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Mitt Romney dog incident

Date	June 1983
Location	Romneys' station wagon enroute from Belmont, Massachusetts to Beach O'Pines, Ontario
First reporter	Reported by Neil Swidey in The Boston Globe, June 2007
Participants	Mitt Romney, his wife Ann Romney, their children, and their pet dog Seamus
The Romneys' Irish setter, Seamus

During a 1983 family vacation, Mitt Romney drove for twelve hours with his dog Seamus on top of the car in a windshield-equipped carrier. Later, in both the 2008 and the 2012 presidential election campaigns, this incident became the subject of negative media attention and political attacks against Romney.

Road trip in 1983

The Romney family left their Belmont, Massachusetts home on their way to Romney's parents' cottage in Beach O'Pines, Ontario for an annual vacation along the shore of Lake Huron. It was June of 1983. Seamus rode in a carrier on the roof of the family's Chevrolet Caprice station wagon for the 12 hour trip. Romney had built a windshield for the carrier to make the ride more comfortable for the dog. During the 650-mile (1,050 km) trip, Seamus defecated liquid down the windows of the car. Romney stopped at a gas station to wash the dog, the carrier and the car. With Seamus back in the carrier, the family continued on their way.

Background about Seamus the dog

Seamus (/ˈʃeɪməs/ SHAY-muss), an Irish setter, was an active, outgoing dog, and was the Romney family's first pet dog. It is generally reported that, a few years after his ride to Canada, Seamus was given to Mitt Romney's sister, Jane Romney Robinson 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's date of death is unknown, but Robinson stated that Seamus lived on her farm until a "ripe old age."

Response in 2012 from the Romney family

During a 2012 interview with Chris Wallace of Fox News, Romney stated that Seamus enjoyed being in the dog carrier, and said that he was not aware of any violations of Massachusetts law. Ann Romney 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. During an April 2012 interview with ABC News, Diane Sawyer asked Mitt Romney about the Seamus story and if he would ever do it again. Romney replied, "Certainly not with the attention it's received", after which Sawyer stated, "You said it was the most wounding thing in the campaign so far", though it is ambiguous as to whether Romney agreed with this statement. During the same interview, Ann Romney stated that Seamus loved riding in the "crate", and that the dog's "runs" stemmed from eating turkey off the counter before the trip.

Other responses

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.” Santorum's view is at odds with that of Bill Wasik, senior editor of Wired Magazine:

Yet looking back on the Seamus Romney story today, what is most striking is its forgettability, how indistinguishable it seems in retrospect from the idiots’ parade of meaningless stories that came to define the campaign.

Journalists Mike Allen and Evan Thomas assert that Romney did nothing unusual:

Overlooked in the clucking over the incident is the fact that the dog was in a crate, probably little different from the dog kennels used to transport animals in the cold-storage compartments of airplanes. Romney had erected a barrier to shield the family pet from the wind. Romney, the family man heading to the lake, didn’t seem heartless at the time. But politics is a heartless business.

Scott Crider, owner of the website Dogs Against Romney, 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?" Neil Swidey, the Boston Globe journalist who wrote the initial article about Romney's 1983 road trip, stated, " always struck me as a valuable window into how Romney operates. In everything the guy does, he functions on logic, not emotion."

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 did not mention the windshield. 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. As of May 2012, New York Times columnist Gail Collins had mentioned the Romney's car trip more than 61 times.

Animal welfare advocate response

Ingrid Newkirk, the president of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) labeled it as animal cruelty and torture. Her conclusion was based on the assumptions that the dog was exposed to the wind and weather, and that extreme stress is the primary cause of diarrhea. During the 2008 presidential primaries, Romney responded to the accusation from PETA:

You know, PETA has not been my fan over the years. PETA was after me for having a rodeo at the Olympics, and very, very upset about that. PETA was after me when I went quail hunting in Georgia, and they're not happy that my dog likes fresh air.

Also in 2007, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals declined to comment on the legality of Romney's actions.

In popular culture

The incident has inspired a book voiced by Lewis Black called "Dog on the Woof".

References

1. ^ Neil Swidey and Stephanie Ebbert (June 27, 2007). "Journeys of a shared life". Boston Globe.
2. ^ Barbara & David Mikkelson (January 21, 2008). "Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney transported a dog atop his car". Snopes.
3. Jennifer Parker (June 28, 2007). "Romney strapped dog to car roof". ABC News.
4. Jeanne Moos (January 13, 2012). "Mitt Romney 'dog-on-the-roof' story appears in Newt Gingrich ad". KSDK News (St. Louis).
5. ^ Ann Romney (June 30, 2007). "From Ann Romney". Mitt Romney - Road to the White House.
6. Neil Swidey (July 10, 2007). "Introducing Seamus Romney, 'Mr. Personality'". Boston Globe.
7. Julie Jacobson (February 3, 2012). "Tale of pooch on car roof dogs Romney". Winnipeg Free Press.
8. Sue Kottwitz (January 8, 2012). "Dog politics: Mitt Romney, Seamus & the now infamous vacation". Zimbio.
9. Russell Goldman & Emily Friedman (April 16, 2012). "Dog Seamus 'loved' trips atop family car, Says Ann Romney". ABC News.
10. Morgan Little (April 17, 2012). "Mitt, Ann Romney defend putting dog on car roof; fallout continues". Los Angeles Times.
11. James Oliphant (January 12, 2012). "New anti-Romney ad by Gingrich goes to the dog". Los Angeles Times.
12. Kasie Hunt (January 14, 2012). "Attacks on Romney getting personal". Associated Press.
13. Amy Bingham (March 19, 2012). "Santorum team doggedly resurrects Romney's Seamus tale". ABC News.
14. Bill Wasik. And Then There's This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture, page 145 (Penguin 2009).
15. Mike Allen and Evan Thomas, Inside the Circus (Random House 2012).
16. Jerry Kronenberg (January 17, 2012). "Canine support goes to the dogs". Boston Herald.
17. Ruth Marcus (March 15, 2012). "Doggone it, stop hounding Romney". Washington Post.
18. Neil Swidey (January 8, 2012). "What our fascination with Mitt Romney's dog Seamus says about our culture". Boston Globe.
19. Tom Jensen (March 20, 2012). "Polling on Romney's 'dog problem'". Public Policy Polling.
20. Philip Rucker (March 14, 2012). "Mitt Romney's dog-on-the-car-roof story still proves to be his critics' best friend". Washington Post.
21. Matthew Aldrich (May 13, 2012). "Complete list of every time Gail Collins has mentioned the Seamus incident". String & Sealing Wax.
22. ^ Ana Marie Cox (June 27, 2007). "Romney's cruel canine vacation". Time Magazine.
23. David Folkenflik. "Why Mitt Romney's Dog Is Getting A Lot Of Press", NPR (December 20, 2011).
24. "Seamus Romney Voiced By Lewis Black". Huffington Post. July 19, 2012.

External links

• Neil Swidey and Stephanie Ebbert (June 27, 2007). "Journeys of a shared life: Raising sons, rising expectations bring unexpected turns". Boston Globe.
• Dave Price (June 30, 2007). "Romney Loves His Dog" (video). WHO-DT.
• Angie Drobnic Holan (September 13, 2011). "Mitt Romney and the dog on the car roof: one columnist's obsession". PolitiFact.com.
• "Romney on his dog Seamus" (video). Wall Street Journal. December 21, 2011.
• Gingrich presidential campaign (January 12, 2012). "Newt Gingrich attack ad dogs Mitt Romney over putting pooch on roof" (article with video link). Mediaite.
• Diane Sawyer (April 16, 2012). "Transcript: Mitt and Ann Romney's interview with Diane Sawyer (page 8)". ABC News.

• Ill-formatted IPAc-en transclusions
• Animals in politics
• Mitt Romney
• Political controversies in the United States
• United States presidential election, 2012