Late Night Open Thread: What the Dems Could Hit Romney With If They Weren’t Complete Wimps

This is kind of funny in a sick way. Mitt Romney has a couple of problems similar to the scandal that destroyed Mike Dukakis’s presidential run.

The paroled jewel thief who died in a shootout with slain Woburn police officer John “Jack” Maguire could become Mitt Romney’s Willie Horton should the former GOP governor run for president in 2012, some political strategists said.

But others say the circumstances are entirely different from the notorious furlough walkaway case that helped torpedo Gov. Michael S. Dukakis.

Two of six Parole Board members who unanimously agreed to release triple-lifer Dominic Cinelli, 57, from prison last year — Thomas Merigan Jr. and Candace Kochin — were appointed by Romney in 2004.

Mitt had an earlier “Willie Horton”-type problem too.

Romney, whose spokesman did not respond to requests for comment, faced accusations he was soft on crime during the 2008 race when a judge he’d appointed released Daniel Tavares Jr. from jail on personal recognizance — a man who’d served 16 years for hacking his own mother to death. Tavares was awaiting trial on new charges he assaulted two correction officers.

Four months later, Tavares shot to death Washington state newlyweds Brian and Beverly Mauck.

But those stories are nothing compared to Mitt’s problem with animal lovers. It was a supposedly “humorous” story about a family vacation told by Romney in an interview with The Boston Globe:

“Before beginning the drive, Mitt Romney put Seamus, the family’s hulking Irish setter, in a dog carrier and attached it to the station wagon’s roof rack. He’d built a windshield for the carrier, to make the ride more comfortable for the dog,” read the article.

Eventually,

“A brown liquid was dripping down the back window, payback from an Irish setter who’d been riding on the roof in the wind for hours,” the article said.

After his son noticed the liquid, Romney pulled the car over and hosed down Seamus at a gas station before putting him back into the crate on top of the car and continuing on with the drive.

Read the article to find out what kind of torture this treatment was for the dog.

Perhaps Romney’s Republican primary opponents will spread these stories far and wide. I hope so, because this man should never be President. But if he gets the nomination, I don’t expect the wimpy Democrats to use this stuff, do you?