buzzfeed: [Mitt Romney Prank Phone Calls]

ipsadixit: Dog was probably poor

Have you seen some of the specifics on the Seamus story?

Seamus’ story first came to light in a 2007 Boston Globe profile of Mr. Romney that told the story of the voyage to his father’s cottage in the gated Beach O’ Pines community on Ontario’s Lake Huron:

…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.

According to the Globe, Mr. Romney told his family he would “be making predetermined stops for gas, and that was it,” but one of his sons, Tagg, eventually noticed something was amiss:

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.

Mr. Romney responded to his dog’s defecation by “coolly” stopping at a gas station where he “borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car, then hopped back onto the highway” with Seamus strapped back on the roof.

Here’s the funny part:

The Globe initially presented the story as an example of Mr. Romney’s “emotion-free crisis management…” 

That’s rich! And the happiest ending of all, if true, is that the poor dog ran away from the Romneys in Canada. As the New York Observer puts it, Seamus “didn’t like being strapped to the car enough to stick around for the return trip.”