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I can’t resist telling this anecdote, in which I saw exactly this, although not quite 300 miles. I got on cable car in San Francisco at Fisherman’s wharf. Another guy gets on with a HUMONGOUS Irish Wolfhound on a leash. Note that this cable car line is one that goes up one of those world-infamous steep SF hills. While the car went up the hill, the dog galloped alongside the whole way. (This was 30-some years ago, when you could get away doing stuff like that.)
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I agree, more-or-less, with user_hostile, who (up-thread) doesn’t see too much to get worked up about. Although, maybe not completely. In one of the above-cited news stories, Romney allegedly claims the dog was known to love riding on top of the car. I find this very believable. Dogs LOVE to go for car rides, and they LOVE to have their face out the window in the wind. And dog carriers are certainly well-ventilated – not like a solid wooden crate. And the stories say Romney put a windshield on the front. So far, so good.
Now for some things I’m not so comfy about:
– I didn’t see any mention, in any of those articles, about the weather conditions.
– I didn’t see any mention of how frequently they might have stopped to check on the dog. A 12-hour 300-mile trip seems extremely long.
– I envision that they may have done short local roof-top trips with the dog, which would not be 12 hours, and would be at slower speeds. That might be what doggy was familiar (and happy) with.
– I have some problem with the idea of doing 12 hours at highway speeds. Even with windshield, I could see some wind chill factor here.
– Now, just add water. He hosed off the dog, then hit the road again? With soppy doggy a-flapping in the breeze? NOW we have windchill. NOT cool. Oh, wait a minute. Yes that must have been WAY COOL.
Apparently, it was in the summer–temperatures are pretty balmy day and night that far north (but I don’t have a weather report, so YMMV). The reason I say this is that he brought his kids along for a trip to the Great Lakes–I infer that summer would be the best time to pull this off.
Dog would not have been soaked to the bone when he got in the carrier. He would shook himself off before getting back in. This is what dogs do.
Ahhh, for the carefree days when the family would go out on a week’s vacation and have the freedom to dump a bag of dogfood in a metal bowl (and a gallon of water in another), tie the dog to a tree, and tell him not to knock over the bowls 'cause that’s his dinner and he ain’t getting more for another 7 days. Of course, the damn dog would kick the bowls over with 43 minutes.
So, you know, by some standards, Mitt did all right by his pooch.
Agree with your sentiments and those of some others 100%. But I’ve not been able to figure out why an alleged small child like Curtis LeMay/Qin Shi Wangdoodle gets all that much attention. I have the fucked-up little Anders Behring Breivik-wannabe on Ignore myself. But people keep “helpfully” quoting him, and it’s no surprise to me at all to see the little fuck defending animal abuse.
I know, but that’s what’s interesting about the Hitler factoid. Here you have the guy whose inhumanity to man is quite thoroughly established and quite possibly the most inhumanity man has ever achieved (kudos, A-man !), coupled with a deep love for animals (or for one animal, at any rate).
Ergo, how one behaves towards animals is not necessarily indicative of how one behaves towards people. As I said, we’re pretty good at establishing arbitrary rules and boundaries for ourselves.
So what’s the difference (besides location) between a dog in a carrier on a car roof, in the back of a pickup, or in a cargo hold of an airplane? None of them will be pleasant, but all are generally safe for the animal as long as the carrier is strapped down and the vehicle doesn’t crash. Romney’s bigger problem is having seven fucking kids, which to me is hugely irresponsible.
This is a fallacious logical construction of this form: I have a mammal that is not a cat; therefor there is not indicative of mammalhood to be a cat. But let’s set that aside. Do you have any examples of great humanitarians who were pointlessly cruel to animals?
I saw it on an episode of the Sopranos. Tony killed a guy over a horse.
Anyway, back on topic, I am against Romney’s dog abuse, but I am for his LMFAO abuse. That Party Rock Anthem is worth a physical assault.**
**No, not really. Although I guess we’re just lucky Romney didn’t strap him to the wings and tell the pilot to take off.
Actually cruelty to animals is one of the things many serial killers share in childhood. It goes either way: love of animals doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a nice person and cruelty doesn’t mean you’re a serial killer.
That said I don’t want a guy who did this to a dog (which I do consider a casually cruel and appallingly STUPID act) to have access to both Air Force 1 and one of the nation’s only Panda families. Sooner or later the temptation’s going to get the better of him.
That article mentions that Romney built a windshield for the dog carrier. It probably wasn’t a wonderful experience for the dog but it’s hardly the act of a sociopath.
Romney’s problem is that he really doesn’t stand for anything. He’s worse than John Kerry when it comes to licking his finger and testing the breeze.
