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
The “young Mitt” played by James Spader…
Oro Lee,
Molly Ringwald’s no Ann Romney!
i guess the picture of the young Mitt put me in mind of the scene starting at the 1:56 mark
nick,
“It would be much more honest if you all would just admit that you vote liberal, you dislike conservative politics, you would never vote for Romney or anyone with an R after their name and you will always vote for someone with a D instead.”
*****
You’re wrong. I have voted for Republican candidates in the past. And there have been times when I have not voted because I disliked all the candidates running. Conservative politics has changed a great deal in the past decade or so. The Republican party seems to have been taken over by extreme right-wingers. The Republicans that I voted for stood for fiscal responsibility–but were open-minded about social issues. They were also supporters of science, believed in evolution and the separation of church and state, and respected women.
I think these Romney prep school stories speak to who this man is beneath the smiling face.
Soon after Romney got elected governor of Massachusetts, he went on the road campaigning around the country and badmouthing our state. Is that how a governor is supposed to represent his state and the people who voted for him? I have absolutely no respect for the man.
“it is quite comical reading these comments. Let’s be honest, if this was Obama or Biden, you would say “it was so long ago, let’s not judge him on what he did as a kid”.” -nick
And you would be wrong, Nick.
—–
“Politics is dirty.” -nick
You don’t say.
—–
“If this one incident disqualifies Romney as presidential, then NO ONE would be qualified because each and every one of us has done stupid things in our lives.” -nick
And most of us would take responsibility, be appropriately remorseful, and tell the truth, as painful as it might be.
And I agree with Ruth Marcus (refer to the following link):
“”Hijinks? Pranks? This was an assault, pure and simple.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/romneys-troubling-reaction-to-the-bullying-story/2012/05/11/gIQAhjt0HU_blog.html
—-
Judge not lest ye be judged. -nick, again
Oh, please…
Have a good day, Nick.
it is quite comical reading these comments. Let’s be honest, if this was Obama or Biden, you would say “it was so long ago, let’s not judge him on what he did as a kid”.
Politics is dirty. Both sides want to win sooo bad that their supporters can read into the mind of those running on the other side and ascribe devious intentions and then try to sell the public on that.
It would be much more honest if you all would just admit that you vote liberal, you dislike conservative politics, you would never vote for Romney or anyone with an R after their name and you will always vote for someone with a D instead.
If this one incident disqualifies Romney as presidential, then NO ONE would be qualified because each and every one of us has done stupid things in our lives. Judge not lest ye be judged.
“it is quite comical reading these comments. Let’s be honest, if this was Obama or Biden, you would say “it was so long ago, let’s not judge him on what he did as a kid”.”
Actually Nick I would raise the rafters had this been Obama, or any other Democrat, which illustrates the difference between today’s conservatives and everyone else. To you politics is like rooting for your home team. Decency, morality or other virtues have little to do with it. For you all it’s about the money and you’re willing to even hi-jack Jesus to win. Every single person who has commented negatively here about this incident, would have been just as outspoken had it been Obama, perhaps more so.
When it comes to the Republican home team adulterers like Newt are fine; prostitution fetishists like Vitter are fine; bigots like Paul are fine, as you all preach “family values” and praise Jesus in unison.
A similar incident happened the freshman year at the elite northeast liberal college I went to (early 60’s) where the bullies assaulted and cut the hair of a kid which they adjudged too long. The details aren’t important, except the kid was from NYC and long hair would not have been unusual for him. He did not return for his sophomore year — unsurprisingly finding the environment stifling for him.
The thing is, many of us did not fit the mold of the preppies we were thrown together with (not than all preppies were bullies of course), and were pretty horrified at this happening to a friend. Even more to the point, today, 50 years later, I still remember the kid’s name, dorm, floor, where he came from, what he looked like, how he sounded . . . and what his hair was like (actually longish, but very neat). And I still remember the incident with a sick feeling.
Mitt Romney Bullied LGBT Youth Commission As Governor
This sick and I do not care how long ago it happened. If anyone has noticed, Mitt just laughs it off like he laughs off everything here in the present. There is a human shell there, but there is nothing inside.
“Remember the “Scott Farkus Affair””
http://elmiraecho.com/?p=245
05/11/2012
Romney’s troubling reaction to the bullying story
By Ruth Marcus
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/romneys-troubling-reaction-to-the-bullying-story/2012/05/11/gIQAhjt0HU_blog.html
Excerpt:
“Hijinks? Pranks? This was an assault, pure and simple. Romney insists that sexual orientation had nothing to do with the incident he doesn’t recall. “I certainly don’t believe I thought the fellow was homosexual. That was the furthest thing from our minds back in the 1960’.” But it’s clear that Lauber’s offense lay in his being different from the others on the island of Cranbook prep, whatever label was attached.
So I don’t really blame Romney for what he did. I blame him for what he fails to remember, or to acknowledge, that he did. Imagine if Romney’s response to The Post story had been to own up to the episode and talk about his enduring regret.
“I would think this would be seared in his memory,” one classmate who participated, Philip Maxwell, told the New York Times. “Certainly for the other people that were involved, nobody has forgotten.”
That Romney has forgotten, or says he has, speaks volumes — more than anything that happened on a spring day in Michigan half a century ago.”
While were at it Geeba Geeba, let’s clear up the matter of the Scott Farkus affair.
DonS,
Also from Jonathan Turley’s article:
“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!’”” (Washington Post, as well?)
If one didn’t know before that Romney is prone to prevarication (and bullying), one certainly knows it now.
I haven’t read all the comments, but, Per the WAPO quote that AN posted at 11:34, to wit:
“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.”
I was a teenager in the late 50’s-60’s, in an middle class suburban setting. We most certainly did think about homosexuality and assumed homosexuals — stigma attached. Romney is disingenuous or lying about this. At prep schools, even more of a fishbowl, the social environment was even more acute.
How are the Romney/Ryan tax cuts, bloated military spending, deregulated business environment, and reduced outlays social infrasturcture and safety net any different than the policies of G. W. Bush except that they are so much more extreme that we don’t need any foreign war to send this country into a Depression ( but they want one of those, too)?
Raff,
Selective memory strikes many folks…
Geeba
The European economies that adopted the austerity route are the one’s that are struggling. Our economy is in recovery. It’s not as robust as some would like, but it’s steady and manageable which makes it more resilient. This is in part due to the successful stimulus route used in the US. The Stimulus package of 2009 was never meant to replace the private economy, but to give it the room it needed to begin growth. The President’s strategy worked. Had we followed Romney’s “executive experience” we’d have no auto industry. (We’re not buying his revisionist lie about how when he said let them go broke he meant don’t let them go broke).
Romney has endorsed the absurd Ryan Budget which will raise the debt, lower Mitt’s personal taxes and gut programs for the elderly, the poor, children and the middle class. This is a European style austerity program destined to the same failed fate as they’re experiencing in England. This isn’t theorectical, the contrasting plans are unfolding before our eyes. Romney has endorsed the failed austerity in England and looks to inflict the same disasterous policies here while Mr Obama’s plan is working. So, if you want to go the route of European decline, vote for the guy with the same story of a Harvard MBA and business experience as the guy who got us into this mess in the first place. Why would you want to take our country down a proven failed road? No, thanks, I’ll take the smart guy who isn’t a bully and who’s significantly raised our country’s standing in the world and has a pocketful of foreign poliicy successes.
bettykath May 11, 2012 at 12:14 am –“I’ll never forget it.”
You choose to remember because you chose to be better.
It was about 60 years ago that I was part of group of kids that picked on one boy our own age, the “new kid” in school. We were walking home from school, mostly in twos, when a couple of boys started yelling at this kid. Suddenly nearly all of us surrounded him, yelling, pushing, grabbing his hat and throwing it into a puddle. It was over quickly. I was the last to leave this kid who had started to cry but who refused to let me give him comfort. I knew I had done something really wrong. I was ashamed. There was nothing I could do to fix it. This boy’s family moved right after that. I remember his name. I’ll never forget it.