Mitt Romney is unlikely to be the next president of the United States but he just might be. If he does make it, is he the sort of person who is good for cats and animals in general? The short answer is No.
I have a fairly strong feeling that he is not that keen on animals. He is an alpha male type, rich (about $250m USD) and pays about 14% tax on that which for a Brit looks like he runs a highly efficient tax avoidance scheme. He looks down on the poor and doesn’t pay all the tax he could or should. Although there nothing to suggest he is doing anything illegal. He doesn’t know much about foreign affairs and seems a bit stupid at times.
If he has a preference for a species of companion animal it would be a dog. That squares up with alpha male mentality.
The problem is that the only information we have about Mitt Romney’s attitude and behavior towards dogs is not good. There is the famous story, “The Mitt Romney Dog Incident”.
In short he took a family holiday to Lake Huron in Canada from their home in Belmont, Massachusetts with the dog (Seamus), a red setter, strapped to the roof rack in a dog carrier with a home made wind shield at the front. He was driving the family’s Chevrolet Caprice station wagon. The trip took 12 hours.
The Chevrolet Caprice station wagon is a large American car with tons of room in the back. They are called “estate cars” in Britain. I suppose he had lots of luggage and he decided that the luggage was more valuable than the dog. Or perhaps if it rained the luggage might get wet but a dog could get wet without being damaged. Who knows. It just seems like an odd decision and one that was made coldly and logically and without empathy for the dog or his wellbeing. Although in defense he did take Seamus with him. That said he would have been better off going to a dog hotel for the duration it seems.
I am sure that no true animal lover would even consider such an arrangement. In fact I can hardly believe that anyone has done that before. Also we are informed that once the Romney family got to Canada, the dog ran away. I don’t know if that is true. It is hearsay. But for sure he did give the dog to his sister some years after the holiday. The dog kept on running away from Mitt Romney’s home ending up in a dog pound.
I think we have to give Mitt Romney about 3 out of 10 on his caretaking skills of a companion animal that, by the way, he professed to love. God help us if he hated dogs.
And he certainly does not seem to be the type who would like a cat. My conclusion therefore is that the next potential president of the USA is not good for cats and there is little likelihood of anything sensible and radical happening to improve cat welfare such as a nationwide ban on the embarrassing occupation of mass cat declawing.
Now, if the next president was a true cat lover, wouldn’t that be great….
I was glad you posted this originally, Michael. Now, not so much. I am involved to the level I must, but prefer to not pay attention to politics. It’s always amazing to find that people I enjoy in my every day, if politics is introduced….I am often shocked at the stance they take. I wonder how it could be. But it just is. I’m going to find a sandbox for my head until after the elections.
Carry on!
It was a slightly dangerous thing to do. It was meant to be a way of bringing together something current and in the news with the cat. Politics does have a big role to play in cat welfare. Or it could have. But it seems that politicians more or less leave individuals and charities to look after cat welfare. The thing about politicians is that they don’t seem to improve the situation or change things that much. There is quite a lot of paralysis in politics.
I’m a cat person but the Romney dog story bothers me a lot. Any idiot looking at things from the animal’s point of view would know that it would be a terrifying journey tied to the roof of the vehicle. Romney didn’t care enough to think of the dog’s comfort. I’m thinking about voting for Gary Johnson. He seems like a kind man.
joan+20
I tend to agree that it is not the sort of thing a person would do if they really cared for their dog or cat.