Opinion: Man Packs Dog

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It seems that 24 years ago Mitt Romney loaded the family, including the dog, into the station wagon for a 12-hour drive from Massachusetts to his parent’s vacation home on the Canadian shore of Lake Huron. The dog got the balcony – Romney strapped the pet-carrier to the roof of the overstuffed car, according to the Boston Globe in its seven-part bio of the former governor.
And boy, does Romney have a lot of explaining to do now.
A number of blogs and media outlets have picked up the detail about Romney’s dog-transportation technique, including Time and Talking Points Memo’s TPM Cafe. Surfacing now are a slew of condemnations of Romney’s pet trick – including one from the folks at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – and speculation that Romney had violated animal cruelty laws, though the statute of limitations has long since passed.
What’s a candidate to say? That he no longer supports animal cruelty, and expose himself to yet another “flip-flop” accusation?
Try attacking the attacker.
“PETA has been after me for having a rodeo at the Olympics and were very, very upset about that,” Romney told reporters in Pittsburgh. “PETA was after me when I went quail hunting in Georgia And PETA is not happy that my dog likes fresh air.”
Uh-huh. But what about the dog?
Romney reports the dog enjoyed the ride. But according to Globe, the dog sent a different message at the time, forcing Romney to stop along the way and, um, sanitize the outside of the car.
--Scott Martelle