Romney the Bully

[Cole Parker]

I've always had an abhorrence of bullies. Guess who's now at the top of my list?

C

Romney: Prep-school pranks?

The Washington Post on Romney’s prep school days and one incident in particular: “Mitt Romney returned from a three-week spring break in 1965 to resume his studies as a high school senior at the prestigious Cranbrook School. Back on the handsome campus, studded with Tudor brick buildings and manicured fields, he spotted something he thought did not belong at a school where the boys wore ties and carried briefcases. John Lauber, a soft-spoken new student one year behind Romney, was perpetually teased for his nonconformity and presumed homosexuality. Now he was walking around the all-boys school with bleached-blond hair that draped over one eye, and Romney wasn’t having it.

“ ‘He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!’ an incensed Romney told Matthew Friedemann, his close friend in the Stevens Hall dorm, according to Friedemann’s recollection. Mitt, the teenaged son of Michigan Gov. George Romney, kept complaining about Lauber’s look, Friedemann recalled. A few days later, Friedemann entered Stevens Hall off the school’s collegiate quad to find Romney marching out of his own room ahead of a prep school posse shouting about their plan to cut Lauber’s hair. Friedemann followed them to a nearby room where they came upon Lauber, tackled him and pinned him to the ground. As Lauber, his eyes filling with tears, screamed for help, Romney repeatedly clipped his hair with a pair of scissors. The incident was recalled similarly by five students, who gave their accounts independently of one another.”

The Romney campaign responded this way to the Post: “Anyone who knows Mitt Romney knows that he doesn’t have a mean-spirited bone in his body,” Andrea Saul said in a statement. “The stories of fifty years ago seem exaggerated and off base and Governor Romney has no memory of participating in these incidents.”

[Camy]

Governor Romney has no memory of participating in these incidents.

Surely having memory loss can't be good for a Presidential candidate?

[Chris James]

I don't believe a word this man says...he would lie to save a penny and get elected. This is what the rich upper class offers us as the next president? Move over GW, half of America will be headed north if this ass gets elected. I am beginning to believe that voting Republican would be like supporting the Taliban. At least they don't smile when they f**k you over and lop off your head.

[Gee Whillickers]

I don't believe a word this man says...he would lie to save a penny and get elected. This is what the rich upper class offers us as the next president? Move over GW, half of America will be headed north if this ass gets elected. I am beginning to believe that voting Republican would be like supporting the Taliban. At least they don't smile when they f**k you over and lop off your head.

No problem, Chris. I'll make up the spare room for you. You can be the resident bathroom cleaner. :) Unfortunately, our current conservative PM seems absolutely enamored with the hijinx of the more egregious right-wingers to the south of us, both in policy and in social issues, and if he stays in power too long he'll do some serious damage to this country. However, his ratings are falling, and falling fast. This country, at least so far, won't put up with bigotry and rudeness to that level. In fact, as the recent provincial election showed here in Alberta, social progress continues to head clearly and strongly towards equality and acceptance.

[JamesSavik]

Now folks- let's remember that hair length was a huge issue in some places in the sixties. In Mississippi, it was still a major issue in the seventies and in Texas as of last year.

Sexuality did not have to play any role in incidents like this. They were numerous and have played out with similar results across decades.

I myself had major problems with a coach in the seventies because I had shoulder length hair. I was the best tackler on his team but he wouldn't play me because of my hair length.

[Cole Parker]

I really wonder what the result would have been if a couple of guys tried to hold you down while another cut your hair, James. I think there would have been a hospital involved.

C

[DesDownunder]

As a protest to ridiculous hair length demands, I haven't cut my hair for 30 years. It's falling out by itself now. LOL

It was back in 1993 that my boss told me to get my hair cut. I looked him in the eye and asked, "Have you asked the female members of the staff to cut their hair?"

He walked away and never mentioned my hair length again.

[JamesSavik]

I really wonder what the result would have been if a couple of guys tried to hold you down while another cut your hair, James. I think there would have been a hospital involved.

C

True.

[colinian]

Now folks- let's remember that hair length was a huge issue in some places in the sixties. In Mississippi, it was still a major issue in the seventies and in Texas as of last year.

Sexuality did not have to play any role in incidents like this. They were numerous and have played out with similar results across decades.

I myself had major problems with a coach in the seventies because I had shoulder length hair. I was the best tackler on his team but he wouldn't play me because of my hair length.

Bullying is bullying, whether the person is, or is perceived as, gay – or not. Sexuality did not have to play any role, but why does that make any difference? Mitt Romney is portrayed as perfect, he has no problems, he is above everything – except the presidency. I can hear his campaign saying "He couldn't possibly have been a bully. And besides that's 47 years ago. Who cares?" We should care!

Colin

[The Pecman]

I think Romney is an a-hole and would be a crappy president, but: I have enough of a journalist background to see that there's a lot of media orchestration going on here. Sure, it's great that Obama is sort of (but not 100%) endorsing gay marriage in all states. But do you think it's a coincidence that the Washington Post suddenly does an expose revealing that Romney bullied a couple of gay kids 47 years ago?

I think if you took any rich, privileged, over-achieving WASPy politician and looked back 40+ years in their past, you'd find they were sometimes jerks in high school. I bet very few have squeaky-clean reputations; a lot of them were weasels, from a long legacy of weasels. Crap like this has gone on for centuries.

The main reason I dislike Romney is that he's wishy-washy, he doesn't think clearly, and he's distancing himself from his previous moderate stance when he was governor of Massachusetts just to appease the religious right. In other words: he's saying whatever he needs to to try to get elected.

[Chris James]

So now we have this avalanche of dissent about the bully story, and even the family of the alleged victim doubting it ever happened:

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Romney-bully-hair-Lauber/2012/05/11/id/438800

Somehow I still find a great deal of credibility in the story since Romney "doesn't remember" anything about it. Every time I see him all I can think is that he is such a robot, do we even know if he's human?

[vwl]

More Romney bullying. Definitely a pattern:

What kind of man – not teenager, but man – is Mitt Romney? Consider this episode, recounted by Boston Globe reporters Michael Kranish and Scott Helman in their book The Real Romney:

It was shaping up to be a hard Christmas for Mark and Sheryl Nixon. They had recently moved their family to the Boston area. . .and didn’t know many people. And then. . .they got the kind of phone call every parent dreads. [Their sons] Rob and Reed had been driving back from a youth gathering at the Mormon meeting house. . .Shortly after leaving the parking lot, Reed lost control of the red Oldsmobile minivan. The car sideswiped a utility pole, struck two trees, and. . .flipped over. . . .In a flash, the two Nixon boys, standouts on the high school cross-country team, became quadriplegics. . . .

The family suddenly needed a major addition to their house. They needed a special van to transport their sons. Their financial and emotional burdens were vast. Shortly before the holidays. . .Mark Nixon, a professor of accounting at Bentley University outside Boston, got a call at his office. It was Mitt Romney. He said he wanted to help. Would they be home on Christmas eve?

That morning. . .the Nixons opened their door to find not just Mitt but Ann Romney and their sons. They held large boxes. Inside were a massive stereo system for Rob. . .and a VCR for Reed. They’d also brought Reed a check, not knowing what else to get him. The Romneys stayed for a while. Their sons helped set up Rob’s new stereo. “What a Christmas surprise for the boys,” Sheryl wrote in her journal at the time.

The Nixons were floored. They shared a faith with Romney but didn’t really know him – they weren’t strangers, but neither were they friends. At that point, Romney held no formal leadership position in the Mormon church. He bore no direct ecclesiastical obligation to help. . . .What impressed the Nixons more than anything was that Mitt and Ann, despite their own packed holiday calendars, made a point of delivering the gifts themselves, spending time with family, and, by bringing their children with them, leading by example. . . .

That wasn’t all. Romney had also told Mark not to worry about Rob’s or Reed’s college education; he would pay for it. The Nixons, in the end, didn’t need to help. But Romney continued to quietly lend his hand. He participated in a 5K road race and fund-raiser for Rob and Reed at Bentley the next spring. He contributed substantial financial gifts toward golf tournament fund-raisers in subsequent years. Then, in 2007, when Reed graduated from Bentley with a degree in finance. . .Romney sent him a Bentley desk clock engraved with a special message of congratulation. “It wasn’t, Mark said, a onetime thing.”

[Cole Parker]

Makes one wonder which story is truer. It's hard to believe a bully changes so much. In my experience, if someone is a bully in his late teens, he tends to carry that trait with him into later life.

But if the second story is true, I'm glad the man does have some decency in him. Few people are all black. Life is painted in shades of gray.

C

[JamesSavik]

If the Obama people had to go all the way back to high school in the sixties to find some dirt on Romney, then they have already lost.

The people that I heard talking about it were laughing about it and saying if that is the worst dirt that they could dig up on the man, they were feeling better about Romney already.

[Cole Parker]

The problem is, with his history of flip-flopping, we really don't know what we'd acutally get. He's spent the last few months mollifying the far right edge of his party. Is that who he is? I don't think so, but I wince at all his current comments.

C

[E.J.]

hopefully, he will end up being a flop

[The Pecman]

This is not a black & white incident. Read what the family is saying:

http://www.theblaze....ally-incorrect/

While the Washington Post insists they're 100% correct:

http://www.washingto...LVnIU_blog.html

As others have pointed out, a lot of kids in 1965 were harrassed for having long hair. Speaking as a child of the '60s, I can tell you long hair was not tolerated in Florida public schools throughout the time I attended them (through 1972). In college, I occasionally had people chuckle at my long hair in the early 1970s (and it was not even shoulder length). On the other hand: holding a schoolmate down on the ground and chopping off clumps of their hair is outrageous behavior, way beyond teasing or taunting. This is violent bullying by any definition. But we don't know if it's true... even though it's nice to believe that an a-hole like Romney did it.

[blue]

I'll make one allowance: It *is* possible for someone to do wrong, make a mistake, learn better, be committed not to do it again, and become a better, changed person. It does happen.

I'll make another allowance: If that was the worst thing anyone could find about the man, then that's not as bad as some others. Mind you, being part of a group of several high school or college age boys (even middle school age) who hold down one boy and cut off his hair while he's struggling and begging them to stop, is not my idea of a terribly little thing, either.

I grew up with the 70's and 80's era dress code at school in Texas. Our student handbooks had very clear rules about what boys and girls could wear, including hair length. The rules for boys were different from the rules for girls because...well, because boys and girls are different, that's why! Anyway, yes, boys could not have hair below their collar, no wild haircuts, hair styles, or hair dye, no facial hair (assuming you were old enough to grow any). That said, there are incriminating photos of lots of boys with long-ish hair, and in the 80's, those "feathered, winged" haircuts. You'd laugh if you saw my high school graduation and prom photos. So would I, if I could find where I put 'em, if they didn't get water damage and get thrown out. (I need to look.) Yes, there are photos of a certain Blue teenager, very skinny and pale, standing in a rented tux to go (stag!) to the prom, pink shirt (no subtext was *intended*) and yes, hair in wings.... Oh, good golly, lol. (No, it did not occur to me to ask any boy. I knew that wouldn't work. I was barely admitting to myself that I liked guys, despite having spoken up for friends a few times.)

Romney's no saint. Not fond of his opinions. This seems to be the equivalent of Clinton's "I didn't inhale." Hmm....

Hair length, back when I was in school, didn't have anything to do with sexuality, though you can believe someone or other might, ah, cast aspersions about it. But anyone dumb enough to try linking hair length with being gay (queer! fag! sissy! pussy!) would not have tried that tack again, because half of the guys in class had hair around collar length, while the others had shorter hair. By the early to mid-80's almost no guys had crewcuts or hair quite that short, even me. (Hey, my parents were not "cool" with long hair, but then, I don't like hair in my eyes or over my ears anyway, it bugs me.)

But no -- Having a group of boys hold down a lone boy and cut his hair while he struggles and asks/begs them not to, not exactly my idea of the kind of guy I want for a leader or a friend.

Bleach blond hair, a little long? Sounds good! Well, except he'd be around a decade or two older than me. If he still has any hair, it may not be blond, lol.

Uh, my hair is still blond. Not bald. Just saying.

Um, though if it gets as hot this summer as last summer, I might actually go wild and shave my head. If the price of haircuts goes up again, I might rethink the long hair thing. Would a braid make me look appropriately artsy, pensive, and rakish? I dunno!

"Far out, dude."

[DesDownunder]

Oh dear! I read, "...my high school graduation and prom photos." as "porn photos."

As for your hair, save the money and grow it. A pony tail looks very artistic, and could attract a flotilla of potential boyfriends.

[Cole Parker]

I see this story as an insight into Romney's character. My personal feeling is, if you can have a bully mentality at 18, you can certainly retain that urge, that insensitivity to others who are weaker than you, into your future life. Did he? I don't know, but I've certainly dealt with enough adult bullies in my lifetime to know they exist, and know many of them were bullies when kids, too.

I can't get that picture out of my head of Romney, along with three or four senior classmates, descending on this younger, smaller kid who was all alone, and one of them, the captain of the wrestling team, holding the kid down while Romney cut his hair. If that isn't the essence of bullying, what is? Several against one. Overpowering a defenseless victim. Terrorizing him. He's crying and yelling for help, for them to stop. They're oblivious to his entreaties, and do what they want to him, and he can't stop them, he's helpless.

If it happened like that. The story has been called into question because one of the people that was cited as part of it wasn't. That was corrected in the paper. And Romney supporters are claiming that proves the incident didn't happen as charged. But then this was reported:

Four of the five witnesses to the forcible haircut cited by the Post are on the record, by name, and remember it well. Their accounts remain unchallenged. I also think it’s important to point out that Romney quickly apologized after the story was published, and although not a detailed apology, I think his demeanor in the apology seemed genuine.

I don't think Romney get's it. Most bullies don't. They think what they do is justified, because they think their own views and opinions matter more than those of their victims. Romney didn't think anyone at the school should have long hair, and so to him, that opinion outweighed anything his victim thought. He saw it as a prank. He didn't see this for what it was, an outrageous attack on another student.

He violated the rights and the personal dignity of another person because his own perceptions of what should happen at the school were being stretched by his victim. I see this as a metaphor of what he could do as President. I can see him determining what he thinks is right and simply dismissing the dissent around him. And his perception of what is right comes from a background of entitlement, cloistered religious belief and rightwing politics. That is very scary.

C

[Chris James]

Sometimes the commentary by the readers of a news story have a lot more on the ball than the story itself. Here is one from a story about Mitt Romney speaking at Liberty University. In this twenty minute speech Romney said nothing vital about what he would do as President and hammered away about "marriage between a man and a woman" and used the word God a dozen times. My, how predictable.

"If these people like Romney are really serious about protecting marriage, then why don't they just outlaw divorce? Marriage is not threatened by gays or anyone else wanting to get married; it is threatened by the married not wanting to stay married; not wanting to live up to their commitment to a partner. That's why our divorce rate in around 50% compared to something like 2% in 1960. But I already know the reason: it is because their so-called pro-marriage stance is nothing more than a thinly disguised form of anti-gay bigotry that really has nothing to do with marriage at all. It's only a pretense."

Amen!!!

[The Pecman]

I see this story as an insight into Romney's character. My personal feeling is, if you can have a bully mentality at 18, you can certainly retain that urge, that insensitivity to others who are weaker than you, into your future life.

Again, my journalistic instinct says I'd like to have more proof. Sometimes, even a-hole politicians are right and not necessarily guilty of certain crimes, including assault. At the moment, the victim has been dead for almost 10 years and there's conflicting evidence.

But again: I'm positive there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of privileged millionaires' children attending private school who bullied other students at some point in their lives. This doesn't excuse Romney, and I'm not a fan of his at all. He's the least-worst of all the Republican candidates, but still awful. And I'm not happy with Obama's performance all the time, either. We don't have strong candidates on either side, but the Repubs are horrible.

[Cole Parker]

Oh, I agree heartily with that, Pec. He's certainly the least worst of the the Republicans who were running for President, and I think he's more moderate than what he's shown so far while running for favor in a party that is leaning more and more right these days.

I do hope that's true.

C

[Chris James]

I still think the Borg have finally managed to slip one of their own into American politics. The man is a robot with about as much feeling as this machine I am on.

[The Pecman]

Yes, I agree completely with Chris. Romney has always seemed very robot-like and calculated to me. I don't think there's a natural bone in his body ("unless I were to shove one in him," as Howard Stern would say).

As internet pundit Mark Evanier (who normally writes about comic books, TV, and fantasy) says about Romney:

I do think Romney has what some call an "empathy problem." I don't get that he thinks government exists for much purpose beyond serving the needs of people like him. A question I would love to see someone put to him is this...

You've been around wealthy people and successful businessfolks all your life. How often do you see something that makes someone a lot of money...and while it may be legal, it shouldn't be because it's unethical and harms others?

I really don't know what he'd say. If he couldn't cite some examples, I'd think a lot less of him than I do now. If he could, and he sounded convincing when he said, "...and when I'm president, I'm going to do everything I can to fix that," I might have a much higher opinion of the man.

http://www.newsfromme.com/2012/05/13/todays-political-comment-27/