Mitt & Ann & Ted & Seamus
I’m hauling myself out of the phlegmy slough of a joyful spring dose of 24-hour flu here and desperately playing catch-up on work and breathing and stuff like that, so consider yourselves apologized to for the lack of bloggy goings-on. Anyway, I decide to check out what’s eating the blogosphere at the moment, and yup—it’s that dog again.
The old adage goes, “When you’re in a hole, stop digging.” But it seems Mitt and Ann Romney just can’t stop doubling down on that infamous dog on roof incident from way back in 1983. I’ve known a few Irish setters in my time, and they’ve by and large been soft old things, albeit bonkers. Judging by the Romneys’ response when ABC’s Diane Sawyer used an “exclusive” interview to raise the issue yet again, that may be a family trait:
Mitt Romney told Sawyer that the Seamus attacks were the most wounding of the campaign “so far” ...
Well, Mitt, it’s only April. Buckle up.
“The dog loved it,” Ann Romney said. “He would see that crate and, you know, he would, like, go crazy because he was going with us on vacation.”
Yeah, so you’ve both been saying since the story first emerged. Look, it’s an Irish setter—its threshold for “loving it” is pretty damn low. As for “going crazy,” from my experience with the breed, how the heck could you tell?
And here comes the usual TMI:
Adding to the left’s narrative that Romney had little compassion for the animal is a detail from the 1983 trip that Ann Romney confirmed to Sawyer. The dog became sick, defecating all over itself and the windshield of the car, leading Romney to hose them both off before they continued on the drive to Canada.
“Once, he—we traveled all the time—and he ate the turkey on the counter. I mean, he had the runs,” Ann Romney said, laughing as she explained how the dog got diarrhea.
In a 2007 blog written during Romney’s first campaign for the presidency, Ann Romney said the dog rode “in an enclosed kennel, not in the open air” and compared the experience with a person riding on a motorcycle or roller coaster.
Remind me never to visit Disney World when the Romneys are there.
This all earned the couple another savaging from Dogs Against Romney:
Mitt Romney, when asked by Sawyer if he would do such a thing again, said “Certainly not…,” which would have been a fantastic answer had he not been compelled to add a totally narcissistic qualifier, “...with all the attention its received.”
I repeat: “Certainly not with all the attention its received.”
In other words, Mr. Romney still sees nothing wrong with what he did (despite the fact that 68% of Americans say it was “inhumane”) and the only reason he wouldn’t do it again is to avoid personal political backlash.
And speaking of poopiepants, what the hell ...?
Washed up rocker and reality TV star Ted Nugent appeared at the NRA’s national convention in St. Louis. Nugent, a longtime NRA board member and regular presence at conventions, rallied the NRA faithful on Saturday to vote for Mitt Romney: “Your goal should be to get a couple thousand, per person who’s here, to vote for Mitt Romney in November.”
Nugent called President Obama a criminal and denounced his “vile, evil America-hating administration” which is “wiping its ass with the Constitution.” Taking it a step further, he said that “If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.”
Well, that’s something to look forward to, Ted.
Nugent concluded with a call to cut off the heads of Democrats in November: “We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November. Any questions?”
“Any questions?” Now where have I heard that before recently? Oh yeah. Is this a campaign theme?
Ted, Ted, Ted. You need to get a new schtick. Here you were back in 2007:
So Ted Nugent roams a concert stage while toting automatic weapons, calls Barack Obama “a piece of——-” and says he told Obama to suck on one of his machine-guns. He also calls Hillary Clinton a “worthless bitch” and Dianne Feinstein a “worthless whore.”
Woah. That makes Bill Maher sound like Gore Vidal.
And now, according to New York Magazine, you’ve distracted the Secret Service from its partying, which probably won’t improve their mood:
A spokesman for the Secret Service tells us, “We are aware of it, and we’ll conduct an appropriate follow up.”
Even worse—you’ve attracted the ire of Debbie Wasserman Schultz:
“Mitt Romney surrogate Ted Nugent made offensive comments about President Obama and November’s elections this weekend that are despicable, deplorable and completely beyond the pale. He called the Administration ‘vile,’ ‘evil’ and ‘America-hating,’ and said much worse,” she said. “Yet what have we heard from Mitt Romney and the Republican Party, who should be outraged that someone representing them is using language like this to make a political point? Absolutely nothing.”
Still, we can’t really hold the Romneys responsible for the ravings of a random addled hasbeen one-hit wonder, can we?
Ah. Change.org joins the pile-on with a petition:
Nugent has a long history of inflammatory and offensive language, especially against women—here are just a few of Nugent’s disgusting utterances:
(On Hillary Clinton) “You probably can’t use the term ‘toxic c—’ in your magazine, but that’s what she is. Her very existence insults the spirit of individualism in this country. This bitch is nothing but a two-bit whore for Fidel Castro.”
“And if you’re a woman who feels that his lyrics to ditties such as the immortal ‘Wang Dang Sweet Poontang’ are sexist, Nugent says, ‘Fuck you and go to a Garth Brooks show. Kiss my dog’s dead, diseased, rotting ass. If you don’t have a sense of humor, you’re not allowed in Ted’s world. I don’t objectify women. I’d like to think that I’m optimizing their hardware.’”
Feminists “are just women who aren’t getting it often enough.”
And somehow it had escaped my notice that one of Mitt’s sons appears to be an escapee from the Palin clan:
The Romney campaign actively sought and boasted about Nugent’s endorsement in March. Romney’s son Tagg tweeted:
@tromney: Ted Nugent endorsed my Dad today. Ted Nugent? How cool is that?! He joins Kid Rock as great Detroit musicians on team Mitt!
Which all puts that little kerfuffle over the remarks by Hilary Rosen in perspective, doesn’t it? Heck, even the WaPo’s Fact Checker is getting in on the act:
Romney campaign attaches Hilary Rosen remarks to all Democrats
Here, have a couple of Pinnochios, Romney campaign. And clean up your own act.
There are probably much more important things going on that my enforced furlough means I haven’t had a chance to catch up with yet. You can help me out with that by using this as an open thread if you like.
Posted by YAFB on 04/17/12 at 12:00 PM • Permalink
Categories: Critters • Politics • Bedwetters • Election '12 • Mittens • Nutters • Teabaggery • Our Stupid Media • Skull Hampers •
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