The Wall Street Journal Needs to Employ More Dog People
Amy Schatz is clearly not a dog person. If so, she would know that it is extremely unusual and a sign of great distress for a dog to defecate in anything that it regards as its den--like a dog carrier:
Washington Wire - WSJ.com : Romney’s Dog: Riding High: The Boston Globe’s seven-part opus on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney began this morning with an interesting anecdote:
The white Chevy station wagon with the wood paneling was overstuffed with suitcases, supplies, and sons when Mitt Romney climbed behind the wheel to begin the annual 12-hour family trek from Boston to Ontario.... Before beginning the drive, Mitt Romney put Seamus, the family’s hulking Irish setter, in a dog carrier and attached it to the station wagon’s roof rack. He’d built a windshield for the carrier, to make the ride more comfortable for the dog. Then Romney put his boys on notice: He would be making predetermined stops for gas, and that was it. The ride was largely what you’d expect with five brothers, ages 13 and under, packed into a wagon they called the ‘white whale.’ As the oldest son, Tagg Romney commandeered the way-back of the wagon, keeping his eyes fixed out the rear window, where he glimpsed the first sign of trouble. ‘Dad!’ he yelled. ‘Gross!’ A brown liquid was dripping down the back window, payback from an Irish setter who’d been riding on the roof in the wind for hours.
As the rest of the boys joined in the howls of disgust, Romney coolly pulled off the highway and into a service station. There, he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car, then hopped back onto the highway. It was a tiny preview of a trait he would grow famous for in business: emotion-free crisis management.
With five kids, we realize space inside the family station wagon was at a premium. But seriously: he put the dog carrier on the roof instead of the suitcases? Former Wonkette Ana Marie Cox noted the incident on her blog, prompting lots of comments and liberal blogs accusing the Republican presidential candidate of animal cruelty. A campaign spokesman hasn’t responded to requests for comment on the incident. There’s also been no mention of it today on the Romney brothers blog.
