Mitt Romney, in his sit-down interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer, addressed the Seamus controversy once more, this time conceding that he wouldn't strap the dog crate to the top of the car because of the political fallout that would ensue. This is the exchange per a transcript released by the network.
DIANE SAWYER: As we move away from this primary campaign into the next phase -- again, on Yahoo, we got two questions most often, first about Seamus -- which as you know is out there forever -- would you do it again?
MITT ROMNEY: Certainly not with the attention it's received.
The answer represented a bizarre bowing to the political realities of the Seamus story. But while Romney was unwilling to risk again what has become one of the more perplexingly vexing issues haunting his campaign, his wife defended the family's treatment of its Irish setter, in the following manner:
DIANE SAWYER: You said it was the most wounding thing in the campaign --
ANN ROMNEY: It's crazy.
DIANE SAWYER: -- so far.
ANN ROMNEY: The dog loved it. The dog was, like --
DIANE SAWYER: But the dog got sick, right?
ANN ROMNEY: Once, he -- we traveled all the time and he -- he ate the turkey on the counter. I mean, he had the runs. But -- he would see that crate and, you know, he would, like, go crazy because he was going with us on vacation. It was to me a kinder thing to bring him along than to leave him in the kennel for t -- in -- in -- in a kennel for two weeks, so.