# Why doesn't Romney say "no, that never happened" instead of "I don't recall that"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 14, 2012, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821 "2012-05-14T00:38:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/41 "2012-05-14T15:03:10Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Maybe Romney said he doesn’t recall because he doesn’t recall. That leaves us with two possibilities: 1. There is something seriously wrong with his memory, making him literally unable to remember a highly-charged incident of his young adulthood, or 2. There is something seriously wrong with his character, such that he did this sort of thing all the time and no one particular incident is memorable (the **Bricker** hypothesis). ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/42 "2012-05-14T15:04:33Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > OTOH, if you did something like that in high school, and forgot it, how would you know that you had forgotten it? You do realize that forgetting you organized a posse in high school to assault and humiliate a classmate is possibly even worse than doing such a terrible thing in the first place. It says horrible things about his empathy for fellow human beings. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/43 "2012-05-14T15:08:42Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > It says horrible things about his empathy for fellow human beings. Like being a Republican isn’t sufficient to establish that? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/44 "2012-05-14T15:13:03Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > Like being a Republican isn’t sufficient to establish that? He’s so far over the line, he can’t even fake it successfully. ---
**Author:** ![dngnb8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@dngnb8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dngnb8)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/45 "2012-05-14T15:16:03Z")
> [@doubled](#): > > Amid allegations that high-school aged Mitt Romney brutally bullied a fellow student in a way that would meet any legal definition of assault, Mitt Romney says [“I don’t recall”](http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/10/11644870-romney-i-dont-recall-alleged-bullying-incident). Whether or not he’s telling the truth is NOT my question. Whether or not this is relevant to him becoming president is NOT my question. > > My question is: tell any normal person “you did a terrible thing 50 years ago”, then if that person honestly doesn’t recall any such event, they wouldn’t say “I don’t remember”, they’d say “No, that’s not true”. (I don’t recall murdering my neighbors, and it’s possible maybe I did and just forgot; but if anyone ever accuses me, I will say “no, that’s not true”). Presumably Romney does recall and just won’t admit it for the obvious reasons. > But even if it is true, why isn’t he flat out denying it? The victim in question is already dead. The event was 50 years ago, there is no videotape, no police report, no evidence whatsoever other than a couple of former classmates and he can always claim they’re lying to smear him. Romney is not under oath, he doesn’t have to worry about perjury. If he lies and says it never happened, there’s no conceivable way to prove him wrong other than my word vs yours. > > He’s already (presumably) lying about not recalling the event, so why wouldn’t he extend the lie further and say the event never happened? Or if he’s telling the truth about not remembering any such event, then why isn’t he making the reasonable assumption that it never happened and then honestly saying “no I never did that”? > > I’m more interested in the answers of what his PR team was thinking in crafting that answer, rather than debates about the morality. Because it happened and if he denied it, someone would come forward and that would do more damage then, “I dont recall the event”. In either case, this falderal is just a diversion from the real issues, which is business as usual in an election year. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/46 "2012-05-14T16:29:48Z")
[Modding] Moving this to Elections from Great Debates. [/Moderating] I mentioned this in another thread, but Romney’s comments were designed to get the story in the rear view mirror as quickly as possible. He apologized, which was the right thing to do even though many people would find his apology unsatisfying and self-servingly vague. He didn’t deny the events because it would have started a public argument that would have kept the story in the news even longer. (And the evidence suggests they did happen.) He said he didn’t remember the incident because if he’d said he remembered it, he would’ve had to take more questions about it, and that also would have kept the story in the news. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/47 "2012-05-14T16:43:57Z")
I can see “not remembering” holding someone down and cutting their hair; _If_ I had done many things far worse. ---
**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 14, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/48 "2012-05-14T17:22:31Z")
Since Watergate, at least, anyone asked an embarrassing question about an event in the past has learned to say “I don’t remember.” Impossible to disprove. I’m a lot more disturbed about him calling it a prank. ---
**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 14, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/49 "2012-05-14T17:23:45Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Yes, and I think I’d remember holding down someone and cutting his hair, but I know I don’t remember every time I got into a faux-wrestling clench with someone in the hallway in high school. If someone were to come along now and recall how I grabbed him in the hallway in a headlock, I’d very possibly have to say I don’t recall. > > As a rule, I did that to people with their implicit consent, mind you, but the point is I don’t recall each specific incident. If you had planned to ambush someone I bet you’d recall it a lot more. Especially if you had accomplices. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/50 "2012-05-14T17:32:37Z")
> [@dngnb8](#): > > Because it happened and if he denied it, someone would come forward and that would do more damage then, “I dont recall the event”. > > In either case, this falderal is just a diversion from the real issues, which is business as usual in an election year. No, it is NOT a diversion from the real issues. Romney’s economic policies are such that they would hurt a lot of people. Maybe some pain needs to be doled out to rectify some perceived problem in the economy, national debt, deficit whatever. The President needs to understand the consequences of his actions for real people, not just his friends who own NASCAR teams and NFL franchises. This whole incident shows that he does not have empathy for real human beings and that this has been true for a very long time. It speaks DIRECTLY to real issues in this campaign. It is not so much distraction of “he was mean to a kid in high school.” He organized a gang to assault a kid and then clearly doesn’t think it was a big deal. So, when he throws seniors out in the street to die by cutting of Social Security, Medicare, or whatever, what makes me think he will care now? Not a damn thing. “I don’t care about poor people”, “I like firing people,” tying the dog to the roof of the car, and assaulting a kid in high school just for being different paints a picture of the man. It’s an ugly picture. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/51 "2012-05-14T18:16:01Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Why didn’t Bill Clinton just say he smoked pot instead of saying he tried it, but didn’t inhale? Does anyone think he didn’t inhale? [ul][li] Clinton suffers from asthma (or severe allergies mimicking asthma).[/li][li] Deep inhaling may be contraindicated with asthma or allergy-caused bronchitis.[/li][li] College students often smoked socially just to fit in.[/li][/ul] So yes, that Clinton didn’t inhale is quite plausible, though hardly certain. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/52 "2012-05-14T18:21:11Z")
To be fair, he didn’t tie the dog to the roof of the car; he tied a crate with the dog in it to the roof. Which is still bad, of course, but not _as_ bad. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/53 "2012-05-14T18:26:34Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > [ul][li] Clinton suffers from asthma (or severe allergies mimicking asthma).[/li][li] Deep inhaling may be contraindicated with asthma or allergy-caused bronchitis.[/li][li] College students often smoked socially just to fit in.[/li][/ul] > So yes, that Clinton didn’t inhale is quite plausible, though hardly certain. “He referred to a book written by a British journalist as his evidence. But he hinted that there was more to the story. “I thought it was funny that I didn’t inhale. I didn’t say that I didn’t try,” he said. “It was something I could not do, that didn’t have anything to do with the way it was spun out to you. It was a joke.”” [Link](http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2008/01/bill_clinton_no.php) ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/54 "2012-05-14T18:37:00Z")
To answer the OP, I think because one is the truth and one isn’t. Romney said he didn’t remember while also acknowledging that he did pull pranks. I took that to mean it was plausible that it happened but that he didn’t remember. It really was thirty years ago. That’s far too long to depend on memories for specific events. He really might not remember. He remembers an atmosphere where he did things \*like \*that. ---
**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 14, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/55 "2012-05-14T18:50:39Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > I would guess he is worried that stronger evidence will come out. For example if there is a written record of the incident. Even if there is no police report, it is possible that the incident was reported to the school authorities and they took statements. It’s also possible that in the last 10 or 20 years, Romney confessed about the incident to a reliable witness. > > Political muckrakers are pretty clever people. There’s a decent chance they are holding back a few aces. Or worse yet. He’s worried that a flat-out denial will encourage journalists to investigate and they’ll find out this wasn’t a unique incident. Think about it. Anyone know a high school bully who only got in one fight? ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/56 "2012-05-14T18:51:55Z")
> [@bup](#): > > It really was thirty years ago. Really? What have you been inhaling? 2012-1965. Do the math. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/57 "2012-05-14T18:55:58Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > Really? What have you been inhaling? 2012-1965. Do the math. Yeah, that’s what I meant. You know, _more_ than 30 years. By like 17. Seriously, it’s too long to expect somebody to remember accurately. He’s probably not as insensitive now. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/58 "2012-05-14T19:00:07Z")
> [@bup](#): > > He’s probably not as insensitive now. Do you have evidence of this claim? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/59 "2012-05-14T19:02:28Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Or worse yet. He’s worried that a flat-out denial will encourage journalists to investigate and they’ll find out this wasn’t a unique incident. The Post story described several incidents like this, although most people would agree the haircut one was the worst. > [@bup](#): > > He’s probably not as insensitive now. If so, he should probably remember it. I don’t believe his denial, but it doesn’t make much difference at this point. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821/60 "2012-05-14T19:03:47Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Since Watergate, at least, anyone asked an embarrassing question about an event in the past has learned to say “I don’t remember.” Impossible to disprove. At least he didn’t say that “bangs were cut” back then. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-romney-say-no-that-never-happened-instead-of-i-dont-recall-that/621821.md?page=4)