Romney's Bullying/Gay Bashing High School Days

[alfred russel]

Having said that no-one should be judged for what they did at high school.  But I still think Romney's lying when he says he doesn't remember this.  He should have said 'yeah this happened, I'm sorry to those, but I was a jerk at high school - that happens'.

I disagree--I think he was 18 in the story, and if not he was close to it. Getting a group of people together to attack and then cut the hair of a guy that is suspected of being gay (or at least different) is criminal. If a story like this came up and the students went to jail, I don't think anyone would be appalled by a criminal charge.

He can't admit that he remembers doing the things in the story because they are actually really bad. Until he admits them, the reporting of the story has to reflect some possibility that it isn't true.

[derspiess]

I wasn't bullied and I never bullied.  I was a class socialist, I'd always be willing to get into arguments with teachers but I don't remember ever being cruel or pranking them - like walking a blind guy into a door.

Is class socialist kind of like class clown?

Having said that no-one should be judged for what they did at high school.  But I still think Romney's lying when he says he doesn't remember this.  He should have said 'yeah this happened, I'm sorry to those, but I was a jerk at high school - that happens'.

It has been nearly 50 years since the alleged incident.  I'm sure when there's that much time between me & my high school years, I'll have forgotten a lot of stuff I did, good or bad.  And there's a good chance that the story itself might be a bit different than it was originally reported.

[derspiess]

I disagree--I think he was 18 in the story, and if not he was close to it. Getting a group of people together to attack and then cut the hair of a guy that is suspected of being gay (or at least different) is criminal. If a story like this came up and the students went to jail, I don't think anyone would be appalled by a criminal charge.

Jeez, overreact much?

[Ed Anger]

Whore pills were involved somehow.

[alfred russel]

And there's a good chance that the story itself might be a bit different than it was originally reported.

Which is a good point (I doubt reporters can get anything right). If there is some truth to the story but the details differ, better to just say you don't remember than to get into a multi news cycle back and forth about what really happened.

[Barrister]

Jesus Christ.

I don't give a fuck what Mitt Romney did in high school.  I don't give a fuck where Obama was born, I didn't give a fuck whether Bill Clinton inhaled in college, or any of the myriad of inane little details your politicians seem to obsess over.

[PDH]

Bah, I'm 46 and I can still remember doing that line of angel dust off the hooker's ass cheek in the Tans Am while we were doing 95mph down I-70 running from the cops on that weapons charge.  And I was 14 then.

[alfred russel]

I disagree--I think he was 18 in the story, and if not he was close to it. Getting a group of people together to attack and then cut the hair of a guy that is suspected of being gay (or at least different) is criminal. If a story like this came up and the students went to jail, I don't think anyone would be appalled by a criminal charge.

Jeez, overreact much?

I would expect criminal charges if a group of 18 years olds jumped me and cut off my hair. And I have a lot less hair than the average high school student. 

[derspiess]

Which is a good point (I doubt reporters can get anything right). If there is some truth to the story but the details differ, better to just say you don't remember than to get into a multi news cycle back and forth about what really happened.

What if you legitimately don't remember?  You know that happens when you lead an eventful life & grow old.

[11B4V]

 

Jesus Christ.

I don't give a fuck what Mitt Romney did in high school.  I don't give a fuck where Obama was born, I didn't give a fuck whether Bill Clinton inhaled in college, or any of the myriad of inane little details your politicians seem to obsess over.

*GASP*  *GASP* *HORRORIFIED*..........................Then what would be talked about  ....................the issues. How dare you sir.

[CountDeMoney]

I was bullied by the same kid from 3rd grade to 9th grade...my parents were constantly getting nowhere with the school and his mother for years.  Drove my parents nuts.  Drove me nuts in fear.  First week of school from 7th to 9th grade was the week I determined my paths to class, in order to avoid him.

The bullying ended the day he was giving my shoes blowouts from behind on the way back to class from lunch, and after telling him a couple times to stop and he wouldn't, I turned around and stabbed him in the face with a fucking pencil.  I actually tried to put it directly through his cheek, but it just sort of glanced off his cheekbone and just went under the skin.

Only caught 1 day suspension, which my parents had absolutely no problem with.  Not with never getting anywhere with school for years, not with that bastard.

That was the last day I was ever bulllied by him, or anybody else for that fucking matter.

So there's a lesson there, kids.

Fascinating war story, Siege.

It worked.

[Jacob]

Well, the thing is Romney's kind of a dick. This childhood story is believable because it supports that.

Just like most of the stories about Obama's childhood brought up in supports the narrative that he's not at all an average white guy but rather at least a little bit foreign.

[DGuller]

I was never bullied in US, but I've had a long-running feud with two classmates in Ukraine.  Both of them were virulent anti-Semites (how do you even get to be a virulent anti-Semite at the age of 12  ), and picked fights with me.  However, the nature of those two relationships was drastically different.

The first guy was a real masochist.  He was smaller than me, weaker than me, and pretty dumb.  Yet, he kept consistently picking fights with me.  Invariably, his provocations ended up with him on the floor having his left arm twisted behind his back.  For some reason I don't understand, he kept asking for more for years, and I obliged.  I guess I was a bully in that relationship, though I was never the one to provoke the confrontation.

The other guy was a sadist.  Unfortunately for me, he was a really good martial artist.  One on one, I had no chance.  He would get close to me one way or the other, get me in a headlock, drop me to the floor, and start choking me.  The only way out for me out of that situation was to exaggerate the effects of strangulation.  Thankfully, the idea of choking someone to death evidently did not appeal to him, at least not then, so he let go when I did that after throwing a couple of taunts.  What limited the number of such incidents is that I could count on two other martial artists and a boxer to come to my defense when that happened, and they were my classmates.  Therefore, I was only really vulnerable when I was on my own, which I obviously tried to avoid when he was around.

I finally ended the bullying by the second guy on one clear morning.  While he was home sleepping, I got on the plane and flew to Warsaw, and from there flew to New York, with my family.  The sadist never bothered me again after that.

[Maximus]

Jeez, overreact much?

I would expect criminal charges if a group of 18 years olds jumped me and cut off my hair. And I have a lot less hair than the average high school student. 

Yea, physical assault is a criminal matter. The tendency to laugh it off just because it happens in school is disgusting and makes it difficult to clamp down on that sort of thing.

[CountDeMoney]

Well, the thing is Romney's kind of a dick. This childhood story is believable because it supports that.

Just like most of the stories about Obama's childhood brought up in supports the narrative that he's not at all an average white guy but rather at least a little bit foreign.

It is sort of interesting to see which back story is of more concern to people, though: the guy that wrote a best-selling autobiography before he ran for President and is still accused of being Muslim and a non-citizen, or the millionaire with the insulated, opaque upbringing that belongs to a secretive religion whose rules are eerily similar to Fight Club?