Thursday, May 10, 2012

Romney Apparently a Forgetful, Homophobic Bully

No doubt, he was a good looking kid. Image from
source, New York Times
Politicians often have conveniently selective memories. In the case of Mitt Romney's anti-gay bullying of another student in the 1960s, it makes you wonder if he only forgets because of their frequency? Because if this was an anomaly, something very out of character , how could he possibly forget it?

Some might be tempted to dismiss this as an old story, fifty years, irrelevant. But is it? This is the case of an alpha male in an all-boys school leading the charge to bully a kid. It was scarring enough to bother the others involved, and the victim (now deceased). But Romney doesn't remember. Though he does remember--somehow--that it wasn't over the other kid's sexuality. Riiiiight.

Here's a little nugget that I haven't seen discussed though. This gay kid (presumed to be gay at the time) had bleached blond hair, and it was arranged "differently," apparently hanging in his face. But this was the 1960s, a time of change in America's youth. The target of Romney's ire, John Lauber, may have been an early adopter of the longer hair that very quickly became popular. And Romney looks every inch the square who would fight that, doesn't he? Romney is like the enemy in any movie like Revenge of the Nerds, except that those jerks are supposed to get their comeuppance. Not become gazillionaire presidential candidates.


[Excerpt]


50 Years Later, a Bullying Case Snares Romney

The day after President Obama endorsed gay marriage, Mitt Romney found himself responding to allegations that as a teenager he harassed a prep school classmate who later came out as gay. . .

Read more at: The New York Times

2 comments:

  1. Are you the same person you are when you were in High School?
    If I went back to my high school days, I would be conservative and hated to be in groups... oh wait...
    Seriously, I had views of different cultures based on my family and community I was raised in and they are not the views I have now, for the most part. The views I have now are based on my adult experiences.

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  2. Yes, actually. I'm essentially the same person I was in high school. I've of course learned a lot since then. I've gotten more coordinated, not so klutzy. I would never want to go back to my earlier self (except for less wrinkles). But I'm pretty much the same, no big personality changes.

    But think about this: people who commit high crimes at 18? They're in prison well into adulthood for "who they were." If I had done something heinous at 18, I don't think that "well, I was young" is a very good excuse. What kind of person does what Romney did? It's outrageously mean. When did he snap out of it, and stop being mean? 20? 25? 50? I'm just curious.

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