(PRWEB) April 21, 2012

Launched less than four months ago, Seamus2012.com has become a popular clearinghouse of news, videos and information about GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney and his family dog, an Irish Setter named Seamus, which was strapped to the car roof during a 12-hour drive to their vacation home in Canada.

Its no surprise why this story continues to have such staying power in the media, says Seamus2012.coms creator Bill Katovsky. Who does that to their family dog – and then thinks there was nothing wrong? Its a blatant form of animal cruelty.

Although the incident took place back in 1983, it first publicly surfaced in a Boston Globe profile of Romney during the previous presidential campaign. Seamus obviously wasnt enjoying himself on the roof of the station wagon. He had a messy bout of diarrhea that streamed down the car windows, causing one of the Romney kids to scream in horror. So Mitt stopped at a gas station, hosed down the windows, got back in the car, and continued driving. Seamus remained in the dog crate on the car roof.

Pet lovers agree that Romney belongs in the doghouse, not White House. Gail Collins has mentioned the car roof story 41 times in her New York Times column. (Theres a Mitt OMeter counter on Seamus2012.com that keeps count.)

Mitts aloofness, utter strangeness, and lack of an empathy gene are symbolized by the Seamus saga, continues Katovsky. Romney made a fortune in the private sector buying up companies and indifferently laying off workers. He saw nothing wrong with his callous actions then, either. Its an out-of-touch character issue that resonates among the average voter.

Seamus is a story with legs, as made apparent with a Dogs Against Romney Facebook page, New Yorker magazine cover, a Rachel Maddow special segment on MSNBC, two features on CNN, numerous op-ed columns in places like the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, and the subject just last week of ABCs Diane Sawyers interview with Mitt and Ann Romney.

Theres even a new pro-Obama DogPAC hoping to raise more than $ 1 million to advertise in battleground sites.

What could be further damaging to the Romney presidential campaign is that National Dog Day falls on August 26, which happens to be the day before the start of the Republican National Convention.

Dogs dont vote, says Katovsky, but their owners do. And there are over 70 million U.S households that own a pet. This alone could have a galvanizing effect on the presidential race.

Popular posts on Seamus2012.com include a Hitler parody video that Katovsky created with over 40,000 YouTube views, Seamus crossword puzzle, and a story that looked into the Romneys Canadian vacation home that was located inside a formerly restricted community called Beach O Pines. Mitts father, a former governor who also ran for president, had built the cottage in the early 50s. Before a landmark Canadian Supreme Court ruling was handed down, followed by the enforcement of an anti-discrimination law, this exclusive community on the shores of Lake Huron, where the Romneys vacationed each summer, was off-limits to any person of the Jewish, Hebrew, Semitic, Negro or coloured race or blood.

The issue of race and religion as reflected in Beach O Pines should be an even bigger political story here in the U.S. than what Romney did to Seamus, says Katovsky. Yet the media which travel in packs has neglected reporting on this rather shameful part of Romneys family history.

Katovsky is the author of several books including Embedded: The Media at War in Iraq, which won the Harvards Goldsmith Book Prize and Patriots Act: Voices of Dissent and the Risk of Speaking Out, which was a Book Sense National Selection; His writings have appeared in the Huffington Post, Salon, and San Francisco Chronicle. He owned a golden retriever named Rockee. They were best pals for 14 years. Rockee almost always rode in the front passenger seat.

For more information, contact Bill Katovsky at 415-381-8606, katovsky.bill(at)gmail(dot)com, or go to Seamus2012.com.