Mother and Friend are Sickened by Romney’s use of Slain SEAL for Political Gain

Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 12:53 am

The mother of slain Navy SEAL Glen Doherty is not happy to hear Mitt Romney using her dead son for political gain. She told 7News of Boston, “I don’t trust Romney. He shouldn’t make my son’s death part of his political agenda. It’s wrong to use these brave young men, who wanted freedom for all, to degrade Obama.”

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You might have thought Romney’s callous, bizarre presser about the attacks was bad enough, but Mitt Romney wasn’t done politicizing the deaths of four Americans in the September 11 attacks on the American consulate in Benghazi. Needing to humanize himself after his 47% comments, the Romney team found a new way to endear Romney on the stump. He could tell a story about Navy SEAL Glen Doherty, whom he had once met at a Christmas Party.

You have probably saw a clip of Romney saying this in Van Meter, Iowa because he showed emotion and the press was entranced. Speaking with fond emotion of Doherty and their meeting, Romney said, “You can imagine how I felt when I found out that he was one of the two former Navy SEALS killed in Benghazi on September 11th.”

Except that is not how one of Glen Doherty’s close friends of twenty years remembers Doherty’s chance meeting with Romney in an interview with MyNorthwest. According to Doherty’s friend Elf Ellefsen, Romney introduced himself to Doehrty four times during the same party, not remembering that he had already met Glen. Doherty called it “pathetic and comical”. Each time, Romney introduced himself “robotically” as “Mitt Romney, political figure.” Glen believed it to be very “insincere and stale.”

Elf said it made him sick to hear Romney using his friend Glen on the stump. “Whether it be Republican, Democrat, Green Party, Libertarian, it doesn’t make a difference. Because this guy is using our great friend, our humble, and honorable great friend…who is truly larger than life…He has become part of the soapbox routine for politics in a presidential race.”

Reporter Libby Denkmann asked Ellefsen “what he thought of his friend’s story being used on the political stump”, to which Ellefsen replied, “Honestly it does make me sick. Glen would definitely not approve of it… I think Glen would feel, more than anything, almost embarrassed for Romney. I think he would feel pity for him.”

Glen Doherty’s mother and close friend do not appreciate Romney using their loved one to score cheap points on the trail. Glen’s mother is specifically appalled to see Romney using her son to hurt President Obama, when Glen fought for freedom for all. Glen’s friend Elf says it makes him sick, and that his friend found Romney pathetic and comical.

It doesn’t get much more cynical than using someone’s death for your own political gain, especially when that person would not have approved of your campaign or your tactics, and even worse, when you didn’t even remember meeting him the first three times you introduced yourself to him. Romney used the story again on the trail today.

Update 2:30PM: The Romney campaign aide Kevin Madden told Buzzfeed that they will stop using the Glen Doherty story on the campaign trail, though Romney was allegedly “inspired” by meeting the man he forgot three times in a row.