Video & Multimedia
Related: About this forumPic Of The Moment: Mitt Romney On LGBT Equality
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002668805
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002668931
lukkadairish
(122 posts)That is gut wrenchingly horrible. I am looking for someone from the Post to follow up on this and ask him about it in public. I don't usually use foul language in public, but Romney is officially now an intolerant fucker.
SunSeeker
(51,564 posts)And it is certainly in keeping with Romney's heartless other actions. Like laying off thousands in order to make millions for himself as a vulture capitalist, and torturing the family dog on the roof of his car. He really is evil.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)He's pure GOP, ready to oppress and abuse on a whim because of intolerance.
groundloop
(11,519 posts)I've run across that type of individual before, they are sickening.
TBMASE
(769 posts)I keep seeing "presumed".
I only ask because there were similar things done by upper classmen at the various sports camps I attended in HS. They'd single you out for whatever reason...either you weren't black enough or your hair wasn't right or you wore your socks wrong, shit like that....and yes, you'd get called faggot or soft a number of times during the process.
I just wonder if the guy was actually gay or if the media just went with presumed because they haven't actually talked to the man
SalviaBlue
(2,917 posts)TBMASE
(769 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)NewJeffCT
(56,828 posts)it's a clear case of bullying, if not outright assault.
of course, IOKIYAR
He'll just say it was a youthful indiscretion.
TBMASE
(769 posts)but it's hardly out of the norm in an all male environment, especially at the time.
The media says "presumed gay" I just want to know if he actually WAS/IS. Was he attacked because he was gay or because of his hair? How did it affect his life?
MADem
(135,425 posts)I rhought that's where he met his beloved, Miss Caddy in Every Garage/Horse in Every Barn. It's not really "all male" when the opportunity to interact with young ladies at school dances and other events exists. He may have gone to classes with boys, and lived in a boy's dorm, but he wasn't off in the country with no access to female companionship.
Look at the little fucker now backtracking and (non) apologizing-- now he's claiming he didn't know the kid was gay, and issuing one of those Non-Apology Apologies....he's fucked. You know how the "Obama's playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers" meme goes around? Don't tell me that someone at WAPO didn't tip BO that this story was being readied at the printer!
WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney made a surprise appearance on Fox host Brian Kilmeade's radio show Thursday morning to respond to a lengthy Washington Post story on his time as a prep-school prankster and occasional bully of closeted gay students.
"They talk about the fact that I played a lot of pranks in high school," Romney said. "And they describe some that you just say to yourself, back in high school I just did some dumb things and if anybody was hurt by that or offended by it, obviously I apologize."
I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school and some might have gone too far and for that, I apologize," he added.
It's never quite clear whether a politician's high school years are fair game for political attacks. Romney suggested during the interview that the acts he was apologizing for were merely youthful indiscretions; the Post described him pinning a closeted gay classmate to the ground and cutting his long hair, for example. But with the story suggesting latent homophobia in an adolescent Romney and with President Barack Obama having endorsed same-sex marriage on Wednesday, the piece reverberated.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/10/romney-bully-gay-bullying_n_1506382.html
This isn't "hijinks" or "pranks." it's not even "bullying." It's fucking assault and battery. What a sick SOB.
He's mean to people, he's mean to dogs. He's an asshole.
Tumbulu
(6,278 posts)and apologies now just don't cut it. What a typical republican. No wonder he is there nominee.
TBMASE
(769 posts)The post article doesn't say.
Was it anti-longhairism or anti-gay?
MADem
(135,425 posts)But Friedemann and several people closest to Romney in those formative years say there was a sharp edge to him. 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! In the culture of that time and place, that was not entirely out of the norm. Hummel recalled some teachers using similar language.
....The boy few at Cranbrook knew or remember was born in Chicago, grew up in South Bend, Ind., and had a hard time fitting in. He liked to wander and had a glorious sense of the absurd, according to his sister Betsy. When the chance to get out of Indiana presented itself, he jumped at it, and enrolled at Cranbrook. He never uttered a word about Mitt Romney or the haircut incident to his sisters. After Cranbrook asked him to leave, he finished high school, attended the University of the Seven Seas for two semesters, then graduated in 1970 from Vanderbilt, where he majored in English.
{Lauber} came out as gay to his family and close friends and led a vagabond life, taking dressage lessons in England and touring with the Royal Lipizzaner Stallion riders. After an extreme fit of temper in front of his mother and sister at home in South Bend, he checked into the Menninger Clinic psychiatric hospital in Topeka, Kan. Later he received his embalmers license, worked as a chef aboard big freighters and fishing trawlers, and cooked for civilian contractors during the war in Bosnia and then, a decade later, in Iraq. His hair thinned as he aged, and in the winter of 2004 he returned to Seattle, the closest thing he had to a base. He died there of liver cancer that December.
He kept his hair blond until he died, said his sister Chris. He never stopped bleaching it.
SemperEadem
(8,053 posts)rmoney had no business putting his hands on him for any reason whatsoever. His sexuality does not give license for rmoney to assault him.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)SemperEadem
(8,053 posts)if they can jump up and down on Obama's head for where he went to grade school, what he ate as a child, then of course, rmoney's high school years are fair game. It ludicrous to think otherwise, considering the shit they put Obama through.
MADem
(135,425 posts)And I think there's been PLENTY of crap through the RMoney goose!
This wasn't just high school indescretions--he was bullying people in university as well!
He apparently shaved a few guys' heads and painted them red.
Frustrated hairdresser, he's starting to look like....
Uncle Joe
(58,364 posts)they're gay, it's the same thing.
If you call someone faggot whether they're homosexual or not, that mentality is the same toxic ground; from which sexual based hate sprouts from, attacking someone because they're different is no different.
TBMASE
(769 posts)does that change things?
In the 80's, in all male enviorments, the weaker kids were called gay or presumed gay because they wouldn't fight back. They were weeded out of the sports programs in HS.
I just want to know what affect it had on his life
Uncle Joe
(58,364 posts)I don't know what effect it had on this man's life but I do know that some kids on the receiving end of being bullied for whatever reason end up committing suicide.
TBMASE
(769 posts)commit suicide too.
Some kids move on and do great things without a second thought. I'm just curious as to how the event affected the man's life.
Uncle Joe
(58,364 posts)from which hate crimes sprout from.
The same can't be said for bullying or children that abuse animals, that kind of hate springs from the same source, I'm not suggesting that all bullies or child animal abusers go on to be homophobes, racists or child abusers but I would be willing to wager the same can't be said in reverse.
As for what happened to this man, in the big picture it makes no difference because this story isn't a statement about his character rather it's a reflection of Romney's.
TBMASE
(769 posts)I feel for the guy, I've been there. But the attack seems to be more about his hair than his sexuality.
I was just interested in what happened to the kid. Turns out he died in 2004
Uncle Joe
(58,364 posts)their teenage behavior as clues, hints or evidence to fill in the picture of that person's full character.
What has Romney been like as an adult?
Personally I believe his actions as an adult are in perfect harmony with his high school, senior bullying behavior.
It makes no difference what the excuse for bullying is, whether it be hair, sexuality, size, intelligence, race, religion or gender it all springs from the same toxic ground source, that being a total disregard or disconnection for the feelings of the victim.
While you may be interested in what happened to the kid, to me the most important element of this story is the reflection of the characteristics, behavior and track record of a person that might occupy the most powerful office in the land.
TBMASE
(769 posts)BlueMTexpat
(15,369 posts)crunch60
(1,412 posts)the ground, hair cut off, embarrassed and humiliated just because of your looks? Try it, it's called empathy.
snip:
Some 30 years later, Lauberwho died in 2004told one of the witnesses to the assault that:It was horrible ... Its something I have thought about a lot since then.
MADem
(135,425 posts)See how he likes "appearance-based" bullying. He looks like he went to a Russian Dentist!
Wonder how he'd feel if someone held him down and pulled a tooth or two? Hey, it's just "hijinks!"
What, with his millions, he can't put his ass in the chair and get some better fillings? He's probably got a few deteriorating ones, and the mercury leaching into his system is making a bad situation worse! Mad hatter, anyone?
SemperEadem
(8,053 posts)romney had no business laying his hands of him for any reason. Period. End of story.
siligut
(12,272 posts)Rmoney singled him out for being different and then attacked him. It was Rmoney's prejudice and belief that he had a right to inflict his values on an individual who he didn't approve of.
And it isn't like sports camp where team building, physical contact and aggression is the goal.
The WaPo reported he later came out to family and friends.
But why does that have any bearing on assaulting a fellow student with a pair of scissors because of his haircut?
Do you really think the assault had nothing to do with thinking that student was queer?
ingac70
(7,947 posts)another guy who was picked on by Rmoney said the jerk used to scream "Atta girl" at him in class.... he is gay.
TBMASE
(769 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)who cares? Whether he is gay, bi, or straight and perceived gay is of no consequence. Bullying is wrong.
TBMASE
(769 posts)which is what spawned my question.
The attack itself is bullying, I was merely questioning if he was attacked because he was gay or because of his hair and failure to conform.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)is because Mitt perceived him as an easy target. That is what bullies do- at least until you crack their nose open for them. Of course, this was a herd of bullies, which are tougher to deal with. They were looking for someone to push around, and came up with "excuses" for their actions later.
TBMASE
(769 posts)And I think it's more important that he was bullying the kid, not that he might or might not have been gay
barbtries
(28,798 posts)wasn't it gw who actually branded his classmates in his fraternity. mean people.
Mc Mike
(9,114 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,364 posts)Thanks for the thread, EarlG.
HangOnKids
(4,291 posts)HCE SuiGeneris
(14,994 posts)Just look at him!
O Mitt Romney! (name created by our own Peace Patriot) Now!
Ratty
(2,100 posts)Makes it all sound so innocent and just some guys having a little fun.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mitt-romney-apologizes-for-high-school-pranks-that-might-have-gone-too-far/2012/05/10/gIQAC3JhFU_story.html
HCE SuiGeneris
(14,994 posts)Thanks for the link!
IggleDoer
(1,186 posts)It would be the first time for Mittens
FailureToCommunicate
(14,014 posts)This skeleton seems dusty, but sturdy.
I hope it has "legs"
MADem
(135,425 posts)The more people know about RMoney, the less people can "tolerate" him.
krispos42
(49,445 posts)Clinical.
Like most "successful" businesspeople.
ajk2821
(89 posts)I am glad that the person Mitt assaulted was not black, who knows what Mitt's mob would have done to him?
Someone please ask Mitt when he did he know he was homophobic and is he still homophobic now?
MADem
(135,425 posts)He graduated in 1965. It was a different world back in the day.
They might have had a "Token" or two, but de facto segregation was the norm in those days, particularly at the private schools.
Hayabusa
(2,135 posts)Just that... Holy hell...
begin_within
(21,551 posts)FailureToCommunicate
(14,014 posts)Windthin
(3 posts)I believe it is something more like this: >
[link:http://windthin.deviantart.com/art/Romney-Scissorhands-301365223|
FailureToCommunicate
(14,014 posts)I wanted to start the meme but didn't have the Photoshop chops. Unfortunately the comparison doesn't quite work, because Edward Scissorhands as I remember the movie was a misunderstood, sympathetic character, not the privileged, clueless, prep school pep rally bully turned vulture capitalist that Romney is.
MADem
(135,425 posts)He is one perverse fucker, but he has been well and truly mocked by a vicious wit at Vanity Fair:
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2012/05/Mitt-Romney-Childhood-StylistBully-Gave-Non-Consensual-Haircuts
Mitt Romney, Childhood Stylist/Bully, Gave Non-Consensual Haircuts
by Juli Weiner
...Despite the Posts specious claim that Romney wrote the most letters to the girls at the sister school across the lake, tackling boys in ones dorm for the purpose of giving makeovers sounds . . . you know . . . a little like it would be banned twice in North Carolina.
According to a different Post article from last month, Romney did the same sort of stuff while an undergraduate at Stanford. In 1970, Romneys father, former Michigan governor George Romney, said Mitt and his friends lured students from the University of California into a trap where they shaved their heads and painted them red.
Romney, a member of Glee Club and Pep Club at Cranbrook, was playfully teased with chants of Wiiillard, Wiiillard by his friends. (Willard is Mitts real first name.) You can imagine how this went: Wiiillard, Wiiillard, please tell me if these bangs make my face look wide.
begin_within
(21,551 posts)Generic Other
(28,979 posts)These people who are pathological bullies as children do not change as adults.
grantcart
(53,061 posts)hasta la vista baby.
Rhiannon12866
(205,467 posts)Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)compassion, empathy, sympathy, tenderness, generosity, dignity, respect, understanding.
Sociopaths get a great deal of pleasure from harming others, human and animal.
AllyCat
(16,189 posts)And we thought stacking someone's locker was the height of funny.
Rmoney is a bully plain and simple.
Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)totodeinhere
(13,058 posts)than what he did more than 40 years ago in high school. Bullying in school is wrong of course, but I'll tell you what, I probably did some things during my high school years that were wrong too. Probably many of us did. I am more concerned about Romney's signing off on the Ryan budget that would destroy Medicare. And I am terrified about what might happen if he were elected and got a couple of Supreme Court nominations. I will let what he did 40 years ago pass and concentrate on the issues of today.
MADem
(135,425 posts)The thing you're not noting is that he STILL DOESN'T GET IT.
He went on Faux and gave a "non-apology apology" for his behavior, all the while laughing nervously and awkwardly. "If I offended anyone I am sorry" doesn't cut it.
The day he says "I get it--I was wrong and if that guy I brutalized were still alive I'd beg his forgiveness," then he might be on the road to getting it. But he's not even on the footpath leading to the road. He still thinks that kind of brutality (which he did in college, too) is "hijinks" and "youthful indiscretions"--not what it was, which is assault and battery and bullying.
He doesn't get what he did wrong in this instance, or with the dog on the roof, or when he split up companies and raided pension funds for the Almighty Dollar. He's fucking clueless, mendacious and pleasantly VICIOUS in his uncaring.
He's not a nice person, and it's apparent that he has NEVER been a nice person.
totodeinhere
(13,058 posts)And yes he is a jerk. It's just that there are a lot of reasons to oppose him. I just hope that this won't distract us too much from those other things.
MADem
(135,425 posts)They don't vote based on the campaign platforms of the candidates.
They may have money in the Caymans, a horse in every barn, and three Caddys...and a gay child who has been bullied at school. They might have three or four houses and a private airplane...and a dog they love that they couldn't imagine torturing on a day-long highway ride atop a vehicle.
These issues may be "silly" for some, or not meaningful in the big scheme, but they inform voters as to character. It's pretty clear to me that a guy who would bully kids in high school AND university, then go on to torment an innocent dog and laugh about it as an adult, and make remarks, quite recently, too, about how much he enjoys firing people, has very serious character issues. As one of my elders might have put it, "There's just something 'not right' about that boy!"
BlueMTexpat
(15,369 posts)although in Lauber's case, it may have been the most traumatic.
If it were an instance of aberrant behavior and Mitt's subsequent behavior had changed for the better, that would be one thing. Most of us have done things that we wish we hadn't, but most of us did not do things that rise to the level of assault and battery, which the Lauber and other incidents described here definitely were.
In the case of Lauber, Mitt obviously felt that his behavior was validated because he believed Lauber to be homosexual. That is the very definition of a hate crime today. That Mitt does not - even now - acknowledge that and tries to dismiss his behavior as "hijinks" shows that he has not learned any lesson whatsoever.
Unfortunately, Mitt's behavior today is entirely consistent with this past behavior. You are thoroughly forewarned about what his future behavior will be.
Mkap
(223 posts)Anyone know if Mittens has secured the Westbaro Baptist church endrosement yet?
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)I really hate to use that term here, but I couldn't think of anything more eloquent
crunch60
(1,412 posts)AC_Mem
(1,979 posts)And yet, people will ignore this deep character flaw because of course, anyone is better than our President.
I hope ALL the stories about this ignorant human being come to light. This is NOT the behavior of a "Christian", however, sadly, it certainly is the behavior of the typical (republican primarily) hypocritical "Christian" that we see today.
Jesus had long hair, so it appears according to pictures. Jesus was a kind and loving soul, peaceful, different, a psychic healer actually. Only The Creator knows what Mitt and his gang of fools would have done to him.
Shine the light of truth on this man. He is UNFIT to shine the shoes of President Obama.
Shame Shame Shame
ejpoeta
(8,933 posts)because mitt was too rich for public school. Bob (my hubby) said of course it was a prep school because if romney was in a regular school someone would have stuffed him in a locker. And I think he's right. IF he were in public school I think he would have been on the receiving end of bullying.
obietiger
(500 posts)to Mr. Romney as do the terms insensitive, arrogant, heartless, cruel, and snobby. Shame on him.