After a trip to the United Kingdom which can only be described as disastrous, the specter of the Olympic Games continue to cast a potential pall over the clueless and anything by diplomatic Romney: Rafalca, the dancing horse. The horse for which the Romneys took over a $77,000.00 business expense deduction on the one tax return that has seen the light of day. Rafalca - and I must confess that I love horses and grew up riding when my family lived in upstate New York - symbolizes in many ways the fact that Mitt Romney is totally out of touch and clueless when it comes to how the rest of us live - i.e., those of us who don't have Swiss bank accounts, money stashed in numerous tax havens across the globe, and who would be happy to have $77,000.00 in income for the year. A column in the Washington Post looks at Romney's efforts to duck the Rafalca spotlight:
The animal kingdom has been inhospitable to Mitt Romney in this election cycle. First there was the damaging story of Seamus, the Irish setter he strapped to the roof of the Romneys’ car on a family trip. Now it seems that, when it comes to Romney’s political aspirations, Seamus may not be the most dangerous animal in the family menagerie. This past week belonged to Rafalca, the dancing horse.
Rafalca, a 15-year-old Oldenburg mare owned in part by the Romneys, qualified as a member of the U.S. Olympic team and will compete in London in the dressage competition — a form of ballet for horses and their riders in which the animals do pirouettes and serpentines.
Understandably, Romney was wary about discussing dressage when NBC’s Brian Williams asked him in London on Wednesday about his equine Olympian. “You actually have a horse in the race.
Romney pleaded ignorance. “I have to tell you, this is Ann’s sport. I’m not even sure which day the sport goes on. She will get the chance to see it, I will not — be — watching — the event. I hope — her horse does well.”
It was arguably Romney’s worst interview since Chris Wallace asked him about Seamus. The flustered candidate went on to disparage the British preparation for the Olympics, setting off an international incident.
It’s understandable that Romney would be reluctant to discuss dressage. Seamus may have made him look odd, or insensitive. Rafalca makes him look like a super-rich playboy.
Nothing says “man of the people” quite like horse ballet. Ann Romney takes umbrage at the criticism, saying that dressage has helped with her multiple sclerosis. . . . . While it’s heartening that Ann Romney has been helped by the horses, most MS sufferers don’t have the luxury of importing $100,000 horses from Europe. And the candidate’s disavowal of dressage as “Ann’s sport” isn’t quite right.
In an interview with the Web site Chronicle of the Horse, Rafalca’s trainer, Jan Ebeling, said Mitt Romney selected the music for the horse’s routine at an international competition; Ebeling, in another interview, said the former Massachusetts governor, inspired by his wife, “really enjoys the horses.” Romney joined his wife at an Olympic qualifying dressage event in April 2008, and the couple declared a $77,731 loss on their 2010 tax returns for their share of Rafalca’s care.
For the record, the dressage events begin Aug. 2 at Greenwich Park. You can bet Mitt Romney won’t be there.
I've been to dressage events and believe me, the participants/horse owners aren't your typical, average Americans.
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