Guy: I understand that Mr. Simpson. But according to the computer, your credit history is not good… It says here you’ve been pre-declined for every major credit card. It also says you grabbed a dog by the hind legs, and pushed him around like a vacuum cleaner.
Homer Simpson: That was in the third grade!
Guy: Yeah, well, it all goes on your permanent record.
I hate to see what happens in the 2040 presidential election, all those kids who grew up saying stupid stuff online.
[shrug] They’ll all be in the same boat; standards will change, they’ll have to.
Cranbrook. I was not aware they had their own on-staff hairdresser, but I’ll say, if it’s true, I’m not surprised. Cranbrook is…snooty.
People have pretty good tunnel vision when it helps support their philosophy though. So I don’t know.
The difference is Obama is acknowledging the stupid things he did when he was a kid. Romney is apparently taking a stand on “I can’t say whether or not I remember that incident until I know if enough evidence is going to emerge to prove it happened.”
Our favorite news source has already addressed this:
Every Potential 2040 Presidential Candidate Already Unelectable Due to Facebook
Also, a slight push to someone isn’t the same as getting a bunch of preppy jocks to pull someone to the ground, hold him down and forcibly cut his hair because he might be queer.
It’s a pretty brilliant way to hide stuff from people who can’t read, though.
With something like this, you either know it’s not something you would’ve done, or you regret it enough to actually remember it. Anything else, and you have a problem. And the fact that he referred to it as a “prank” says a lot.
Ditto this.
Sometimes kids do fucked up things. When I first read it, I thought it was fucked up, but it wasn’t something I cared a lot about. It was a long time ago (and I wasn’t going to vote for him anyway). But, I think the “apology” is the more fucked up part of the story, really.
I mean, he was 18. He either remembers this and is lying, or isn’t really sorry, OR he did a lot of stuff like this and he really doesn’t remember. All those options are pretty awful, in my opinion.
Except that the criticism is not frivolous. There are 3 stories of garden variety sadistic behavior in the WAPO article. They weren’t pranks. Then again, there’s one in every crowd: most of us knew guys like that growing up. This isn’t outlier stuff.
Wapo article Summary: 1) Romney corralled a posse to knock an underclassman to the ground and hold him down, while Romney cut his hair with scissors. That takes planning. 2) Romney opened the door for a blind teacher, then feigned opening another door for him so that he would bump into it. 3) Romney dressed as a police officer, flashed a siren and approached some friends on a date on a blind country road. Har har. Except there was a strict 11PM curfew and the vics were panicked and thought they faced expulsion.
Like I said, one in every crowd. But I wouldn’t call him a prankster or class clown. What Romney did was something else.
Now I believe that Romney became a changed man after meeting his current wife. That said, his business practices were pretty callous. And if Romney truly can’t remember the incident, it suggests that it didn’t affect him all that much. Physical assault was just another day in high school.
Very true. I’m a believer in the statute of limitations. I think this story probably won’t make a big difference. But possibly it will. Nobody likes a bully, though some will cooperate with them.
Trickle, trickle, trickle
This from an ABC story:
One former classmate and old friend of Romney’s - who refused to be identified by name - said there are “a lot of guys” who went to Cranbrook who have “really negative memories” of Romney’s behavior in the dorms, behavior this classmate describes as “evil” and “like Lord of the Flies.” I still haven’t read anything that suggests extreme behavior. We’ve all known guys like that.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/05/is_mitt_romney_a_bully.php?ref=fpblg
Depends on what you mean by extreme. If that was your kid who was teased for being gay and one day a popular kid held him down and cut off his hair, would you want to bring criminal charges? Or would you let it go as typical high school dickery?
Wait…whoosh?..long night.
Well, you guys don’t understand because you don’t know what it’s like in boarding school. If mummy had sent you to Andover, maybe you’d have some sympathy for the guy!!
Hm. This might be even worse than it looked at first.
I still feel bad because one time in fifth grade I told a girl that I didn’t like her.
It really was for no reason other than just weird meanness, so I’m not saying that makes me look good. I’m saying I think most people remember their weird meanness.
Poor Newt . . . Must be brooding, now . . . “God, the one possible story that could have made me look like a nice guy next to Mitt . . . I coulda done something with that . . . The news always breaks too late . . .” 
I’m going to treat this like you are kidding on the square. Actually, boarding schools can be pretty vicious. There are vics, there are perps and there are those in between. Apparently Romney was not an in-between sort of person.
I see nothing especially pathological. Again, there’s one or a couple in every crowd. If my kid were a geek or a gay, I would hope to equip him with the skills to stay off certain people’s radar if possible and to confront them as necessary. It would be a difficult situation, albeit not an unusual one. Circa 2012, law enforcement might play a role: school authorities certainly would.
I thought it was obvious I was being sarcastic but, in case that was not clear…
As a liberal, left-wing, Obama voter (one who feels Obama hasn’t gone nearly far enough in pushing “Social Justice” issues) can I ask, honestly, if it comes out that Barack Obama did this exact same kind of thing when he was in high school, would it actually keep any of you from voting for him?
No. Of course not. Better to vote for a complete dick who will push the right policies than the nice guy who will push the wrong policies.
I would feel much less enthusiastic about it though. It might change my donation amounts and desire to volunteer.