tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9208928.post328231164318736529..comments2024-03-29T11:17:37.301-04:00Comments on Start Making Sense: On Romney's claim that he saw his father march with Martin Luther KingDaniel Shavirohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14710628584922961682noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9208928.post-33153673127338979652007-12-22T21:59:00.000-05:002007-12-22T21:59:00.000-05:00POLITICOBy: Mike Allen http://www.politico.com/new...POLITICO<BR/>By: Mike Allen <BR/>http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7524.htm<BR/>Shirley Basore, 72, says she was sitting in the hairdresser's chair in wealthy Grosse Pointe, Mich., back in 1963 when a rumpus started and she discovered that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and her governor, George Romney, were marching for civil rights — right past the window. <BR/>With the cape still around her neck, Basore went outside and joined the parade. <BR/>"They were hand in hand," recalled Basore, a former high-school English teacher. "They led the march. We all swung our hands, and they held their hands up above everybody else's." <BR/>She remembered the late governor as "extremely handsome." <BR/>Until this week, that was just a vivid memory for a sweet retiree who now lives in Pompano Beach, Fla. <BR/>But Basore's memory became important this week when news accounts questioned the recollections of the late Michigan governor's son, Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor. <BR/>News stories suggested that Romney was exaggerating. It turns out that he may not have attended the Grosse Pointe march, but it certainly happened. <BR/>The campaign posted citations quoting one author as writing that "George Romney made a surprise appearance in his shirt sleeves and joined the parade leaders."<BR/>Stephen Hess and David S. Broder also wrote about the march in their 1967 book, "The Republican Establishment: The Present and Future of the G.O.P." <BR/>Basore said she was very angry about how the issue has been covered on cable television. <BR/>"This very arrogant guy on TV questioned Mitt Romney, and I marched with them," Basore said. "I hope that the campaign demands an apology. I want him to publicly apologize to me. That was a personal insult, and an insult to Mitt Romney." <BR/>Basore said she called the campaign, and the campaign supplied her contact information. <BR/>Another witness, Ashby Richardson, 64, of Massachusetts gave the campaign a similar account.<BR/>"I'm just appalled that the news picks this stuff up and say it didn't happen," Richardson, now a data-collection consultant, said by phone. "The press is being disingenuous in terms of reporting what actually happened. I remember it vividly. I was only 15 or 20 feet from where both of them were."Myclobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078380986530703414noreply@blogger.com