I am in Omaha, Nebraska today to speak at the Hilton Omaha where Mitt Romney will be raising cash in a private fundraiser for his campaign. It will be interesting if he is pressed on this story picking up steam this week. Romney has been accused of former school chums from his elite all-boy boarding school of attacking a presumed gay student and cutting off his hair. Since in many states the attack on the now-deceased John Lauber would be a hate crime, it is a serious charge even if it was so many years ago. The witness turns out to be a former prosecutor who says that he has been haunted by the act. This week Romney reaffirmed that he opposed same-sex marriage as a personal matter. Update: Romney has apologized for incidents in his youth.
The Washington Post spoke to five students, including one who said that Romney had it out for a younger boy because of his long bleached-blond hair in 1965. The witness say that Romney led friends in tackling and cutting off Lauber’s hair. The witness is Thomas Buford, a retired prosecutor. Romney is quoted at the time as declaring “He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!”
The response from the campaign was a bit weak under the circumstances. The campaign simply said that Romney had no recollection of the event: “The stories of fifty years ago seem exaggerated and off base and Governor Romney has no memory of participating in these incidents.”
I have met Romney and even flew across the country on a flight back to Washington. He has struck me as a particularly friendly and decent person despite our disagreement on many issues. However, despite the long passage of time, the leading of an attack on a gay student is a serious matter as it would in a racist or anti-Semitic attack. I would have expected a clear recollection that such an attack could never have occurred.
Four other students recalled the incident, including some who admitted to participating in it. Also troubling are accounts like this one: “In an English class, Gary Hummel, who was a closeted gay student at the time, recalled that his efforts to speak out in class were punctuated with Romney shouting, ‘Atta girl!'”
While Romney may claim that it was not an anti-gay attack but just a prank, one would expect him to have an equally clear memory of the event at the prestigious Cranbrook School. Certainly the memory stuck with Lauber who spoke to some of the witnesses years later. For my part, I am equally troubled by the claim of a lack of any recollection of such events.
Romney however appears to be trying to get ahead of the story and the confirmatory accounts of former friends. On a radio show, he said “Back in high school, I did some dumb things and if anybody was hurt by that or offended, obviously I apologize for that. I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school and some might have gone too far and for that, I apologize.” However, he still denied any recollection of the attack on Lauber: “I don’t remember that incident. I certainly don’t believe that I thought the fellow was homosexual. That was the furthest thing from our minds back in the 1960s so that was not the case.”
Do you think this is a viable campaign issue given the passage of time? If he was a bully decades ago, does it have bearing today on the man running for office?
Source: Washington Post
So has the mature, 50 year older Romney learned “bulling gay people is bad” from this incident in his past?
Well, a gay person in his employ (Richard Grenell) was recently bombarded with bigoted filth. Not the same as bulling, but homophobic harassment nonetheless.
Has Romney defended him? Has the shame from his youthful misbehavior become a positive characteristic, as an urge to defend gays against homophobic insults? Has he grown and matured?
“…Sister Claudia and her leather riding crop.” –Mike A.
I think I’ll just hold my tongue… 😉 …but thanks for making me smile.
“I am in Omaha, Nebraska today to speak at the Hilton Omaha where Mitt Romney will be raising cash in a private fundraiser for his campaign.”
So is JT a Romney man, is it a coincidence, or does JT not remember? 😉
Romney reminds me of a wonderful man I knew who made his own fortune and became very successful at the top of his field of work. His son, however, was cruel & thoughtless in this same way. Romneys father was also self made man of good character, while his son no one can really like all that much because he is such a stuck up wierdo. The more Mitt tries to seem ‘normal’ the more abnormal he looks. I pray he is not our next potus.
“Are there more recent accounts of his bullying behavior towards the powerless ” (anon)
Does the dog on vacation story count?
“Mitt-frontations”, as someone has called them. I’m guessing that there will be more “stories” to come…
“(In a ) CNN interview, Romney and Ann, who was also on the show, implied that they had been working to lower Mitt’s temperature. “As both of us have gotten older,” said Ann, “you certainly hope you mature. … That’s how you learn to control your emotions. And he’s got—definitely gotten better with that. But there are still some Mitt-frontations.””
http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/magazine/97756/mitt-romney-anger-lmfao?page=0,0 (“Temperamental Journey, The peculiar anger of Mitt Romney” by Alex MacGillis) –from the slate.com link supplied by Swarthmore mom
anon: I read the entire article in WaPo. The significance isn’t in the event itself, but in the attitude it reveals. And frankly, I don’t consider gang assault a normal stage in the process of growing up. That Mr. Romney doesn’t recall the incident is not surprising since he bore no consequences. Nevertheless, it was fifty years ago and there ought to be some sort of statute of limitations on juvenile crimes.
On the other hand, perhaps the story angers me only because I was always the kid who intervened on behalf of the John Laubers and beat the snot out of the Mitt Romneys, which also meant that I was the kid called out of class later in the afternoon for a brief hallway interlude with Sister Claudia and her leather riding crop.
While this is an awful case and clearly something very awful to do another kid. It was a long time ago. It does speak to his character and I know that as a high school student, I would never have done such a thing. Honestly, I probably would have been friends with the kid (since I and all my friends were the band nerds and geeks).
I do hope that people vote on policy and vision for the future. Sure, Romeny talks about making things better, but I have no idea how to even evaluate his vision of the future since there is no distinct plan. I know he did not raise taxes in MA but did jack up fees on just about everything the state had a fee for. I know he profited off the losses of companies. I know he is comfortable with letting companies fail and seeing thosands lose jobs.
So, with this new information we now know we know he is more a run-of-the-mill jerk instead of a more polished political jerk all the other politicians (on both sides).
Romney has been lying his way through the campaign. Now…I know that all politicians lie–but Romney is elevating lying to a perverted art form. Trust nothing that Mr. Etch-A-Sketch says. Romney doesn’t remember this incident? Oh, sure–and I’m the Queen of Romania!
I have known people like this, people of incredible privilege who have no concern at all for others and who do anything they can to degrade, demean or ridicule others who are not as fortunate. Look at Romneys ‘joke’ about firing people. He just does not give a shit about anyone who is not in his social class and anything goes to put them in their place. People can be used and abused to give Romney the assurance that he is better in all ways…
http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/05/10/mitt_romney_hassled_gay_classmate_over_dyed_hair.html
I sincerely doubt that Mitt Romney has no recollection of the incident. I’m guessing that he remembers it in great detail. His failure to take responsibility for it speaks volumes and his lack of remorse is telling.
Moot issue, you say, CLH? We’ll see.
(As a point of interest, Lauber died in 2003, I believe.)
The fact that Romney now says he does not remember it speaks volumes about him. How is it then, that the “prank” has weighed heavily on the conscience of some of the others, to the point it bothers them to this day?
Meh, another case of left wing attacking right wing. Next we’ll be hearing about how Obama is the most merciless kicker of puppies. Moot issue.
From the WaPo article:
“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.”
*****
A prank? I think not. It was a vicious attack on another classmate by Romney who was too chicken to confront the student on his own. A bully with back-up. What a man!
“Romney has been accused of former school chums from his elite all-boy boarding school of attacking a presumed gay student and cutting off his hair. Since in many states the attack on the now-deceased John Lauber would be a hate crime, ”
In Jr. High, I was once beat up for being a geek.
Why are some beatings hate crimes and others not?
From a psychological and behavioral perspective, we know the best predictor of future behavior is to examine past behavior. What we do know about Mr. Romney is the bullying incident did happen, is well documented and there are several credible witnesses. Then there was the incident of Shamus the Dog on top of the car. If we know about these two incidents this soon, it is safe to assume that for every incident that comes to light, there are going to be several more that will not be found out.
And what does this tell us about what to expect? Mr. Romney has little empathy for others. There are a number of studies of psychopaths going on at the moment. Traditionally, studies of psychopaths and psychopathic behavior were confined to prison populations, because that was a location where psychopaths were congregated, making them easy to study. The most recent studies have been looking in another direction, where psychological researchers have been finding densely packed cohorts of psychopaths: The board rooms of big corporations and Wall Street investment firms. Who would have guessed. And one of the defining characteristics of psychopaths is their lack of capacity for empathy.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/romney-apologizes-after-reports-of-bullying-emerge/
Excerpt:
“Asked about the incidents during a radio interview Thursday morning, Mr. Romney apologized for behavior that might have hurt anyone.
“Back in high school, I did some dumb things and if anybody was hurt by that or offended, obviously I apologize for that,” Mr. Romney told Brian Kilmeade, a radio host, according to The Post. Mr. Romney added that: “I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school and some might have gone too far and for that, I apologize.”
But Mr. Romney added that he did not recall the incident described in the paper and said that whatever happened was not fueled by antipathy toward the student because of his sexual orientation.
“I don’t remember that incident. I certainly don’t believe that I thought the fellow was homosexual,” Mr. Romney said, the Post said. “That was the furthest thing from our minds back in the 1960s so that was not the case.”
The Post article also describes another incident in which Mr. Romney allegedly mistreated a mostly-blind teacher at the prestigious Michigan institution called Cranbrook School.
In that incident, students recalled that Mr. Romney purposely guided the blind teacher, known affectionately as “the Bat,” into a closed door.
“Romney giggled hysterically as the teacher shrugged it off as another of life’s indignities,” the Post wrote.”
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(Mike S., Enter Jeb Bush. 😉 )
Believe me, I am not defending Romney.
This attack occurred almost 50 years ago, and Romney was 18.
Are there more recent accounts of his bullying behavior towards the powerless and/or his homophobic behaviors?
If there are, use them.
If there are not, well, we were all stupid idiot teenagers once, and if his record is actually clear of similar episodes from 50 years ago, that suggests he has grown.
I am against “your personal record as a kid will follow you everywhere” mentalities, although I will concede he was 18.
If we can search back 50 years or more to things that happened when we were kids, can we ever elect anyone?
This is not a George W. Bush quit drinking at age 40 when he was a youthful kid incident.