of time. Of course, since they are standing up doing it, they do get tired after a while, and perhaps bored too.

You'd have to be going over 70 with staties out in force to attract notice.

Also, who pulls anyone over on the Trans Canada--the speed limit there is 110 kmh, and no one abides by it.

Anyone going 55 stuck out.

Yes, I did see, seemingly most of the rest of the cars passing me. I think I lost one road football game by a score of about 250 - 12. (Not sure I scored it right though, I figured 7 points when a semi passes me, 3 points when a car does and three points for me when I pass a semi and 7 for a car, with cars pulling trailers counting the same as semis.)

and able to bring it back inside at will is not even close to being trapped alone, outside and on top of the car, with no respite and no escape. That the dog ended up with diarrhea running down the back window indicates the distress and fear he experienced. That he "took to roaming" after that trip (obvious euphemism for ran away) indicates how frightened and untrusting he was of them afterwards.

It was illegal, dangerous to the dog, cruel, and *totally unnecessary.* It demonstrates that Romney placed higher value on their *luggage* which rode inside the car, than on their dependent dog trapped on the roof. It also demonstrates that Romney was too cheap to simply rent a vehicle large enough for the entire family to ride safely.

It is a clear indication of his judgement, or lack thereof. That it continues to appear in various versions in cartoons everywhere, and that he continues to try to spin it, shows that it most certainly is a story.

The dog "loved" the fresh air. It was in an "airtight container." He "built a windshield."

That's what it illustrates to me, clearly. He was a cheap bastard even rolling in money then, and he'll be a cheap bastard in office. If you don't have oodles of money, Romney is going to tell you to go to hell. That's what this says to me.

because they obviously treasure their possessions, but think of a living creature as just a "thing" with no feelings or rights.

But I assure you, it isn't a "non story" to most Americans.

Was this sarcasm, or does your compassion meter get stuck at zero all of the time?

Inquiring minds want to know. You seem awfully keen on supporting Romney against Santorum. Could it be that you want "the inevitable" to run against Obama?

If you want Romney to win the primary, just say so. Otherwise this prevaricating is just ridiculous.

Hmmm. Nearly 20,000 posts and not a star member. I'll keep that in mind.

But I do it anyway when I see rampant hypocrisy and questionable ethics.

Why don't you try it and report back to us

Hes like an evil Clark Griswald LOL

I'm not going to sit here and think I'm a stick in the mud because I liked Vacation and can't tolerate that behavior towards living beings in real life.

rear section and the back of the car with ice cold water from a gas station hose, and then continue on his merry way. I don't know about others, but when I'm soaking wet, a breeze feels like ice to me.

Compassionate conservatism at work and play!

but we like to pretend. We just "know" that is why the dog got sick.

Also, on a summer trip, is it a bad thing to be wet? It seems to me that my dogs are always hot. In fact, although they hate it, sometimes I soak them before I take them on a ride in a hot car on a hot day.

No dog shits in their crate unless they are in great distress. If you have dogs in your household, you should know that.

A wet dog "in" your car, "on a hot day" isn't the same as a wet dog on the roof of a car going at least seventy miles an hour.

You have no idea what the temperature was on that day--New England has a wide fluctuation in temperatures--so who's "pretending" here?

And more importantly, why?

This looks like a "ton of fun" for a dog, for 12 hours--not:

You ASSUME it was cold.

I say, not necessarily. It might have been warm or hot.

Actually if a dog has the runs, it might crap anywhere.

"More importantly: why?"

Yeah, that's nice. And I love the whole "anybody who doesn't see things my way, has issues".

Anybody who thinks like that is clearly psychotic (right back atcha).

Hint--not flattering, either.

You're also quite wrong about where a dog might crap. I've provided a citation from a veterinarian on that very subject elsewhere in this thread. Dogs who crap in their crates are under EXTREME stress.

I think we can say, quite safely, that you are not a veterinarian, since you think dogs crapping in crates is normal, and you think dogs panting in frigid temperatures means that they're "warm" and "fine."

She put him in there at bedtime. She was shocked and had mentioned it in passing to my sister that morning. My sister told her that something was wrong for Toby to do that. Mom took him to the vet and that was when she found out his kidneys were failing. We lost him not long after that.

The vet told her that is a sign something is very wrong. Dogs normally do not poop or pee in their sleeping space.

Your poor mom. I lost a dog to that as well. He went quick. It's so damn sad.

He was a member of the family and his loss was tough to take. To make matters worse, my mom's sister had passed away less than a month prior.

That sucks. She probably felt like she'd been kicked when she was down.

"anybody who doesn't see this my (my tribe's) way, has issues". I can argue that way too, if that is your preference.

I didn't ever say that for a dog to crap in his/her crate is normal.

However, when I have the runs myself, which I often do (and not just of the mouth, or the keyboard), I don't have a lot of choice about where and when I am going to crap. So crapping where you don't want to crap IS normal when one has the runs.

As for the Vet. Well, I remaing skeptical. It sounds a little bit like Dr. Frist diagnosing a patient from a picture. Unless the vet was there, she has no knowledge about what cause the runs. It may have been stress, but it does not have to have been. But let's not let a simple thing like facts, get in the way of our assuming we know.

If you had ever had a dog, you would know what people who consider their dog as something more than a possession know.
Dogs will do almost anything to avoid soiling their space.
Assuming that I was cruel enough to put a dog on a car roof and then the dog got diarrhea, I would be looking for a Vet, not a hose.

You had to make up words to try to rebut, and hope no one will notice. And you doubled down, and repeated your false characterization for a second time.

But see, I noticed. I noticed the first time and I let it slide. Now, I'm calling you on your mischaracterizations. Let's review, and remember, we're talking about putting a dog in a crate on top of a swiftly moving car for 12 hours:

But do go on with your assertion that "nobody knows that it happened that way".

"Nobody knows that it happened that way" when Bush invaded Iraq for non-existent WMD's, but surprisingly, it ended up being "just that way".

we don't know why it crapped, but we just love to ASSUME it was because the poor, poor dog was terrified. Because, lord knows, there is absolutely no other known cause for the runs. It MUST be Santa.

by the obtuse nature of your post, but unfortunately, I've seen worse.

I'll wish you luck with that line of argument, but I'm not going to say which type of luck I wish you. You probably don't need any luck at this point.

All bad.

Big difference there.

And cold hosing anybody with diarrhea is a really, really bad thing to do. Diarrhea may be caused by intestinal illness or by severe fright, but either way, it comes with internal chills and cramps. Regardless of the cause, it requires warmth and quiet rest to recover, not cold water and 60 mph wind for hours on end.

I have heard this story many times, but when I search, I only find re-tellings of the story.

Does anyone know when the first telling of the story occured? It seems to me that either Romney, or a family member would have had to bring it up...who else would know what happened on their family vacation.

I'm just curious if Romney brought it up, as an example of his proiblem solving skills, or something like that.

As the vehicle continued to go forth at whatever miles per hour hardly is better than going through the carwash.

Just what is your argument here? It's better to work 10 hours a day as a slave with no pay than to work 15 hours a day as a slave with no pay? It's better to be frozen to death, since that is more merciful, that being burned to death?

Wow. Prevarication and justification for cruelty all in one post you made there.

I am not really Bob Somerby, just because I like to his blog.

My own "blog" is here http://www.koch2congress.com/index.html

although I have not updated it in months.

I am barely keeping up with this one (actually not even) http://www.lvcodem.com/5.html

Perhaps if I "wasted" less time on DU.

But I still did get a chuckle out of this

Feb. 27 - Congress still has not done much. Passed another extension of the payroll tax cut. They also renamed a wildlife refuge after the late Sam D Hamilton, former head of the National Fish and Wildlife Service. Both Pelosi and Jenkins voted for that. Congress also gave some land to the Quileute Indians of Washington state. Again, Jenkins and Pelosi both voted for that. The Senate passed a resolution congratulating the New York Giants for winning the Superbowl, but true to the Do-Nothing Congress, the House version H.Res. 544 has been stuck in Committee since Feb. 8th.

I wonder if there has been any progress on H.Res 544. Maybe Tammy Baldwin is blocking it (tee hee)

She's gorgeous.

She's also the first, the very first poltician that I donated money to.

You never forget your first.

The joke is. There is a resolution to congratulate the NY Giants for winning the Superbowl. Tammy Baldwin might be blocking that - because she, like me, is from Wisconsin. And perhaps, like me, pissed off at the Giants for beating the Green Bay Packers - Wisconsin (and America's) Team. Other Congresscritters from New England might be blocking it too, but I don't know any of them.

I do have one beef though. She was Valedictorian of the Class of 1980, just like me. However, she graduated from Madison WEST and my dad is an alumnus of Madison EAST. I'm pretty sure that makes her the enemy.

She's pretty awesome.

Collins has mentioned the incident repeatedly, to the point of being accused of having an obsession about it, but the original source is a friend of the Romney family, who related the story to Neil Swidey of the Boston Globe. The Globe article, titled "Journeys of a Shared Life," appeared on June 27, 2007.

I can't make the DU link function work but here's the URL: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/06/27/raising_sons_rising_expectations/

I was joking about Collins, as the rest of my post makes clear.

That is perfect!

Why can't you allow us to walk and chew gum at the same time? Most of us can manage it.

If you don't like this thread, and you don't want to go on sounding like Mitt's campaign manager, you can always hide it, you know.

But you can't change the written record.

And your link? All that tells us is what I NEVER KNEW in the first place--that there was an unfounded assertion that Mitt drove through a car wash to clean off the dog.

Tagg simply verified that Mitt turned a hose of cold water on the dog and the car....the REST OF THE QUOTE:

The reporter heard it from a family friend, and asked the Romney's about it--they confirmed the story. It was just one segment of a seven-part series designed to show the miserable robot in a favorable light. I held that paper in my hands and read that article back in 2007.

The Globe has since "disappeared" that article, so you won't find it in a google search of Boston Globe/Romney/Seamus/Dog, 2007 etc., , but I have a LONG memory, and I found the fucking thing by googling for everything I remembered SAVE the dog about the article--and HERE IT IS:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/06/27/raising_sons_rising_expectations/

Here are the "money" paragraphs:

Whether you've ever owned one or not, you know that's just wrong.

they have been on airplane flights that way. They love their crate. It's their cave.

My own dogs cannot stand crates. My Jack chewed through a brand new plastic crate, ironically while I was at Demofest in Wichita promoting John Edwards for President.

I know that dogs love car rides. Except for Jack, who got carsick for his first year of life. Some of my bigger dogs, like Mitzi and Dot, are perfectly fine sticking their heads out a car window at 60 mph. Even Jett does that some.

I cannot believe that they went 12 hours without a bathroom break, or two, for the dog. But I crated Blake and Stryper when they were young while I was working twelve hour shifts. I didn't have a lot of choice, and they grew up just fine. Stryper grew to be bigger than his mom, Mitzi, who was already twice the size of Stryper's dad Boomer.

That doesn't mean that I strapped him to the top of a car, scared and alone. The dog shit himself, was hosed off, and then left to be wet AND cold on top of the roof. They feel the swaying of the car, and loss of contact with their families. In airplanes, they aren't subject to cold. This poor thing was, and not just for a few hours. 12 hours, getting hosed down because he shat himself and stuffed back into a crate for 8 more hours is unreasonable, and no amount of polishing on that turd will make it shine.

The dog is not scared and alone on top of the car. He's having a great time, just like most dogs on car rides. The dog shat himself. Well, dogs get diahrea, just like people.

And cold? Mitzi and Jack are never cold. I used to walk Mitzi in frigid temps like ten below and she would be panting. It seems like on a car ride they are always panting like crazy even when I am freezing. If Jack liked crates, I could hose him off on a 60 degree day, put him in a crate on top of the car and he'd probably be panting and hot most of the way.

Do you know in Topeka, Kansas it is apparently illegal to leave your dog in your car? I have now been pestered by the police or animal control twice, both times on cool spring days. Supposedly laws like these are being passed and promoted by animal LOVERS. Hard to believe, for me. I had a cop tell me, "why don't you leave them at home?" I wanted to smack her. What the fuck does she have any business telling me what to do on something that does not concern her. And yet some people, supposedly oh so concerned about the welfare of my poor, helpless dogs, would pass laws preventing them from doing one of the things they love the most.

Other people would be all judgemental and righteous about it. Oh, the poor dogs, abandoned in the car for hours.

Yeah, I don't buy it. For all I know, the dog got to Canada just fine, and lived happily ever after.

You do know that dogs also pant when they have experienced trauma (like extreme cold) or are in pain? No...I'll bet you don't know that, either. Good grief. I "don't buy" a single thing you have had to say on this topic. Not one thing.

The rumor is, the dog ran away. If true, I can't blame him.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/02/16/romney_s_dog_seamus_did_he_run_away_to_canada_.html

it's just so out-of-touch with what the dog is experiencing.

Also, whereas as you point out it's possible for a dog to have diarrhea during such a trip, like they can at other times, it is a lot more likely that Seamus defecated out of fear.

- Your words - because she told you not to leave your dogs locked up in the car, and that it would be better to leave your dogs at home?

Would you feel the same way if the cop told you not to lock up your baby in the car?

I hope to heaven that you don't have dogs, children or livestock.

You had me going there for a second

This is the best troll I've seen in ages. Cheers for great trolling!

I know, just needed to acknowledge it.

I'm back from a party that served the worst beer known to man, and I'm going to fall in the bed. Had great crawfish and shrimp though.

I am so good that I have been here six years longer than you have.

Oh, but I have heard that before. Some people think progressives march in lock-step and anybody who deviates - is really just a troll.

Here's the thing though. I have had now six dogs of my own, not including the 14 puppies and not including the three dogs of my childhood, or Penny, the neighbor dog who used to play fetch with me and ran free in the neighborhood when I was under 10. Mitzi, her son Blake, Vida, Dot, Jack, and their daughters Jett, (and briefly) Annie. Wow, seven, and I forgot Happy who I had for about three days until I determined that she had parvo and, on the advice of a vet, gave her back to the pound.

In my experience, not that that is universal, but generally when you get ready to go somewhere, the dog does not run away and hide, and beg with his/her eyes "please, please do not make me get in that car. Anything but that. Please, just let me stay home." No, rather, the dog does a happy dance, jumping around, virtually screaming "oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, let's go for a car ride!!!"

I would think that anybody who really owned a dog would know that. So when the cop said "why don't you just leave them at home?" Sounded a lot to me, like "why don't you just beat the crap out of them?" or "why don't you just deprive them of the thing they love the most in order to be absolutely sure that they will be safe because Big Brother knows best?"

Well, excuse me, but I am an adult. Almost 50 years old, and I will do what I can to bring joy into my dog's lives and have generally done a good job looking after their safety too. So as far as I am concerned, Big Brother can go fuck himself.

If you have ever been on a boat or a large bus you know the ride is rougher the further you are from the center of gravity, which is why the inside car is comfortable, but the on top, you will rock and jerk around, no matter how tightly a case is tied down. You can get seasick on things other than the sea. Dogs tend to like inside car rides, sticking their heads out for a while, not hours,. but my experience is they do not like to be jerked around, I could tell that by the different way my husband and the way I drove with the dog in the car. Slam on your breaks and you have an unhappy, if not injured dog.

Some dogs love crates, but do they like being in a crate on the floor or bouncing around for hours? When animals fly in crates (something I would not like to do to my dogs as so many get injured, lost or killed that way) there is some turbulence on take off and landing, but not for the entire trip unless there is something seriously wrong with the plane.

When judging this trip, you have to take into consideration, the lack of bathroom breaks for the dog, the lack of water for the dog, with possible dehydration, the lack of food, the distance from the center of gravity, the speed and the ability of the driver not to mention the air pressure on the animal. Truthfully, it would be less painful to travel the way cattle do on trains.
I think since the dog was given away, that there was no real attachment or affection for the dog - some monied people don't feed or walk or wash their dogs, they have servants or people they like to fire for that. Some people consider an animal an interchangeable accessory and it sounds like this family did as well. Reminds me of the South Park with Paris Hilton's dogs constantly committing suicide.

Right after getting to Canada, too.

At least that is what two of Romney's spawn supposedly said in an off the record conversation with reporters.

Stupidity has chimed in.

Started with "believing Romney" ended with "happily ever after"

I hope to fuck all you stop having dogs.

Go ahead jurors, have at it.

so I will not be called to adjudicate your post.

I'd vote to LEAVE IT, though. Some comments deserve an enthusiastic nullification, and yours is one of those. You're on the proper side of this issue.

I can understand the necessity of crating a dog for an airline flight. Planes don't crash very often. But that's not the case with luggage or crates attached by owners to racks on their cars. That's not very safe and crates aren't intended to absorb impacts at 70mph when they come loose, not to leave out collisions with cars. I consider tying a dog in a crate on top of a car almost as bad as the assholery of putting a dog in the open bed of a pick up truck.

Her dogs are tiny though, not big ones who can withstand some wind.

Besides, it would be logical to put the crate backwards. Most crates have a fairly solid back wall, which would block much of the wind.

Any dog that is not attached to a harness is gonna go flying in a car accident. Is my dog with his head out the window gonna be okay in a car accident? I sorta doubt it. Does that mean it is an awful thing to let a dog stick his head out the window. Some people think so, even some DUers.

I don't think so, even though I have had three dogs fall/jump out of moving cars (but survive mostly okay) and also had one dog killed by a faulty goddam window in a rented minivan. (Instead of stopping when you let go of the button, the stupid window would go all the way down, and then all the way up, even when a dog's head was sticking out the window.) If there's even a class action lawsuit against those stupid fucking jackholes who designed that crap, I want in. Blake was my favorite grandson, and he shouldn't have died at age 7. In fact, I spent almost $1,000 trying to keep him alive.

That was his space and he would go in there on his own when he was ready for bed. She closed it and he was fine until 6:30 the next morning. You could set a clock by that dog.

Maybe Mitt was trying to make his dog talk

n/t

should be greeted at every campaign stop by Dogs Against Romney protestors, we could bring our furry friends and make little Romney circled in red and crossed out dog tags and/or Seamus 2012 tags and signs.

use the name Operation Barkcheck or Barkcheck Romney.

Whether the poor dog was having diarrhea d/t illness, fear or any other conceivable reason, the Romney family reacted
without empathy. Diarrhea from a pet or person is nothing to laugh/chuckle about. Then to reminisce about it later as a
point of joviality as the articles suggest is also indication that the Romneys had no sense of shame or remorse.
As we know lack of empathy is a factor seen in narcissists and psychopaths. Cruelty towards animals and disabled is usually seen in youths that develop into narcissists and sometimes sociopaths.
Besides committing an unusually cruel act towards an innocent, helpless dog, Romney, as a father modeled this behavior to his children which of course will have lasting effects on them. He not only demonstrated lack of empathy, but also an inability to be a knowledgeable, compassionate father to his own children.
It is not the fact that the dog had diarrhea for some reason and what caused the dog to be sick, its the fact that nothing was done about it and that it became a laughing matter.


http://sam-vaknin.suite101.com/empathy-a11170

But this is the type of psychopath the GOP puts up.

But you can easily fix this grievous personal oversight by going to the nearest animal shelter and finding a lovable dog to adopt.

But more seriously, doing this to a dog is obviously cruel. My dog loves to stick his head out the window, but only for relatively short periods of time and he would freak out if his crate was put on top of the car. That is his safe place at home. Well at least when the cat doesn't steal it from him.

his treatment of Seamus check out my FB group, Operation Bark Check.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/164947586959037/