I’ve been a dog lover all my life.

Image from caglecartoons.com

A follow up to a previous post. Fueled by comments today at Democratic Underground. Props to poster Trumad and all who responded to him; I took the liberty of borrowing some of your phrases and adding my own.

I’ve been a dog owner for much of my adult life, and a dog lover all my life. I can’t imagine strapping my dog on top of my car in a cage – and driving even half a block. Nor would my friends or family allow me to do it.

If you need only one reason to not vote for Willard “Mitt” Romney for President (as if there aren’t more), this would be it. Driving for hours and hours on a family vacation he put the family dog on the car roof, instead of the luggage like a normal person would. Soon the dog was so terrified and distressed that he had severe diarrhea. If Romney didn’t already think this was abusive, he should have figured it out when the dog became sick. But instead of cleaning up the dog and rinsing off the car, drying the dog off, and bringing it into the car with the rest of the family, he hosed the dog down and left it on the roof. So the dog continued the trip soaking wet, still scared sick, with the cold wind on his wet coat.

“Even if you’re okay with the dog being strapped to the roof of the car, once the dog has been up there for hours and is sick, once he is ailing, you take a hose to him and put him back up there and keep driving with him still strapped to the roof of the car for more hours?!” – Rachel Maddow

Anyone who has looked into a dog’s eyes and seen a friend shouldn’t dismiss something like this. Anyone who believes this is even remotely justifiable is a lousy human being. I regretted having to take my dog Sampson outside into the sub-zero Minnesota temps to “do his business.” And in my car Sampson always rode shotgun, secured to the front passenger seat with a harness. But then again, I’m a normal person.

On the other hand: the Romney family’s luggage got to ride comfortably inside the car. The normal alternative would have been to put the luggage on the roof. Certainly a dog would take up less space than luggage for seven people, right? Too crowded? Rent a second car, and split the kids and luggage.

Image from dogsagainstromney.com

“PETA is not happy that my dog likes fresh air.”  – Willard “Mitt” Romney

The disturbing part is that the Romneys thought the story was amusing. At a fundraiser, for some reason, one of his sons thought this was a humorous story to tell – as an example of his dad’s cool, calm, level-headed decision-making and problem-solving. When you laugh about another living being’s distress, whether human or animal, you have no empathy. It strikes to the core of a person’s humanity: what they are willing to do to a living, breathing, loving creature, and especially a loving family dog.

What surprises me most, though, is that nobody in the family said “Stop. We need a better plan.” It’s been reported that people who did business with Romney say he did well – as long as everything followed his Plan A. If things got moved to Plan B, he was much less impressive. But as President, things rarely go according to Plan A. Romney would be a disaster.