"Poor Little Fella...."

Courtesy of Time's Swampland blog, i'm happy to pass along this anecdote that confirms my suspicion that Willard Mitt Romney is a deeply weird man.

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.

[snip]

As the oldest son, Tagg Romney commandeered the way-back of the wagon, keeping his eyes fixed out the rear window, where he glimpsed the first sign of trouble. ''Dad!'' he yelled. ''Gross!'' 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.

As the rest of the boys joined in the howls of disgust, Romney coolly pulled off the highway and into a service station. There, he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car, then hopped back onto the highway. It was a tiny preview of a trait he would grow famous for in business: emotion-free crisis management.

Yeah, I'll buy "emotion-free" as the right adjective. Sure, "heartless" and "robotic" might have been better words for a man who strapped the family dog to the roof of the car and then headed onto the highway. But "emotion-free" gets there.