[Vision2020] Dogging Mitt Romney

Thu Mar 8 10:32:08 PST 2012

I can agree that most of us have done unwise, hurtful things in our lives.
Sometimes intentionally, sometimes through ignorance, arrogance, and/or
lack of thought.

Here's where I can't agree.  I judge people partially on how they treat
their animals.  Study after study has shown a correlation between how a
person treats animals and how they treat people.  For example, children who
abuse pets are likely to be abusive toward their spouses and children when
they grow up.

Since there is a large emotive element in value setting, e.g. how we choose
to treat other people, especially those less fortunate, being emotion free
is not an asset when dealing with human problems.  Empathy is a very
important part of dealing with human problems.  That is a quality that
Romney has consistently shown that he lacks a great deal of.

w.

On Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 9:05 AM, Jay Borden <jborden at datawedge.com> wrote:

> Well, Mitt Romney isn’t exactly my favorite pseudo-conservative… and I
> hadn’t even heard of this story before this was posted here.****
>
> ** **
>
> But the article asks:  “People, does any of this sound appealing?”****
>
> ** **
>
> Yah, actually, it kinda does.****
>
> ** **
>
> If Romney is in his mid 60’s now… that means he was in his mid 30’s back
> in 1983.  I can think of quite a few things I’ve done in my “early adult”
> years that in retrospect I probably wouldn’t do again…  ****
>
> ** **
>
> I can remember MY parents loading up the car to the gills with 4 of us
> kids and driving (to who knows where)... and it would have been around that
> 1983 time frame.  2 of us kids were stashed in the ass-end of the
> stationwagon… no seat belts… (hardly even seats… we just laid blankets and
> pillows down).    My brother and I were probably just a single rear-end
> collision away from getting killed.****
>
> ** **
>
> Horrifying by today’s standards… and something I’m sure Dad shakes his
> head at today… but at the time?  Nothing unusual or illegal about it.****
>
> ** **
>
> “Emotion-free crisis management”.  That’s a plus.  **IF** Mitt gets the
> nod, and **IF** he beats Obama… he’ll be handed the keys to our nation.
> What would I rather have?  A guy that (I assume) calmly did what it took
> with the situation at hand regarding the family dog and the current
> circumstance?  Or a guy that became emotionally enraged, pointed his finger
> at someone else in the car and shouted, “THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!”****
>
> ** **
>
> Folks love to hold up little stories like this in an attempt to find a
> crack in the form of a character flaw… even if it’s an out-take from a
> family vacation nearly 30 years ago.****
>
> ** **
>
> I can’t really “identify” with his wealth (though I would love to)… I
> can’t really identify with his “liberal in conservative clothing” political
> history.  ****
>
> ** **
>
> But a story recalling a minor disaster during a family road-trip?  Yah,
> that’s probably a topic many people could sit down and trade endless
> stories about over a beer.****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> Jay****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:
> vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] *On Behalf Of *Art Deco
> *Sent:* Thursday, March 08, 2012 8:01 AM
> *To:* vision2020 at moscow.com
> *Subject:* [Vision2020] Dogging Mitt Romney****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
> Advertisement****Op-Ed Columnist****Dogging Mitt Romney****By GAIL COLLINS<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/gailcollins/index.html?inline=nyt-per>
> ****Published: March 7, 2012 ****
>
> ** **
>
> I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this, but Mitt Romney once drove to
> Canada with the family Irish setter on the roof of the car. ****
>
> ** **
>
> Seamus, the dog-on-the-roof, has become a kind of political icon. You
> cannot go anywhere without running into him. There are Seamus T-shirts and
> endless Web sites. This week, the story was a New Yorker cover, with Rick
> Santorum playing the role of the Irish setter. ****
>
> Neil Swidey, the Boston Globe reporter who first broke the Seamus story in
> 2007, wrote recently that he had been avoiding a return to the topic for
> fear that some day the dog would wind up in the lead of his obituary. ****
>
> Which I can totally understand. ****
>
> The story took place in 1983, when the Romney family made a 12-hour
> pilgrimage from Boston to a vacation home in Canada. Romney, his wife, Ann,
> and five sons were in the station wagon. Seamus was in a crate, or kennel,
> on the roof. ****
>
> At some point — possibly in response to the excitement about being passed
> by tractor-trailers while floating like a furry maraschino cherry on top of
> the car, Seamus developed diarrhea. And Romney, who had designated all the
> acceptable rest stops before beginning the trip, was forced to make an
> unscheduled trip to a gas station. Where he kept the family in the car
> while he hosed down the station wagon and the dog, then returned to the
> highway. ****
>
> “It was a tiny preview of a trait he would grow famous for in business:
> emotion-free crisis management,” Swidey wrote. ****
>
> People, does any of this sound appealing? Elect Mitt Romney and he will
> take the nation on the road to the future. Some of us will be stuck on the
> roof. The rest of us will be inside singing camp songs and waiting for the
> day when the master plan lets us stop to visit the bathroom. Plus, anybody
> who screws up on the way to the future gets the hose. ****
>
> Anyhow, we are now at a post-Super-Tuesday lull in the campaign, and I am
> ready to answer Seamus questions. ****
>
> *Haven’t you brought this episode up like about 10 million times already?*
> ****
>
> I’ve made a kind of game of trying to mention Seamus every time I write
> about Mitt Romney. This is because the Republican primary campaign has been
> an extremely long and depressing slog, and we need all the diversion we can
> get. ****
>
> *It’s as though you’re saying this is the most important fact about a
> possible future president of the United States.* ****
>
> You could argue that the Seamus story puts Romney in a more human context.
> This is not just a quarter-billionaire with approximately the same gift for
> the common touch as Scrooge McDuck. This is a real person. A person who
> once drove to Canada with the family dog tied to the roof of the car. ****
>
> *In a kennel, right?* ****
>
> “This is a completely air-tight kennel, mounted on the top of our car. He
> climbed up there regularly, enjoyed himself,” Romney told Chris Wallace in
> a Fox interview that began with Wallace, a dog owner, demanding: “What were
> you thinking?” ****
>
> *Wait a minute, if the kennel was air-tight, how did Seamus breathe?* ****
>
> Excellent question. Also hard to envision the animal continually trying to
> leap on top of the station wagon in order to enjoy its delights. ****
>
> *So that’s it from Romney?* ****
>
> He did once suggest that the Seamus publicity was a plot by PETA to get
> even with him for allowing rodeo performances at the Winter Olympics in
> Utah. ****
>
> *I bet President Obama would never put Bo on top of a car.* ****
>
> Yes, the Obama campaign has been eager to point this out. Although,
> really, if you’re the president of the United States, you can give the dog
> his own helicopter if you want to. ****
>
> I should note that when it comes to presidents and dogs, Romney would have
> to go a long way to match Lyndon Johnson, who once held up his beagles by
> the ears for photographers. ****
>
> *Is it even legal to drive around with a dog on top of your car?* ****
>
> Chris Wallace did ask Romney if he knew that he was breaking a
> Massachusetts law against cruelty to animals. Mitt did his heh-heh-heh
> thing and pleaded ignorance. The law is actually kind of vague. But I will
> point out that a member of a group called Dogs Against Romney drove to a
> protest in Colorado with a model of Seamus on top of his car and was
> stopped by the police. ****
>
> *I heard a rumor that when the family got to Canada, Seamus ran away.* ***
> *
>
> Seeking sanctuary? Mitt’s sister, Jane, told Swidey that the dog developed
> a tendency to wander, and that she took Seamus to her home in California
> where there was more space. She also gave The Globe an extremely cute
> picture of Seamus cuddling with some kittens. ****
>
> *Does Romney have a dog now? I’m not sure I want to see Seamus II in the
> White House.* ****
>
> Romney occasionally says, “We love our pets. Heh. Heh. Heh.” The Romney
> camp hates talking about Seamus-related issues, but there’s no evidence of
> an actual family dog at the present. If there is one, I’d hate to think of
> how it travels when they fly between campaign stops. ****
> A version of this op-ed appeared in print on March 8, 2012, on page A31 of
> the New York edition with the headline: Dogging Mitt Romney.****
>
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>    - Karen Garcia****
>       - New Paltz, NY****
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>    - Verified ****
>
> Ever since I heard the Seamus story and started watching Mitt on TV, I was
> struck by the similarity to the National Lampoon "Vacation" movie, which
> came out the same year (1983) as the Romneys' ill-fated road trip. (A few
> bloggers have noticed the creepy coincidence too.) In the movie, Clark
> Griswold (Chevy Chase) ties Dinky the dog to the rear bumper and then takes
> off down the interstate with the pooch still attached to the car.
> Accidentally on purpose, it would seem.
>
> The actress who plays Griswold's wife bears an uncanny resemblance to Ann
> Romney -- perfectly coiffed blond,an ultra-perky June Cleaver on steroids,
> long-suffering and similarly tone-deaf. They have little sympathy for the
> poor relations they encounter during their journey. When their old Aunt
> Edna unexpectedly dies (of neglect?) during the road trip, Clark simply
> ties her corpse to the roof of the station wagon and later dumps it in
> somebody's back yard under cover of darkness. But not before they go
> through the old lady's purse for whatever is left of her Social Security
> check.
>
> The Romneys and the Griswolds are self-involved Questors of the good life,
> running roughshod over everyone in their paths and caring not a whit about
> the mess they leave behind, or even how they appear to others. If Mitt ever
> does arrive at his Wally World White House, will he take us on a
> merry-go-round to nowhere, or on a roller coaster ride through hell? One
> thing's for sure: all the Aunt Ednas will be tossed over the side.****
>
>    - March 7, 2012 at 7:12 p.m.<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/opinion/collins-dogging-mitt-romney.html?comments#permid=1>
>       ****
>       - Recommended668****
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> Read All 11 Replies****
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>    1. ****
>
>
>    - lynninny****
>          - NY****
>
> Karen, thanks for the laugh today! That was priceless. ****
>
>    - March 8, 2012 at 6:42 a.m.<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/opinion/collins-dogging-mitt-romney.html?comments#permid=1:15>
>          ****
>          - Recommended8****
>
>
>    1. ****
>
>
>    - John Thomas****
>          - Rockville, MD****
>
> Following Marc from NYC (who suggested John Candy as Chris Christie), I
> propose Ralph Fiennes as Eric Cantor and Robert Duvall as hapless John
> Boehner (who really wants to be reasonable but doesn't dare admit it, even
> to himself).
>
> To play Seamus, well, .... hmmmm... computer animation will most likely be
> required.****
>
>    - March 8, 2012 at 6:42 a.m.<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/opinion/collins-dogging-mitt-romney.html?comments#permid=1:16>
>          ****
>          - Recommended7****
>
>
>
> --
> Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
> art.deco.studios at gmail.com****
>

-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
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