# There's no Pit thread on the Romney bullying story yet, so . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 11, 2012, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582 "2012-05-11T02:30:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/241 "2012-05-12T00:25:14Z")
I similarly did not know about Martin Hyde’s position. As someone who has studied psychology, I know it’s not only bigotted, but also makes no sense. Furthermore, his response in this thread shows me a further lack of intelligence. So he’s an asshole who is too stupid to contribute to the conversations on this board. So there’s no really reason for him not to be on my ignore list. I may not be able to remove the world of his kind, but I can remove them out of my life. Goodbye. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/242 "2012-05-12T00:55:43Z")
We’ll let you know when he breaks 90 on the IQ test, you may want to give him a second chance at that point. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/243 "2012-05-12T01:00:53Z")
I’m for disqualifying anybody who ever did anything wrong. Ever. Fuck 'em. Once you hit 18 you are responsible for anything and everything. If this disqualifies people, so be it. The country would be a lot better off if 96% of the people running it couldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/244 "2012-05-12T01:18:15Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > That’s a pretty dumb reason not to vote for Romney. Obama would never have gone to Vietnam had he been of age at the time, it’s a foolish criteria to judge a Presidential candidate on–and I’m a retired career Army officer. I don’t think military experience or doing legal things to avoid the draft should disqualify you from the Presidency, and I don’t cast my votes based on those things. > > Glorification of the military or military service is inherently anathema to a true democracy. I also am a retired army officer. I am not glorifying military service, and am expressing my distaste for cowardice. Romney let someone else go to Vietnam in his place. Kindly cite your knowledge of what Obama would have done. The Voices in your head? ---
**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, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/245 "2012-05-12T01:18:41Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > More like 1965 so 47 years ago. I know, picky. Math. Not even once. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/246 "2012-05-12T01:25:13Z")
> [@dngnb8](#): > > I believe if you give credit to the article, youre okay. > > I moderate a newpapers forum and as long as link and credit are in the post, its fine. > > FWIW I will do so in the future. \ You believe wrong. Posting whole articles, poems, short stories, novels, whatever, is a violation of copyright. You are allowed to post a short snippet of the item, and posting the link is a good way to back up your claim that the whole article says what you claim it says. A copyright holder has the right to publish the work. Everyone else has to ask permission to reproduce the work, which may or may not involve money. Many times the holder will just ask for credit (and possibly a link), but the holder MUST be asked before reproducing the whole thing. This isn’t just my opinion. This is what the Reader’s lawyers have told the moderation staff here. And I’m not going to get into what, exactly, constitutes “fair use”, other than to say you can only reproduce a very small portion of the item under discussion. Lynn \ ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/247 "2012-05-12T02:42:46Z")
> [@Lochdale](#): > > So we’re condemning him for something he may have done as a teenager…yikes. > > So no one upset about Obama just fabricating characters in his book or do we let that pass? > [@psychobunny](#): > > If by “fabricating characters” you mean including a disclaimer that some characters are actually composites of various people then no, I’m not too upset. psychobunny: The conservative lunatics got their panties in a twist a few days ago _without bothering to check the preface of the book_ for the explicit disclaimer, intended to -yes- protect the privacy of the women he dated. cite: [Barack Obama’s Composite Girlfriends – Mother Jones](http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/05/barack-obamas-composite-girlfriends) Now how would a normal, decent person respond to this? They would question their original information sources, as they are demonstrably unreliable. But modern conservatives have extremely sensitive dispositions. They seek _reassurance_. So the fact that Romney’s an unrepentant bully inspires them. And they keep reading and watching media that whispers sweet and demonstrable falsehoods in their ear. They love that kind of thing. I think that’s fine and I defend the modern conservative. They are not evil and they are not stupid. They simply lack character. Nixon et al were different though: they just wanted the goddamn facts. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/248 "2012-05-12T07:36:12Z")
I’m torn, on the one hand it is 50 plus years ago and I did really stupid and destructive things when I was a teenager. On the other hand, it speaks to the mindset not just of Mitt, but the GOP. When they talk about a return to traditional values, this is the cost of those values: privledged white bullies terrorizing anyone who doesn’t fit in. Not only is it a cost of those values, bullying is an important tool to maintain the status quo of those traditional values. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/249 "2012-05-12T10:47:52Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > You sir, are a pussy. Nope. Pussies are resilient. They take a pounding, can be pulled waaaaay out of shape and bounce right back, and are generally warm, inviting and friendly places where a large segment of the population hangs out on the regular. He’s just a jackass. > [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > Let’s put it this way, let’s say you agree with Barack Obama on 90% of the issues and disagree with Mitt Romney on 90% of the issues. It comes out tomorrow Barack Obama did some bullying of someone in high school, similar to what Romney did. Would you then vote for a third party candidate (meaning potentially contributing to Obama not having enough votes to carry your state) or for Mitt Romney? It would depend on **how the revelation was handled**. If Obama blew it off and acted like it was no big deal, no, I wouldn’t vote for him. If he took responsibility for what he did and more importantly (and likely) used it as an opportunity to talk about bullying and about the safety of young people in schools and the right of young people to exist – as visibly queer, with nonconformist hair or wardrobes, as poor, as whoever they are – without fear of having self-righteous fucks putting a hand on them, then yes, he’d retain my vote. And lo and behold, he’s already done just that. That was the basis of the video President Obama made for the “It Gets Better” project. He’s on record, while Romney can’t maintain a single, consistent viewpoint on civil rights from Wednesday to Thursday. See, because that’s what makes a person presidential, when they can take a specific incident, a personal issue even, and make it applicable to others, show that empathy, show that broader thinking, de-center themselves and instead center a larger _principle_. Object lessons, meaningful guidance, _leadership_. The only principle I’ve seen Romney center, to date, is that he somehow deserves to be president of this nation, because… well because he does. He just does. And that’s all. The leadership is lacking. Big time. > [@madmonk28](#): > > When they talk about a return to traditional values, this is the cost of those values: privledged white bullies terrorizing anyone who doesn’t fit in. Not only is it a cost of those values, bullying is an important tool to maintain the status quo of those traditional values. Bingo. And we’re seeing it around the country, in political actions. Bullying minorities by putting civil rights up to a popular vote. Bullying people by playing political games with funding for healthcare. Bullying women by putting medically irrelevant and harmful hurdles in place for them to leap in order to access reproductive healthcare. Bullying children by breaking the public schools. Bullying the poor by putting costly hurdles in the way of getting meagre cash assistance and cutting food aid to maintain Pentagon funding. Bullying _bullied_ children in school by opposing anti-bullying bills (in the name of religious liberties)! ---
**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, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/250 "2012-05-12T12:51:55Z")
> [@Martin Hyde](#): > > Obamacare lacks the power of a true single payer system and from what I’ve seen a lot of the necessary cost controls aren’t actually in place. What’d you think of the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act of 2009? Bonus points if you can link to a post of yours defending it on the Straight Dope. Also, what do you gain from inhabiting a forum in which you think the majority of posters are beneath you? If, collectively, the SDMB cannot change your mind on any issue, do you expect to change other people’s opinions? Or do you seek only to humiliate and belittle posters here? > [@elucidator](#): > > I think he faked a toke to make the people around him comfortable, so they would like him. Hitchens in his memoir points out that Clinton was asthmatic and that his preferred delivery system was in brownies. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/251 "2012-05-12T13:43:15Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > …I wish they’d start locking up people who want gender assignment surgery for the mentally ill people that they are and taking children away from gay couples who have no business adopting, too… Shut up. Why don’t you try walking in their shoes for a while and see how it feels before you make a comment like that? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/252 "2012-05-12T14:35:37Z")
**Martin** , your feeling of superiority is not supported by the data. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/253 "2012-05-12T14:52:54Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Shut up. Why don’t you try walking in their shoes for a while and see how it feels before you make a comment like that? Oh, he’s not walking in \*my \*shoes. I paid good money for them. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/254 "2012-05-12T15:42:51Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > When they talk about a return to traditional values, this is the cost of those values: privileged white bullies terrorizing anyone who doesn’t fit in. I blame liberals for bringing about the downfall of societal decency in the early 1960s. Mitt was just a victim of their corrupting influence. I think **Starving Artist** will back me up on that. (Nah, actually I think SA would view Mitt’s type of behavior as regrettable, and something that could have been eventually eliminated without an accompanying loss of politeness, dignity and refinement. I find either position silly.) ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/255 "2012-05-12T16:47:23Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > (Nah, actually I think SA would view Mitt’s type of behavior as regrettable, and something that could have been eventually eliminated without an accompanying loss of politeness, dignity and refinement. I find either position silly.) I think SA would say that Mitt was unfairly accused and that it was physically impossible for him to hold down a person and cut hair as described. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/256 "2012-05-12T17:10:05Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > I think SA would say that Mitt was unfairly accused and that it was physically impossible for him to hold down a person and cut hair as described. Conservative: "It’s impossible to get your hair cut if you don’t want it. Natural enzymes will reel your hair back into your scalp if you aren’t willing to get it cut. This blonde fellow secretly wanted to get his hair cut, and Mitt and his chums just gave him what he was asking for. In fact, if he didn’t want to get his hair cut while five men pressed him to the ground, why did he grow his hair out?" ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/257 "2012-05-12T17:16:21Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > As you’ve been told - it’s not so much the event in the past that is telling here. Many of us have done stupid things that we regret. > > Romney however seems to have done stupid things that he either totally forgets due to some cognitive impairment, or he did stupid things that he does not particularly regret. This **current** behavior of his shows us what kind of man he is **today**. And it does not look good. This. And it’s a consistent pattern. Here’s a charming story Mitt tells ([in Newsmax](http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/5/22/90847.shtml), that liberal rag) about his first encounter with his future wife: > [@](#): > > Mitt first met the beautiful daughter of the mayor of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., at a party given by classmate Cindy White. It was March 21, 1965, just before Ann’s 16th birthday. She was a sophomore at the Kingswood, a private school for girls. He was a senior at Cranbrook, its affiliated all-boy school. > > The Beatles and the Rolling Stones were playing on 45 rpm records. Mitt saw her across the room. \*\*He remembered that when he was a Cub Scout in elementary school, he and some other scouts saw Ann riding a horse bareback across a railroad track. > > “What do Cub Scouts do when they see a little girl on a horse?” Mitt says now. “We picked up stones and threw them [at her]\*\*.” [Emphasis added.] Here’s the thing: It may or may not be obvious to the average person that throwing rocks at a horse being ridden across railroad tracks, with or without a saddle, is a dumb and dangerous thing to do. Mitt himself rides, so he definitely would be aware of that. At Cub Scout age? It’s jerk behavior, and somehow I doubt that any and every Cub Scout would choose that as their default reaction, but I’ll give him a pass on that; lots of little boys do jerkish things. But he’s telling the story as an adult, without a whisker of remorse or recognition that it was dumb and dangerous; no, it’s just a charming funny story. By itself? As irrelevant as Mitt’s defenders insist the haircut story is. As part of an emerging pattern about Romney’s character? Another brick in the wall. ---
**Author:** ![Sacrilegium](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f05b48/32.png) [@Sacrilegium](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sacrilegium)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/258 "2012-05-12T20:13:49Z")
I [posted earlier this month](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15032820&postcount=18) about how Mitt comes off like a sociopath to me. This story coming out doesn’t really do anything to dissuade me of that notion. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/259 "2012-05-12T20:25:44Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > This. And it’s a consistent pattern. Here’s a charming story Mitt tells ([in Newsmax](http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/5/22/90847.shtml), that liberal rag) about his first encounter with his future wife: > > [Emphasis added.] > > Here’s the thing: It may or may not be obvious to the average person that throwing rocks at a horse being ridden across railroad tracks, with or without a saddle, is a dumb and dangerous thing to do. Mitt himself rides, so he definitely would be aware of that. At Cub Scout age? It’s jerk behavior, and somehow I doubt that any and every Cub Scout would choose that as their default reaction, but I’ll give him a pass on that; lots of little boys do jerkish things. But he’s telling the story as an adult, without a whisker of remorse or recognition that it was dumb and dangerous; no, it’s just a charming funny story. > > By itself? As irrelevant as Mitt’s defenders insist the haircut story is. As part of an emerging pattern about Romney’s character? Another brick in the wall. Indeed. As has been said, pretty much all of us have done stuff as kids that we are not particularly proud of. When I tell a story about one of these times, I usually tell it as a cautionary tale, with emphasis on what I learned from it. Mitt seems to tell them as amusing stories, and one gets the impression that he learned nothing from it. And I’ve known quite a few scouts during my time as a leader. I can’t think of a single one of them who would throw rocks at a horse with a rider on it. And if they did, none of them would think it was an amusing story to tell others about later. They would know that it was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582/260 "2012-05-12T22:21:41Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > And I’ve known quite a few scouts during my time as a leader. I can’t think of a single one of them who would throw rocks at a horse with a rider on it. And if they did, none of them would think it was an amusing story to tell others about later. They would know that it was wrong. Well, you restore my faith in little boys, sirrah. Makes one wonder, among that pack of Cub Scouts, who it was who picked up and hurled the first stone, eh? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-pit-thread-on-the-romney-bullying-story-yet-so/621582.md?page=14)