Mitt Romney strapping his dog to the roof

Mitt Romney strapping his dog to the roof of the car when the family drove for 12 hours from Boston to a vacation spot in Canada. Other writers, pundits and personalities, from New York Times columnist Gail Collins to TV's David Letterman, just can't leave it alone, either.

But while comedians continue to have a field day with the story, it took this photo to bring home the true horror of what it must have been like for Seamus, the Romney's Irish setter, to have been on the roof of a car on the highway all day.

On Tuesday in Littleton, Colorado, where Romney was campaigning, a member of the group Dogs Against Romney strapped a crate to the roof of a car and drove around town. Labeled the "Seamus Express," the stunt attracted attention from Littleton Police, who pulled the car over.

The driver/protester, who didn't give his name in later interviews, said the police officer had stopped him "for suspected animal abuse."

A spokesperson for the city of Littleton confirmed the traffic stop happened because of canine concerns.

"Our 911 center received a call from a motorist who saw the car in the photo drive past, and she said the door to the animal carrier was open and a large white dog was in it," Littleton city spokeswoman Kelli Narde said. (In fact, there was no live dog – just a stuffed toy.)

When he interviewed Romney on Fox News last December, Chris Wallace told him that Massachusetts law prohibits carrying animals on top of cars, Romney, the former governor of that state, said, "I wasn't familiar with that."

Imagine being Seamus on the roof of the car like that – at highway speeds for 12 hours. We can assume, from the fact that the dog had severe diarrhea during the journey, that he was plainly terrified – not to mention in danger himself and a danger to others.

Dog

The domestic dog is a subspecies of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the mammalian order Carnivora. The term "domestic dog" is generally used for both domesticated and feral varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and pet animal in human history. The word "dog" may also mean the male of a canine species, as opposed to the word "bitch" for the female of the species.

DNA testing suggests an evolutionary split between dogs and wolves around 100,000 years ago, but no fossil specimens prior to 33,000 years ago are clearly morphologically domesticated dog. Dogs' value to early human hunter-gatherers led to them quickly becoming ubiquitous across world cultures. Dogs perform many roles for people, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and military, companionship, and, more recently, aiding handicapped individuals. This impact on human society has given them the nickname "Man's Best Friend" in the Western world. In some cultures, dogs are also a source of meat. In 2001, there were estimated to be 400 million dogs in the world.

Asimina

Asimina (the Pawpaw Genus) is a genus of eight species of small trees or shrubs with large simple leaves and large fruit, native to eastern North America. The genus includes the widespread common pawpaw Asimina triloba, which bears the largest edible fruit indigenous to the continent. Pawpaws are native to 26 states of the U.S. and to Ontario in Canada. The common pawpaw is a patch-forming (clonal) understory tree found in well-drained, deep, fertile bottomland and hilly upland habitat. Pawpaws are in the same plant family (Annonaceae) as the custard-apple, cherimoya, sweetsop, ylang-ylang and soursop; the genus is the only member of that family not confined to the tropics.

VIDEO: The Terrifying Ride of Mitt Romney's Dog

Mr. Erik Mayer, a member of our Super Pack, created this incredible video reenactment of the ride Mitt Romney's dog experienced on the roof of the Romney family car. We've always imagined how terrifying such a ride would be, but this video really brings the reality of the experience to light. The callousness - the cruelty - of subjecting a family pet to this FOR 12 HOURS, even after the dog soiled himself in fear, is difficult to fathom.

Yap! Yip! Mitt!

Yap! Yip! Mitt! Pant! Yap! Yap!

(Whine)

Mitt! Gruff! Grrrr.Bark!