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Kayla Smith 3/15/12 Politics: Protesters point paws at Romney dog incident

Outside of the Westminster dog show a protest occurred against Mitt Romney, the leading presidential candidate for the Republicans. The demonstrators are against how Romney treated his family dog, Seamus, in 1983. Romney has admitted to putting Seamus into a crate and strapping him to the roof of their car during a 12- hour drive. Kitty Hendrix, the protest spokeswoman, said there are now 25,000 members on the website called "Dogs Against Romney." The reason the protestors chose to demonstrate at the Westminster dog show is because it is a huge event that attracts about 2,000 dogs and their owners. Romney has been bashed for the dog incident numerous times, including by Newt Gingrich, a Republican rival (POLITICS).
 * Summary:**

As almost everyone knows, the next presidential election is coming up in about eight months. Competition is fierce with the Republican candidates. The polls show that Romney is favored at 29% and Rick Santorum is favored at 27% among Americans. Many Americans are in support of one of the two, but not both. It's one or the other. Because competition is so fierce, the candidates will do all they can to take their competitors down. Rivals of Romney bring up the dog abuse issue frequently. Even though the incident occurred in 1983, the dirt has been dug up and the secret is out. Once Americans hear something as gruesome as Romney being a dog abuser, it can greatly affect the opinions of the public (Romney vs. Santorum). Many presidents have skeletons in their closet. The issue of Romney and his dog can sway voters, but that issue pales in comparison to some of the most infamous presidential scandals within previous decades. The Lewinsky Scandal in 1998 with President Bill Clinton was huge. He was only the second president of all time to be impeached. This was an odd case, because Clinton was able to maintain public approval ratings that ranked at about 70% of America being in support of him (Discipline). Earlier in history, President Richard Nixon was involved in the Watergate Scandal. This led to his resignation in 1974, as well as the conviction of many of his top officials (Watergate). Having skeletons in your closet benefits no one but your competition. Romney may not have done anything as drastic as Clinton or Nixon, but he does have at least one strike against him now that has made at least a minor impact on the citizens of the United States and their opinions of Romney. Because the election is coming up so soon, and he is only winning by a hair, he needs to either a) try to make the public forget about the dog abuse, b) find dirt on his rivals, or c) all the above.
 * Relevance:**

The article describes how protestors held up signs that read "Mitt is Mean" and "Dogs Aren't Luggage" and "I Ride Inside." The article gives the views of Kitty Hendrix, the protest spokeswoman. The article discusses how some owners of dogs in the show protested as well. However, this all comes from one side: those that are against Romney. What does Romney have to say about this incident? What are //his// reasons for strapping his dog to the roof of his car? There may not have been enough room inside. His wife could be allergic to fur. The dog may enjoy the fresh air. Maybe the dog isn't potty trained yet. The article does not specify. Furthermore, the article mentions the Dogs Against Romney website. After researching this website it has been found that the website has been written from a dog's point of view. Last time I checked, dogs didn't care about the presidential election. Also, they couldn't speak English, like this website is written in. This site is obviously written by a human that actually has opposable thumbs. The problem is, who wrote it? Without a real name this site loses its credibility. The site is based on biased opinions, not facts or quotes from Romney (Dogs).
 * Evaluation:**


 * Questions:**
 * 1) How much has this dog abuse incident affected Romney?
 * 2) What does Romney have to say about the incident?
 * 3) How many citizens believe that the past is the past-- Romney is still respectable?
 * 4) What dirt (if any) is there about Rick Santorum?

"Dogs Against Romney." //Dogs Against Romney//. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. . "POLITICS: Protesters point paws at Romney dog incident | The Post and Courier - Charleston, South Carolina."//The Post and Courier, Charleston SC - News, Sports, Entertainment//. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. .
 * Discipline. "JSTOR: Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 116, No. 3 (Autumn, 2001), pp. 425-446." //JSTOR:// N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. .

"Romney vs. Santorum: Why it's not a replay of Obama vs. Clinton - CSMonitor.com." //The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. .

"Watergate scandal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. .