Spontaneous Google bomb redefining Romney

Mitt Romney’s campaign website is the first result when you search ‘Romney’ in Google. But the second result may not help his campaign. (AP)

Web searchers that type ‘Romney’ into Google may be surprised to see the second result: “Romney 1. To defecate in terror.”

The website spreadingromney.com which lists the definition for Romney as “to defecate in terror” was inspired by a story Romney told of tying his dog to the roof on a family road trip.

Dave Ross recapped the incident for 97.3 KIRO FM Ross and Burbank Show listeners.

“Back in 1983 […] on a Romney family trip there was no room for the dog because he’s got those five strapping young lads. So they put the dog carrier on the luggage rack. He fashioned a windshield so it wouldn’t make it impossible for the dog to breath and he put Shamus up there.”

Ross played a clip of Romney speaking of the event.

“Shamus, as his name is, climbed up there all by himself, enjoyed his ride,” said Romney.

“The problem was at some point in the trip, this brown substance began trickling down the back window of the car and the kids noticed it, so he stopped the car and realized the dog was apparently pretty upset about this, so what he did was hose the dog down and put him back up there, which people thought was insensitive,” said Ross.

The man who created the website with the new highly-google-ranked definition of ‘Romney’ tells 97.3 KIRO FM’s Ross and Burbank Show that he posted it because he thought voters should be aware of this part of Romney’s history.

“I wanted to draw attention to two things, one, was how he treated his dog. I feel like you can tell a lot about a person by how they treat animals. And two, his reaction when he realized what was happening, because apparently when he realized it happened, he cleaned off the dog, cleaned off the car and put the dog right back in the kennel on top of the roof,” said Jack Shepler, creator of SpreadingRomney.com. “That just doesn’t seem like the right response to that.”

Shepler’s idea of redefining Romney came from Stranger Editor Dan Savage’s movement to redefine Santorum.

The new definitions for Santorum and Romney appear second in Google search results for the last name of both candidates.

Many media outlets are calling the attacks on the candidates a “Google bombing.” But in the case of Shepler’s website, he said it was not a direct Google bombing.

“For it to be a Google bomb there would have to be an organized effort to link the keyword to the site. There are black cat SEO companies out there that will do this for you.”

Shepler said he hasn’t done anything like that, that his site growth has been more like a spontaneous Google bomb.

“Honestly I’m surprised it made it to page one,” said Shepler. “It’s really just because of how much people have talked about it.”

When asked how he feels about the impact his website might have on Romney’s campaign he said, “I think it’s important to point out things like this so people know who they’re voting for.”

By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor