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bullying.
The important question is whether Mitt Romney's character has changed since his high school bullying days. Obviously, he has learned to restrain from vocalizing about or physical aggression in public (If they ever existed). But if so, does he still have the urge to force others to think like him? To make them suffer for being different? Is he telling the truth when he says he does not remember the incident(s), to which other participants have confessed? (See second story below.)
Does it matter if Mitt Romney was a bully in high school?
When Mitt Romney was a senior at his exclusive suburban Detroit’s Cranbrook High School. Romney led his own 'posse' that among other things, forcibly pinned to the ground and cut the long blond hair of a non-conformist junior, according to a Washington Post report.
Christian Science Monitor
By Peter Grier
May 10, 2012
Does it matter if Mitt Romney misbehaved in high school? That question arises due to a report in Thursday’s Washington Post that when he was a senior at suburban Detroit’s Cranbrook school, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee led a “posse” that held down and forcibly cut the long blond hair of a nonconformist junior.
In this video, Romney apologizes for any pranks he may have pulled in high school that hurt or offended his fellows. However, according to fellow student Matthew Friedemann, quoted in the Post, “He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!” an incensed Mitt proclaimed at the time of one of his alleged victims.
Mr. Romney himself said Thursday that he cannot remember the incident. The longhaired student in question, John Lauber, is now deceased. But Romney gave some legs to the story by apologizing repeatedly for any pranks he may have pulled in high school that hurt or offended his fellows.
“As to pranks that were played back then, I don’t remember them all. But again, high school days – if I did stupid things, I’m afraid I've got to say sorry for it,” said Romney in an interview on Fox News Radio. Why would he be "afraid" to do so? Wouldn't a leader - the caliber of a US President - step forward to except responsibility? Complete responsibility?
Romney’s opponents say they are torn by the relevance of an alleged incident that would have occurred some 50 years ago. But they forge ahead nonetheless, saying that if true, the forcible haircut could provide some insight into the character of a man who wants to sit in the Oval Office.
“Romney was 18 – old enough to vote, old enough to serve in the military, and old enough to know not to attack a vulnerable teenager unprovoked... "
Here's a quote from the Washington Post story:
"The 'John Lauber' incident was recalled similarly by five fellow students, who gave their accounts independently of one another. Four of them — Friedemann, now a dentist; Phillip Maxwell, a lawyer; Thomas Buford, a retired prosecutor; and David Seed, a retired principal — spoke on the record. Another former student who witnessed the incident asked not to be identified... “It happened very quickly, and to this day it troubles me,” said Buford, the school’s wrestling champion, who said he joined Romney in restraining Lauber...“It was a hack job,” recalled Maxwell, a childhood friend of Romney who was in the dorm room when the incident occurred. “It was vicious. He was just easy pickin’s,” said Friedemann, then the student prefect, or student authority leader of Stevens Hall, expressing remorse about his failure to stop it. Friedemann, guilt ridden, made a point of not talking about it with his friend and waited to see what form of discipline would befall Romney at the famously strict institution. Nothing happened."
Mitt Romney forced to apologize after he 'mocked and assaulted high school classmate who was 'presumed gay'
The important question is whether Mitt Romney's character has changed since his high school bullying days. Obviously, he has learned to restrain from vocalizing about or physical aggression in public (If they ever existed). But if so, does he still have the urge to force others to think like him? To make them suffer for being different? Is he telling the truth when he says he does not remember the incident(s), to which other participants have confessed? (See second story below.)
Does it matter if Mitt Romney was a bully in high school?
When Mitt Romney was a senior at his exclusive suburban Detroit’s Cranbrook High School. Romney led his own 'posse' that among other things, forcibly pinned to the ground and cut the long blond hair of a non-conformist junior, according to a Washington Post report.
Christian Science Monitor
By Peter Grier
May 10, 2012
Does it matter if Mitt Romney misbehaved in high school? That question arises due to a report in Thursday’s Washington Post that when he was a senior at suburban Detroit’s Cranbrook school, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee led a “posse” that held down and forcibly cut the long blond hair of a nonconformist junior.
In this video, Romney apologizes for any pranks he may have pulled in high school that hurt or offended his fellows. However, according to fellow student Matthew Friedemann, quoted in the Post, “He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!” an incensed Mitt proclaimed at the time of one of his alleged victims.
Mr. Romney himself said Thursday that he cannot remember the incident. The longhaired student in question, John Lauber, is now deceased. But Romney gave some legs to the story by apologizing repeatedly for any pranks he may have pulled in high school that hurt or offended his fellows.
“As to pranks that were played back then, I don’t remember them all. But again, high school days – if I did stupid things, I’m afraid I've got to say sorry for it,” said Romney in an interview on Fox News Radio. Why would he be "afraid" to do so? Wouldn't a leader - the caliber of a US President - step forward to except responsibility? Complete responsibility?
Romney’s opponents say they are torn by the relevance of an alleged incident that would have occurred some 50 years ago. But they forge ahead nonetheless, saying that if true, the forcible haircut could provide some insight into the character of a man who wants to sit in the Oval Office.
“Romney was 18 – old enough to vote, old enough to serve in the military, and old enough to know not to attack a vulnerable teenager unprovoked... "
Here's a quote from the Washington Post story:
"The 'John Lauber' incident was recalled similarly by five fellow students, who gave their accounts independently of one another. Four of them — Friedemann, now a dentist; Phillip Maxwell, a lawyer; Thomas Buford, a retired prosecutor; and David Seed, a retired principal — spoke on the record. Another former student who witnessed the incident asked not to be identified... “It happened very quickly, and to this day it troubles me,” said Buford, the school’s wrestling champion, who said he joined Romney in restraining Lauber...“It was a hack job,” recalled Maxwell, a childhood friend of Romney who was in the dorm room when the incident occurred. “It was vicious. He was just easy pickin’s,” said Friedemann, then the student prefect, or student authority leader of Stevens Hall, expressing remorse about his failure to stop it. Friedemann, guilt ridden, made a point of not talking about it with his friend and waited to see what form of discipline would befall Romney at the famously strict institution. Nothing happened."
Mitt Romney forced to apologize after he 'mocked and assaulted high school classmate who was 'presumed gay'
The Daily Mail
By DANIEL BATES
10 May 2012
Mitt Romney has been forced to apologize for forcibly shaving the head of a high school classmate who was regularly taunted for being gay.
The Republican presidential candidate grabbed tearful John Lauber and hacked away with a pair of scissors because he thought his bleached blond hair was "wrong".
Mr Romney also supposedly mocked another student who was a closeted gay by shouting "Atta girl!" when he tried to speak in class.
The damaging claims come a day after Barack Obama said he was in favour of gay marriage.
Mr Romney has made it clear he opposes it but issued an apology for fear of being seen as homophobic.
He said: "Back in high school, you know, I did some dumb things. If anyone was hurt by that or offended by that, obviously I apologize."
"But after all, high school years were a long time ago".
Interviews with Mr Romney’s former classmates at the $54,000 a year Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, reveal he was fond of jokes that were mostly good natured by sometimes had a hard edge.
After the shaving incident Mr Lauber ‘seemed to disappear’ from life in school and was later expelled for smoking and died in 2004 of liver cancer.
Torment: The republican presidential hopeful was said to have taunted students who were known to be gay and those from poor backgrounds at the exclusive Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Decades after it happened Romney ran into one of his friends who helped hold Lauber down and told him: 'It was horrible.'
"It’s something I have thought about a lot since then'" said Romney.
The incident supposedly happened in the Summer term in 1965 when Mr Lauber, who was a year younger than Mr Romney, came back from Spring Break with his hair dyed blond and styled so it was draped over one eye.
According to the Washington Post Mitt Romney would not let it go and told his friend Matthew Friedemann: "He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!"
A few days later Mitt Romney assembled a four man posse which found Lauber, tackled him to the floor, held him down while the future governor of Massachusetts clipped away.
When it was completed the crowd cheered Romney as he walked out of the room.
The incident was recalled by five former Cranbrook pupils including Thomas Buford, a retired prosecutor, who helped hold Mr Lauber down.
"It happened very quickly, and to this day it troubles me. What a senseless, stupid, idiotic thing to do."
Phillip Maxwell, who is now a lawyer, added: "It was a hack job. It was vicious."
Mr Friedemann, who is now a dentist, also felt bad for not stopping it happening and admitted Lauber was "easy pickins" meaning he was unlikely to put up much of a fight.
Mr Romney’s time at Cranbrook is credited with shaping Romney into the hard-working, driven man he is today. It was also the time in his life when sports and socializing governed his life more than at any other time. Friends recalled how he and his friends would be up all night f....ing around, the sound of his laughter filling the corridors at 2am.
In English class Romney showed a less easy going side - Mitt Romney had a ritual of interrupting fellow pupil Gary Hummel, a closet gay, by shouting "Atta girl!"
According to the Washington Post he also behaved in very unfriendly manner towards scholarship student Lou Vierling when Romney found Vierling came from a poor area of Detroit.
Mr Romney’s wife Ann has claimed that contrary to his public image as a "tin man", as one friend has claimed, he is actually a "wild and crazy man."
And details about his pranks have come to light before, notably in the biography, ‘The Real Romney’, by Boston Globe investigative reporters Michael Kranish and Scott Helman
The problem with the latest revelations however is that they suggest a cruelty which voters might find hard to stomach.
Romney’s most famous such incident is also his most controversial - when he strapped his dog to the top of his car during a 12-hour drive from Massachusetts to Canada in 1983...
By DANIEL BATES
10 May 2012
Mitt Romney has been forced to apologize for forcibly shaving the head of a high school classmate who was regularly taunted for being gay.
The Republican presidential candidate grabbed tearful John Lauber and hacked away with a pair of scissors because he thought his bleached blond hair was "wrong".
Mr Romney also supposedly mocked another student who was a closeted gay by shouting "Atta girl!" when he tried to speak in class.
The damaging claims come a day after Barack Obama said he was in favour of gay marriage.
Mr Romney has made it clear he opposes it but issued an apology for fear of being seen as homophobic.
He said: "Back in high school, you know, I did some dumb things. If anyone was hurt by that or offended by that, obviously I apologize."
"But after all, high school years were a long time ago".
Interviews with Mr Romney’s former classmates at the $54,000 a year Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, reveal he was fond of jokes that were mostly good natured by sometimes had a hard edge.
After the shaving incident Mr Lauber ‘seemed to disappear’ from life in school and was later expelled for smoking and died in 2004 of liver cancer.
Torment: The republican presidential hopeful was said to have taunted students who were known to be gay and those from poor backgrounds at the exclusive Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Decades after it happened Romney ran into one of his friends who helped hold Lauber down and told him: 'It was horrible.'
"It’s something I have thought about a lot since then'" said Romney.
The incident supposedly happened in the Summer term in 1965 when Mr Lauber, who was a year younger than Mr Romney, came back from Spring Break with his hair dyed blond and styled so it was draped over one eye.
According to the Washington Post Mitt Romney would not let it go and told his friend Matthew Friedemann: "He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!"
A few days later Mitt Romney assembled a four man posse which found Lauber, tackled him to the floor, held him down while the future governor of Massachusetts clipped away.
When it was completed the crowd cheered Romney as he walked out of the room.
The incident was recalled by five former Cranbrook pupils including Thomas Buford, a retired prosecutor, who helped hold Mr Lauber down.
"It happened very quickly, and to this day it troubles me. What a senseless, stupid, idiotic thing to do."
Phillip Maxwell, who is now a lawyer, added: "It was a hack job. It was vicious."
Mr Friedemann, who is now a dentist, also felt bad for not stopping it happening and admitted Lauber was "easy pickins" meaning he was unlikely to put up much of a fight.
Mr Romney’s time at Cranbrook is credited with shaping Romney into the hard-working, driven man he is today. It was also the time in his life when sports and socializing governed his life more than at any other time. Friends recalled how he and his friends would be up all night f....ing around, the sound of his laughter filling the corridors at 2am.
In English class Romney showed a less easy going side - Mitt Romney had a ritual of interrupting fellow pupil Gary Hummel, a closet gay, by shouting "Atta girl!"
According to the Washington Post he also behaved in very unfriendly manner towards scholarship student Lou Vierling when Romney found Vierling came from a poor area of Detroit.
Mr Romney’s wife Ann has claimed that contrary to his public image as a "tin man", as one friend has claimed, he is actually a "wild and crazy man."
And details about his pranks have come to light before, notably in the biography, ‘The Real Romney’, by Boston Globe investigative reporters Michael Kranish and Scott Helman
The problem with the latest revelations however is that they suggest a cruelty which voters might find hard to stomach.
Romney’s most famous such incident is also his most controversial - when he strapped his dog to the top of his car during a 12-hour drive from Massachusetts to Canada in 1983...
The prospects for healthcare reform may be chillier than DC weather, but Democrats in the House and Senate are turning their attention to another warmer but still significant national issue: the increasing number of runaway and throwaway youth who are being forced into prostitution. In response to the growing concerns that desperate, runaway teens will be forced into prostitution in a sluggish economy, Congress is pushing several bills to improve how runaway kids are tracked by the police, fund crucial social services, and prevent teens from being caught in sex trafficking. Here's the gist of what the new legislation is trying to accomplish:
