VIKTOR DONOVAN: MITT ROMNEY: CHARACTER-DEFINING MOMENTS

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

MITT ROMNEY: CHARACTER-DEFINING MOMENTS

"Tell me how you treat your dog, and I will tell you who you are"

The story lives on, the one where Mitt Romney transported his large Irish Setter on top of the family station wagon one summer day from Massachusetts to Canada, a 12 hour drive. There were five kids in the car plus packing and Romney decided, not to put the packing on top of the car roof, but chose instead to place the dog in a travel crate which somehow was secured on the car roof with some sort of wind protection. Rachel Maddow (see below) dug into this incidence in more detail and specifically brings up the two-part aspect of this character-defining moment in Mitt Romney's life.The decision to put the dog on top was bad enough she points out, but when the dog covered the car with a brown liquid (the dog ovbiously did not fare well) Romney stopped at a service station, got a water hose and rinsed off both the dog and the car, and continued with the wet dog on top of the car to their destination.

New York Times journalist, Gail Collins, never fails to mention this incident whenever she writes about Mitt Romney. Today Salon.com had an article (by Joan Walsh) and provided a picture from David Axelrod's Twitter feed of the president and his dog: "How loving owners transport their dogs".

"How loving owners transport their dogs" From Salon.com

This crate is suitable to transport a large dog. Was it a crate like this Romney used on the car? A male Irish Setter is a VERY large dog. And if so, how on earth can you secure a crate like this, with a dog inside, on top of a car - and be safe on the road? The dog might be in danger, but so are other motorists should the crate fall of when driving.
This photo from: http://www.animaltransportation.com/custom-crates/

RACHEL MADDOW very interesting reporting.
(Choose "options" and Full Screen)

A male Irish setter is a LARGE dog

http://www.animaltransportation.com/custom-crates/

Here is another crate suitable for a large dog. It is also very top heavy and not easy to secure on top of an ordinary station wagon.

Logistics: That dog was no doubt heavy -- was the crate first tied and secured on top of the car and the dog then lifted and pushed inside? Otherwise, at least two people would have had to lift the crate with the dog inside in, on to the roof of the car. One wonders what type of securing material was used?

EMPATHY: Did the Romney family worry about the dog? According to Maddow, one of the Romney children had the task of sitting in the back of the car to be on the lookout in case....Did they think that the crate might fall of? And then what?

2 comments:

Zack RidderFebruary 6, 2012 at 2:44 AM
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ViktorFebruary 6, 2012 at 3:04 AM
Thanks!
I appreciate the feedback.
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