Tale of dog’s harrowing ride returns to bite Romney

They say if you want a friend in politics, get a dog. In the latest sign of Mitt Romney’s struggles, even canines are turning against him.

Well, that’s not entirely true -- we haven’t seen any good polling on who dogs prefer among the GOP candidates for president. But some of their human friends are making their feelings known. A group of pet lovers protested outside the Westminster Dog Show in New York on Tuesday afternoon, using the event to revive a well-known saga involving one of Romney’s former pets.

The noontime rally was promoted by a group called “Dogs Against Romney” to protest what it called Romney’s “abusive treatment of dogs.” They were referring to “Crate-gate.” A 2007 Boston Globe story detailed how decades ago an Irish setter named Seamus was placed in a crate that was strapped to the roof of the Romney family ride for a long vacation drive to Canada.

Signs spotted at the protest outside the world’s best-known dog show included slogans like “Mitt is Mean,” “Dogs aren’t luggage,” and “I ride inside.” A New York Times account said that about a dozen people -- and some of their furry friends -- showed up.

Romney has declined a chance to give his side of “Crate-gate” in a recent Wall Street Journal interview, saying only that he’s “had a lot of dogs and love them and care for them very deeply.”