# Romney: If I Offended Anyone by Torturing Him, I Apologize" **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 10, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553 "2012-05-10T21:48:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/141 "2012-05-12T02:51:00Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Joke aside though, wasn’t Romney’s dog thing a relatively recent occurrence ? It happened in 1983. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/142 "2012-05-12T03:00:51Z")
> [@Kozmik](#): > > They don’t call it Game Theory for nothing. In this situation, they don’t call it Game Theory at all. This had nothing to do with Game Theory. > [@Kozmik](#): > > Obama won this 24-hour news cycle. (I realize that there are less than 2 hours left in this 24-hour news cycle; however, I’m calling it for Obama.) 178 24-hour news cycles to complete until Election Day. To use your metaphor, they don’t reset the scoreboard at midnight. But here’s a better metaphor: charm bracelets. Romney’s got another charm for his bracelet. He can add “school bully” to the “etch-a-sketch”, “dog abuser”, “speaking fees”, “$10,000 bet”, and “firing people” charms he’s already go on his bracelet. And he’ll be wearing that charm bracelet from now until Election Day. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/143 "2012-05-12T03:04:33Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > It happened in 1983. And it was reported in 2007 so it’s not even recent as a news story. What makes it “recent” was the issue was brought up in a campaign ad this year. Not an Obama ad - it was a [Gingrich ad](http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/12/news/la-pn-gingrich-goes-to-the-dog-20120112). ---
**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/144 "2012-05-12T03:07:11Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Or he was a serial bully and bullied so many kids that this incident did not stand out. In which case I would still think it was terrible that 5 decades later he got to be President. > > He was a predatory businessman and possibly a predatory teen. Or it didn’t happen, the WaPo is an organ of the Obama administration and put out a BS story… ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/145 "2012-05-12T03:10:29Z")
> [@emarkp](#): > > Or it didn’t happen, the WaPo is an organ of the Obama administration and put out a BS story… Possible. All you have to explain is why Romney didn’t deny it. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/146 "2012-05-12T03:11:50Z")
> [@emarkp](#): > > Or it didn’t happen, the WaPo is an organ of the Obama administration and put out a BS story… Or we’re all having a shared mass hallucination. (This is the part of the thread where we all try to out-crazy each other with crazy made-up theories, right? I was going to put in something about swamp gas but I thought it was too cliched.) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/147 "2012-05-12T03:13:12Z")
> [@emarkp](#): > > Or it didn’t happen Yes. Certainly Mitt Romney not remembering the story is much more believable than four or five contemporaries recalling the same incident. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/148 "2012-05-12T03:13:51Z")
Did I get confused and stumble into an X-Files thread? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/149 "2012-05-12T05:07:07Z")
The truth is out there. Way, way out there. Which is why you have to be really far out to find it. Because that’s where it is. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/150 "2012-05-12T05:23:54Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I said he didn’t know the future. In particular I doubt he knew what stories the Washington Post was researching and when the paper planned to run the story. I knew the future. When I saw the headline, A Scramble as Biden Backs Same-Sex Marriage on the front page of _The New York Times_ and read the story, I thought that was interesting and wondered what Obama was going to do. When I saw the headline, For a Blunt Biden, an Uneasy Supporting Role the next day on the front page of \*The New York Times \*I _knew_ what Obama was going to do. This was confirmed in an editorial ending with the conclusion: “It would be good for a broad range of Americans to see him articulate a clear position of principle and then defend it before the voting public.” Apparently the President took the editorial advice to heart. I finished reading the editorial and thinking about Mr. Obama’s Moment of Truth. Then I read a column by Frank Bruni. This column was cited by **Eve** in her thread, now closed, [Would a pro-gay marriage stance cost Obama the election?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=651125) Apparently the question has been answered and apparently our **Eve** has the ear of the President. The day after that, May 9, there were letters published in response to the previous front page stories on the issue of same-sex marriage. The next day, May 10, when I saw the bold headline on the front page of _The New York Times_, **Obama Endorses Same-Sex Marriage, Taking Stand on Charged Social Issue** , I _thought back_ to Monday _when I was thinking ahead to Friday_. Because on Friday, May 11, 2012 came the payoff. On the front page of The New York Times the headline, Obama Campaign Pushes The Issue Of Gay Marriage AND the headline, 50 Years Later, A Bullying Case Snares Romney. The equivalent of a simulapost on the front page of _The New York Times_. Third lesson in politics - The future never happened. > [@Marley23](#): > > I initially thought the Post reported on the bullying story because of Obama’s announcement, but that wasn’t true either because they were planning to run the story earlier and it takes more time than that to work up this type of story. Now who’s being naive? > [@Marley23](#): > > Interesting point: it sounds like the Washington Post was going to run this story a day earlier but held it for a day because of Obama’s announcement on same-sex marriages. That’s going to give this piece a little extra shelf life. Exactly. And just enough “shelf life” to “simulapost” with the story on Obama’s announcement on same-sex marriages on the front page of _The New York Times_. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > To use your metaphor, they don’t reset the scoreboard at midnight. That’s not a metaphor. This is a metaphor: [QUOTE=The Perfect Storm] Look, look at this. We got Hurricane Grace moving north off the Atlantic seaboard. Huge… getting massive. Two, this low south of Sable Island, ready to explode. Look at this. Three, a fresh cold front swooping down from Canada. But it’s caught a ride on the jet stream… and is motoring hell-bent towards the Atlantic. What if Hurricane Grace runs smack into it? Add to the scenario this baby off Sable Island, scrounging for energy. She’ll start feeding off both the Canadian cold front… and Hurricane Grace. You could be a meteorologist all your life… and never see something like this. It would be a disaster of epic proportions. It would be… the perfect storm. [/QUOTE] “Hurricane Grace” is the Biden story. The “low south of Sable Island” is the President’s announcement. The “fresh cold front” is the Romney story. :eek:…the perfect political storm. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/151 "2012-05-12T06:12:34Z")
> [@emarkp](#): > > Or it didn’t happen As I (along with several others) have posted, if anybody accused me of jumping a fellow student and shaving their head, I would look my accuser in the eye and say, _“You’re lying. That never happened. Nothing like that ever happened. I double dog dare you to produce one shred of evidence to support what you just said. Which you can’t do because you made it up.”_ That’s what you say when nothing happened. You don’t say _“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 high jinks and pranks during high school and some might have gone too far and for that, I apologize.”_ That’s what you when it happened but you don’t see what the big deal is. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/152 "2012-05-12T06:37:39Z")
Or that didn’t happen either, the WaPo manufactured Romney apologizing and every other news source just ran along with it ; have you thought of that Mr. Smartypants ? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/153 "2012-05-12T07:29:01Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Ask me what I had for lunch ten years ago and I couldn’t tell you. Asked me if I robbed a bank ten years ago and I could very confidently tell you no. Routine things fade from memory - big things don’t. > > So if Romney honestly doesn’t remember whether or not he attacked another student, it must mean that doing things like that were routine for him. This. I remember tons of stuff from 40 years ago, and before. I remember stuff I’m not very proud of, most of which involve stupidity on my part and none of which involve bullying. Romney either never thought of this action as wrong, is lying through his ass, or has had his brain cells killed by all that Sprite he drinks. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/154 "2012-05-12T14:10:53Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Obama has admitted to experimenting with drugs as a teen. How dare you insinuate that Obama admitting to using drugs as a teen has anything to do with the fact that he refused to defend his otherwise competent foreign minister’s resignation due to campaigning from the drug legalisation lobby, his consistent record calling for drug legalisation and opposing any limitations such as only legalising marijuana and his calling for traditional usage of drugs despite the fact that there’s no record that the prophet of his religion ever partook in such a thing? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/155 "2012-05-12T16:05:55Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Dragging some story about Romney in high school is beyond lame. Are we all supposed to be accountable for what we did forty plus years ago? Obama has admitted to experimenting with drugs as a teen. How many people did Obama hurt by trying drugs? To whom would he owe an apology? ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/156 "2012-05-12T16:15:43Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > To whom would he owe an apology? Nancy Reagan? ---
**Author:** ![holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e95f7d/32.png) [@holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/holmes)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/157 "2012-05-12T16:43:06Z")
I pity the fool…! ---
**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/158 "2012-05-12T16:56:01Z")
The WaPo has [a few fact-based problems](http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/bully_gate_back_track_Z2ZFiji74x4OaCG2Ch4vlM) with their story. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/159 "2012-05-12T19:08:00Z")
> [@emarkp](#): > > The WaPo has [a few fact-based problems](http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/bully_gate_back_track_Z2ZFiji74x4OaCG2Ch4vlM) with their story. A screenshot of the graffiti in a men’s room stall has more credibility than the Post. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553/160 "2012-05-12T19:30:23Z")
> [@emarkp](#): > > The WaPo has [a few fact-based problems](http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/bully_gate_back_track_Z2ZFiji74x4OaCG2Ch4vlM) with their story. Yep, nothing like unbiased analysis: > [@](#): > > Or just maybe independent voters will come to choke on the media’s anti-Romney overreach. That being said, it sounds like the description of Powell’s reaction was inaccurate and it was correct to change it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-if-i-offended-anyone-by-torturing-him-i-apologize/621553.md?page=9)