A very nice, long article in the NYT about Ann Romney's horse Rafalca, which will compete in the Olympics on August 2d.
“I know it sounds crazy. But she is so loving and sweet. She is so kind and knowing. You look into her eyes and you can see her soul. I don’t know if we’re ever going to have another horse like this again.”
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73 comments:
Armstrong and Getty predict that dressage will be the curling hit of this Olympics.
What a sin! Ann Romney should hang her head in shame!
Loving and sweet. Kind and knowing. The mare knows who her oats are coming from so she makes her eyes all liquid brown whenever Ann approaches.
Look at all the feelings Ann Romney feels!
If Romney's dancing horse wins in the Olympics, do you think that will help him or hurt him in the election?
@Andy R: It would help. People don't like losers.
Here's the better question: Does dressage rhyme with garage and with bissage?
As the Koreans say, excellent horse-liking lady.
Yeah, Americans like winners, but I think Romney is rightly concerned about not flouting his opulent wealth.
This and this don't exactly make it seem like he considers his dancing horse an electoral asset.
Oh such hateful links there, Andy. Je refuse to click.
"Opulent wealth." Jealous much you little shit?
Americans also like commenters who know the difference between 'flaunt' and 'flout', hatboy. Please go away and come back when you're less ignorant about basic English, also how to wear a hat without looking like a dork.
I love sport.
Speaking of Romney and the Olympics, it's kind of hilarious how poorly Mittens's trip to London is going.
Not a dressage competitor, but I am rooting for fire survivor Neville Bardos though it now looks like he will be held in reserve.
:((
Ann Romney: She's just like all other housewives!
What a sin! Ann Romney should hang her head in shame!
It's funny that you all are falling over yourselves with admiration for Romney's Dressage horse, yet when John Kerry went windsurfing (which I didn't even know was a rich man's sport) you couldn't resist using it as an example how elitist and out of touch he was.
I can't think of many sports that are more elitist than dressage.
It's wrong to put dresses on horses. I am against it.
It wasn't Kerry windsurfing, per se, it was how stupid he looked doing it. The picture made him look like a complete dork.
If you got a picture of Romney himself in a dressage getup, I think it would have the same effect.
As to the wisdom of Ann Romney's horse, Swift would understand.
Letterman is using the dressage thing to portray Romney as "out of touch".
Top Ten List ... things that out of touch people would say:
#7 Can you recommend a good dance teacher for my horse? then they showed a clip of Romney's horse.
They must be on re-runs or something because the dressage spin is not new.
"Freder Frederson said...
It's funny that you all are falling over yourselves with admiration for Romney's Dressage horse, yet when John Kerry went windsurfing (which I didn't even know was a rich man's sport) you couldn't resist using it as an example how elitist and out of touch he was.
I can't think of many sports that are more elitist than dressage."
Well:
1. Unlike Kerry, Ann Romney is not running for POTUS.
2. Ann Romney does not participate in dressage for sport, but as therapy for MS.
3. Ann Romny never dressed up like Elmer Fudd and ask for a "huntin' license" to try to pass off a a "Regular Joe"
Speaking of Romney and the Olympics, it's kind of hilarious how poorly Mittens's trip to London is going.
Good, hes not running over there.
Oh wait.. is it still ok to say "over there"?
Mrs Romney is showing power over the horse in dressage, so all the metrosexuals are afraid of her and, by extension, her husband because she shows deference to him.
Dr Freud would understand.
Andy R. said...
Speaking of Romney and the Olympics, it's kind of hilarious how poorly Mittens's trip to London is going.
More hilarious how the Lefty media has to invent incidents to cover Choom's scrawny ass after the, "You didn't build that", mess.
PS Quoting TPM and Andy Sullivan proves nothing, sweetie.
Ann Romney does not participate in dressage for sport, but as therapy for MS.
Yup, I bet dressage is the only effective therapy for MS. Does that mean she can write off her dressage expenses as medical expenses?
If 200-250 million is all Romney is worth, that's kind of penny ante by Washington and New York standards, isn't it?
Freder: I bet dressage is the only effective therapy for MS
Lookie! Mr NannyState wants to judge what the "appropriate" therapy for MS is.
What a douchebag.
Geez. Freder shows more sympathy for captured terrorist scum than for a Republican woman with MS.
What does that say about him?
I thought Romney speaking fluent French would be a deal breaker.
Yup, I bet dressage is the only effective therapy for MS. Does that mean she can write off her dressage expenses as medical expenses?
No. But she can take the deduction as a business expense. The HORSE is competing in the Olympics. When you have a business that raises, trains and breeds horses for sale and for competition, you have the same ability as any other business to write off expenses against income.
If they were racing cars or breeding cattle or building yachts.....it is the same thing. A legitimate business expense.
It just happens that her love of horses, her hobby and the beneficial medical side effects became a business. This is just smart.
Mr NannyState wants to judge what the "appropriate" therapy for MS is.
What a douchebag.
I am sure dressage is good therapy and I don't begrudge Ann Romney what is apparently a very effective therapy.
What I do object to is the myth that Ann Romney discovered dressage after she was diagnosed with MS and that because it is an effective therapy any discussion of the Romney's dressage involvement is somehow off limits.
Ann Romney went back to dressage after she was diagnosed with MS, she didn't discover it as a therapy and then become involved in it.
I can't think of many sports that are more elitist than dressage.
Mrs. Bruce "Voice of the Working Man" Springsteen would like a word with you, Fred.
I thought Romney speaking fluent French would be a deal breaker.
Fluent French, no. Fluent Austrian, on the other hand. . .
business expense of an olympic quality horse or any other competition animal (dogs, cutting horse, bucking bronc, bull riding bull etc etc etc) is normal and common.
you have the same ability as any other business to write off expenses against income.
Actually, you get more tax breaks with horses than you do with other livestock and farming. The tax code is written for the rich by the rich.
Also, if the dressage is a hobby rather than a business, the expenses are not deductible. Just because you own a farm, it doesn't make you a farmer.
Freder = not worth the time to argue with. Denser than a brick. Bright as a coal mine.
The mare knows who her oats are coming from
Mares eat oats /and does eat oats/ and little lambs eat ivy / a kid'll eat ivy too, wouldn't you?
Mrs. Bruce "Voice of the Working Man" Springsteen would like a word with you, Fred.
Patti Scialfa and her husband are very rich. Just because you participate in an elitist sport doesn't mean you have forgotten your roots.
Freder = not worth the time to argue with. Denser than a brick. Bright as a coal mine.
Typical DBQ, resort to insults when it turns out I do know something about the tax code:
"IRC § 183(d) provides a presumption that an activity is engaged in for profit if the activity is profitable for 3 years of a consecutive 5 year period or 2 years of a consecutive 7 year period for activities that consist of breeding, showing, training, or racing horses."
Freder = not worth the time to argue with. Denser than a brick. Bright as a coal mine.
Typical DBQ, resort to insults when it turns out I do know something about the tax code:
"IRC § 183(d) provides a presumption that an activity is engaged in for profit if the activity is profitable for 3 years of a consecutive 5 year period or 2 years of a consecutive 7 year period for activities that consist of breeding, showing, training, or racing horses.
So fucking what? You know how to Google too. I'm so impressed.
The Romneys know something about the tax code to and they use it, as would any business owner who isn't a complete moron, to take advantage of the legal deductions. Turning a hobby into a business is not a crime either. Many people do this. Restaurant owners, artists, wood workers, seamstresses and gasp.....even horse loving dressage riding people.
You have a problem with people complying with the tax codes and maximizing their capital and business investments.....or just with Republicans doing so?
You have a problem with people complying with the tax codes and maximizing their capital and business investments.....or just with Republicans doing so?
I have a problem with a tax code that singles out one particular form of farming (horse farming) for special treatment (you only have to show profit 2 out of 7 years rather than 3 out of 5).
Besides, what I really have a problem with is your blanket statement that she can deduct her horse raising expenses as a business expense. It is not that simple. She has to show that it is not a hobby, i.e., she has to show a profit 2 out of every 7 years or the IRS will not allow her to deduct her horse expenses as a business.
Don't most Olympic sports require a surfeit of money or support? Pole vaulting and the shot put are elite sports. Who can afford to throw away several years of their life engaging in such activities? Some rich guy has to subidize them......If you want to redistribute the wealth of the rich isn't dressage a humane and useful way of doing it. I'd rather they give their money to horse grooms and trainers than to crack whores and rehab counsellors.
What I do object to is the myth that Ann Romney discovered dressage after she was diagnosed with MS and that because it is an effective therapy any discussion of the Romney's dressage involvements is off limits.
Who told you that? The voices in your head? Discuss dressage all you want, Freder.
No, what you object to is that your ham-handed attempt to drum up class warfare isn't working. Just like that diaper-soiling monkey garbage, with his "speaking French" snark.
You think that conservatives look at the Romneys and say to themselves "wull, shee-it! That there rich sumbitch is prancin' around with his fancy hosses and sayin' 'bonjoor' like some damn frog. Why don't he speak good ol' Amurrican like Obama?"
It just burns you up that we don't live down to your caricature.
Besides, what I really have a problem with is your blanket statement that she can deduct her horse raising expenses as a business expense.
Lets see.
She has a business. She is a co-owner of the business. A partnership in fact. So yes. If there are business losses they can deduct them up to a point. Since the business isn't being investigated by the IRS, we can pretty much assume that they are legit as a business and are also reporting gains in other years.
" In 2010, the Romneys reported a $77,000 loss on their tax returns for their share of Rafalca, which is owned by a partnership that includes Ebeling’s wife, Amy, Ann Romney and Beth Meyer. "
So depending on the shares owned by the other partners they also deducted losses in 2010. No one reporting how much pass through income they reported in other years. Strange. Right?
Why aren't you all up in arms about that?
It is not that simple. She has to show that it is not a hobby, i.e.,
she has to show a profit 2 out of every 7 years or the IRS will not allow her to deduct her horse expenses as a business.
DUH!
If you have a problem with the tax code, I suggest you take it up with the IRS or your Congress Critter and have them change it.
Until then, these are legitimate, legal, ordinary business practices and really....none of your fucking business what they do with theirown money.
No, what you object to is that your ham-handed attempt to drum up class warfare isn't working. Just like that diaper-soiling monkey garbage, with his "speaking French" snark
I'm not attempting to drum up class warfare, I was just noting the irony of so many Republicans drumming up class warfare during the Kerry campaign yet now they find it so horrible.
DUH!
So explain to me, since you have admitted I was right, why you claimed I was "denser than a brick. Bright as a coal mine."
none of your fucking business what they do with theirown money.
Normally I would agree with you. But, Mitt Romney is running for president so it is my business what they do with their money.
Freder Frederson said...
Ann Romney does not participate in dressage for sport, but as therapy for MS.
Yup, I bet dressage is the only effective therapy for MS. Does that mean she can write off her dressage expenses as medical expenses?
Who cares? It probably doesn't come out of Freder's pocket.
And dressage is excellent therapy for MS because it forces them to focus their minds on the activity.
Neal Cavuto, who also has MS, did a video on it a month or so ago, aimed at people like Freder.
Freder ought to watch it, even if it hurts his little Lefty feelings.
Just like that diaper-soiling monkey garbage, with his "speaking French" snark.
Just so you know, every insult brings a smile to my face. Keep 'em coming, Kris.
If Freder were honestly "not trying to drum up class warfare", he wouldn't have written "The tax code is written for the rich by the rich."
I can think of a reason that has nothing to do with wealth or class why raising horses might have a 2-years-in-7 requirement for profitable years where raising cows requires 3-in-5: it's an inherently riskier business. Unlike cattle ranching, or ordinary farming, or accounting, or most businesses, but like (e.g.) making movies or gold-mining or writing novels, it's possible to make an excellent living raising horses even while losing money most years. The occasional champion horse (or blockbuster movie or gold strike or best-selling novel) may easily provide enough profit in 2 years to outweigh substantial losses in the other 5, thus making it a reasonable way to make a living, not just a hobby pretending to be a job. Don't Hollywood and the mining industry also have special tax regimes?
. But, Mitt Romney is running for president so it is my business what they do with their money.
In other words, you're more concerned about what Mitt Romney (and his wife)does with their money than you are with what the President does with ours.
Freder= hateful, resentful, jealous miserable failure of a human being = aka typical loser liberal.
DUH!
So explain to me, since you have admitted I was right, why you claimed I was "denser than a brick. Bright as a coal mine."
Because.....we are not talking about a hobby, like someone building model airplanes in their garage and selling them at a craft fair wanting to have losses so they can write off their utility bills.
You are trying to quote the hobby loss rules as if Romney was raising little horsies in her backyard for a hobby and trying to deduct losses.
You are arguing a case that doesn't exist.
Romney is participating in a partnership. Most likely an LLP. Business profits and losses are passed through to the individuals This is a BUSINESS...not a hobby, even though it may have started as a hobby and a passion for horses. They are buying and selling horses for millions of dollars and employing a large staff of workers and trainers.
Apples and oranges and you are to stupid to understand the difference.
IF the partnership is continually losing money and posting losses then the IRS will step in and void the whole enterprise. Since that isn't/hasn't been done and the last loss reported was in 2010. It isn't an issue.
And....I still say...it is none of your [Freder or any one else] fucking business what the Romneys do with their own personal monies as long as it is legitimate and legal.
They are buying and selling horses for millions of dollars and employing a large staff of workers and trainers.
And because of the nature of the business, if they cannot show a profit at least two out of every seven years, then their business, no matter how much they spend on horses, or how many staff they employ, does not meet the definition of a business. It is just a very expensive hobby.
The IRS doesn't care if it is a partnership or
Since that isn't/hasn't been done and the last loss reported was in 2010.
2010 could be the fifth straight year of losses, which means they had damn well better show a profit this in 2011 and 2012 or they are screwed. (And I bet the chances of showing a profit this year are slim considering the expense of shipping a horse to England). Of course, they might have made money in prior years. Maybe we could settle that if old Mitt would release some earlier years tax returns.
Romney claims he doesn't know where his money is. Why would you trust him with yours?
"If Freder were honestly 'not trying to drum up class warfare,' he wouldn't have written 'The tax code is written for the rich by the rich.'"
This statement is wrong on a number of levels. The primary level being, that Freder was simply stating fact. It is a fact that the tax code IS OF COURSE written for the rich by the rich.
Now, if you think it is proper for the tax code to be written by and for the rich, then by all means, spew away.
I take it neither Freder Frederson nor harrogate has any answer to my argument as to why horses should be treated differently than cows for tax purposes. That makes harrogate's latest a lot more of a 'spew' than anything I wrote.
“If 200-250 million is all Romney is worth, that's kind of penny ante by Washington and New York standards, isn't it?”
200 million is solid middle class millionaire status.
“I know it sounds crazy."
Not a phrase the Romneys want too closely associated with them, so soon, if you ask me.
Note to DBQ and others:
I don't know Freder, so have no bead on his character over time, but - as someone who can't vote for Romney - I am amazed at the hypocrisy evidenced by those who can and will. You guys really are in a see-what-you-want-to-see mode, attacking any statement that may dent the armor of our potential Mormon first family.
This whole what-Romney-does-with-his-money-is-his-business line is bullshit. He IS running for president. We are NOT supposed to be handing it to him. We- the people - are supposed to vet our leaders. We are handing him power. How much money he has, where and how he spends it, and who he spends it with are all fair game. To suggest otherwise, to my ears, veers into cult of personality territory.
Romney isn't special - but you guys are treating him like it. And, even worse, you are on some kind of campaign to direct the conversation away from real topics by attacking the messenger - that's wrong.
One of the things I hate about cults is how they not only twist reality but get others to twist with them. It's now pretty much established that - while we can laugh, howl, point, and investigate Scientology until the cows come home - any discussion of Mormonism is BIGOTRY! That big ol' Zepplin of hypocrisy is just waiting to catch fire - and I can't wait for the spark - if only to shut the rest of you up, who are deluded enough to think that'll fly.
Mitt Romney is not "one of us." He never has been and never will be. But discovering who he is is supposed to be our responsibility.
We just let one unknown quantity through the gate and conservatives haven't been too happy about it for the last four years.
How any of them can now say we have to do it again will need some explaining.
P.S.
As far as I'm concerned, Left or Right, Obama (last time) or Romney (this time) you're all flirting with treason,...
my sister has done dressage pretty much her entire adult life. she paid for everything herself by working as a middle school teacher. she lived in a very small townhouse, drove an old pickup truck, and kept her living expenses to the smallest she could achieve. meanwhile, her horse, tack, and the training she hired were the very best she could afford. she also covered like a 7 state area in that old pickup, towing her horse trailer, and going to every dressage meet she possibly could.
so yeah, tell me how only millionaires can afford, or are interested in, indulging in dressage.
Oh dry out, newly minted partisan dressage haters. You just sound stupid. It's a lovely sport and requires great skill from both horse and rider and years of training. For viewing purposes, though, the best horse sport is showjumping. NASCAR with farm animals.
What's astounding to me is the fact that the left is trying to paint Romney -- who was Governor of Massachusetts, not Utah, for goodness sake -- as some crazy out of touch right winger.
Crack - I'm sure you are still puzzling how the Mormon cult has kept such a low profile in Massachusetts after it fully took control of the commonwealth, just biding its time, I guess. On this issue, you seem not to be thinking at all.
Who wins the medal in this kind of event? Horse or rider? Who is the real athlete here?
Also, what do the owners get for their investment? Do they hope to breed the horse in the future, or sell it to breeders? Are there large amounts of prize money in dressage, like in racing?
"The British reaction to Mitt's visit quickly went from tepid to mocking, with even stalwart British conservatives calling it a "total car crash" and "worse than Sarah Palin"."
Worse than Palin!?!?!? I didn't think this was possible...touche Mittens, touche.
The good news is that synchronized swimming is no longer the most pointless sport in the Olympics.
@Crack
I know you don't like Romney because of his Mormonism, but I don't recall you ever saying anything about Zero's "social justice" theology(or what ever its called). Maybe I missed it. Entirely possible.
Regardless, I don't like Romney as a candidate. He's entirelt too liberal for me to ever like, or trust. That doesn't matter though. From what I've seen of Zero is that he can't be worse. It's all I've got to vote for...that he will fuck the country up slower than Zero.
I don't care that Ann has a horse in the olympics. I don't care she has a business built around that horse. Most rich people don't just make money one way, the have several income streams, I know guys that buy heavy equipment for their business, and when they aren't using it, they rent them out. It's called maximizing. Wish I could do it.
I don't care if Romney is a Mormon,a scientologist, or worships "Big Jumba" by flogging bats.
I don't care that Zero is half black. I couldn't give a shit about his color. I don't care that he's frpm Chicago, raised in Islamabad, or was born in the British Colony of Kenya.
I care that the economy is fucked and has been for 6 years. I care that he is a tyranical despot with thin skin and delusions of granduer. I care about promises of flexibilty to our enemies, and "working under the radar" for gun control. I care about a private army, funded and armed like the army, but with their loyalty not to the country, but to an induvidual. I care about the NSA data mining every American not because they need to, but because they can.
That's why I am voting for Romney even though I can't stand the liberal little shit.
Not a dressage competitor, but I am rooting for fire survivor Neville Bardos though it now looks like he will be held in reserve.
Hideyho lemondog! We are related! Neville Bardos' story makes me cry. I have seen him and Boyd Martin compete live (The Fork and Rolex). I didn't know his status re the Olympics. :-(
Brian Williams' "The Rock Center" did a special on them that was very powerful.
Neville Bardos and his rider Boyd Martin do dressage also, for all you h8ers. Not as high level as the Grand Prix and Olympic level.
And I believe we have already had this discussion several weeks ago??
{Hand on forehead} I shall have to cast my dressage saddle which is sitting under a desk in my basement aside instead of waiting for my horse to get his act together. Same goes for a number of my friends.
Me, rich b*tch that I am, who shops at Wal-Mart, cleans my own toilets and doesn't have a maid either.
Would that the people frothing over the Romneys' horse would have frothed over Obama's real estate deal on that lot next to them that Tony Boy got for them.
When one is ignorant of something and it pops up on the radar, 'tis best not to open one's mouth and make a fool of one's self.
I have a friend who is a Democrat and loves dressage. So every time I see another disparaging "dancing horse" comment, I like to show them to her.
@JAL, thanks for the Brian Williams vid link!
"It just burns you up that we don't live down to your caricature."
This.
"That's why I am voting for Romney even though I can't stand the liberal little shit."
Your whole comment sums up my perspective pretty well.
There's not many women in the US who dislike and disrespect equestrian sports, and there's plenty of men who secretly wish they were cowboys or cavalry. So the more these weird people mock the horse, the more voters they give Romney. Or at least, the more respect they hand to Ann.
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