The Democratic National Committee pledges that it will stop horsing around with Ann Romney, wife of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
(Okay, we apologize for the unfunny horse reference in the lead, but it’s not as bad as some others we’ve seen on top of stories about this subject.)
The DNC used Ann Romney’s dancing show horse in a campaign ad mocking Romney for dancing around the issue of his tax returns. Romney has released just his 2010 returns and estimates for 2011, but he is in the center of a storm of criticism from Democrats and Republicans calling for him to release more. Democrats even dug up comments from his father, the late George Romney, former governor of Michigan and presidential candidate in 1968, who released 12 years of his tax returns when he ran and said that just one year can be deceptive. On this issue, Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) has even proposed legislation that would require presidential candidates to release 10 years worth of tax returns and disclose any overseas investments.
As it released the video of the dancing horse, the DNC said it would be the first in a series of ads featuring the horse.
But then Ann Romney told Robin Roberts during an appearance on Good Morning America that she was offended by the use of her dancing horse, with whom she trains as therapy for her multiple sclerosis.
And that spelled the end of the horse as a campaign weapon.
The DNC, perhaps unaware of said therapy, suddenly goes from being a clever foil for Romney to a big old bully beating up on his wife.
“Our use of the Romneys’ dressage horse was not meant to offend Mrs. Romney in any way, and we regret it if it did,” DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse told ABC News. “We were simply making a point about Governor Romney’s failure to give straight answers on a variety of issues in this race. We have no plans to invoke the horse any further to avoid misinterpretation.”
See the offending ad below:
