Media Mania Over Mitt's Mutt's Mishap

Talk about smear campaigns: Mitt Romney is spending millions of dollars to offset the damage to his quest for the presidency by something his dog did almost a quarter of a century ago.

Today’s Washington Post reports Romney “made another seven-figure loan to his campaign this quarter, on top of the $2.4 million he gave to jump-start his effort at the end of last year.”

The story goes on to explain:

“An example of Mitt Romney's crisis-management approach has turned into something of a political problem for the Republican presidential contender.

“Romney placed his family dog, an Irish setter named Seamus, into a kennel fastened to the top of his station wagon for a 12-hour family trip from Boston to Ontario in 1983. Despite being shielded by a wind screen that Romney had erected, Seamus expressed his discomfort with a diarrhea attack.

“The story, recounted this week in a Boston Globe profile of Romney, has touched off howls of outrage from bloggers and animal rights activists, even though it was presented as an example of Romney's coolness under trying circumstances.

"When Romney's eldest son, Tagg, and his four brothers complained about the brown runoff down the back windshield, their father quietly pulled the car over, borrowed a gas station hose and sprayed down both the dog and the kennel before returning to the road.”

Future historians may find the episode a perfect example of how MSM can distort the nation’s political dialogue. Luckily the blogosphere, as usual, has come to the rescue with 45,000 hits on Google to clarify its significance.

This post is a humble contribution to that noble effort.