Romney celebrates National Hot Dog Day: 'It’s the best meat there is'

Sen. Mitt Romney is hot on hot dogs, calling them “the best meat there is.”

The Utah Republican took to Twitter on Wednesday to offer a fawning tribute to frankfurters, timed to coincide with an annual celebration of the handheld food.

“As you all know, today is National Hot Dog Day. Perhaps you also know that hot dog is my favorite meat,” Romney said, sporting a hat emblazoned with an image of a hot dog and grasping the cylindrical-shaped sausage in his hand.

“I love hot dogs. I love ‘em in buns. I love them outside of buns. I love them in baked beans. I just like hot dogs,” the 76-year-old lawmaker said.

“It’s the best meat there is, without question,” he continued.

“So to all of you, who like me, are celebrating National Hot Dog Day, congratulations to you. And may there be many, many more hot dogs served in our wonderful land,” Romney concluded.

But not everyone was a fan of Romney’s hot take on hot dogs. Some Twitter users criticized the way in which he decorated his dog in the video, displaying a healthy drizzle of ketchup.

“I thought ketchup on hot dogs was verboten?” one social media user snipped.

John Noonan, a senior adviser at Polaris National Security, appeared to defend the ketchup move, saying, “The mustard fundamentalists are coming out hard in this video.”

“It might be time to face reality. People put ketchup on their hot dogs and they have or decades,” Noonan said.

Romney’s office didn’t immediately respond to ITK’s inquiry about the ketchup criticism — or where Romney acquired his hot dog hat.