by BlueberryT
Ann and
Mitt Romney’s attempts to portray the presumptive GOP nominee as a regular guy, someone just like you
and me, are always awkward at best – because the truth is that he is not a
regular guy, is insensitive to and devoid of compassion for what many Americans are going through,
and he is stiff as a board. We recently
saw Mrs. Romney (wearing a $990 blouse), claiming that people who think Mitt is
stiff are wrong, and she wants people to know that he is funny and has a “wild and crazy man inside”
– just what we would want in a President, right? (Watch the video at 0.37 seconds, as she puts
her hand on his shoulder, and tell me his body language isn’t the epitome of
“stiff.”)
It would be poetic justice if their transparent attempt to humanize Mitt (admittedly an impossible task) turned out to be what led Washington Post reporter Jason Horowitz to delve into Romney’s past. Whether it was or not, WaPo’s article has gone viral, putting Romney on the defensive just a day after President Obama’s historic announcement that he supports gay marriage. The article reveals several disturbing incidents that occurred during Mitt’s teenage years at
The most
disturbing incident took place when Romney didn’t approve of the long bleached
hair of a fellow student described as “soft spoken…perpetually teased for his
nonconformity and presumed homosexuality.”
(The victim later came out as gay, although Romney denies being aware of
that at the time. Do you believe him?) According to the accounts of five of his
schoolmates, Romney led a “prep school posse” that physically assaulted the
student. Romney and his vigilante friends
grabbed the student and pinned him down as he struggled to get away; Romney forcibly
cut his hair while he screamed for help.
The victim, John Lauber, was terrified. This was no funny, harmless
prank; this was bullying, or perhaps it is now called “severe conservatism.” It was physical assault meant to intimidate
and demean a fellow student whose looks Romney didn’t approve of, pure and
simple. Romney claims not to remember
the incident; how many Pinocchios is that worth? Several of the participants are more honest, saying that they are haunted by the incident and would think it would be "seared" in Mitt's memory; they now admit to being ashamed of their role in the attack, which one participant,
who was a childhood friend of Romney’s, described as “vicious” and another (quoted in this NY Times article) specifically described as "an assault." Here is another
excellent article on the story from the New Yorker: Mitt Romney, Bully and here is a post from Andrew Sullivan.
The
Romney campaign tried to downplay the story at first, claiming the charges were
“exaggerated.” Then, reeling from increasingly critical press, Romney has now offered a blanket [non]apology (“if anyone was hurt
or offended…”) some 47 years after the fact, although he denies that the basis
of the attack was homophobia and also claims to not remember the actual
incident. (Those two statements have an inherent
contradiction that proves the lie, in my opinion. Here is a link to a video which ends with Mitt laughing as he says, "I don't remember that incident.") Unfortunately, the apology was too little,
too late for his victim, who died in 2004.
Perhaps he is receiving some belated justice today.
Was it an
isolated incident? Is Mitt really a nice
guy who just made a dumb mistake as a teenager?
The WaPo article reports on some of Romney’s positive behaviors,
“gumption” and leadership, but also recounts how he thought it was funny to
trick a teacher with failing eyesight into walking into doors. He also called out, “atta girl” when a
closeted gay boy spoke in class. (This would seem to belie his claim that homosexuality was not on his radar screen in 1965.) Those
are not the kind of things nice people do, based on my admittedly unprivileged middle-class
upbringing.
I personally find it very interesting that the perceptions of Romney by those who have known him vary so much. To me, that is a sign of someone who treats people very differently, depending on whether he wants to be liked by the person or not. I have known people like that and I don't find them trustworthy. Although people certainly vary widely in how caring they are to others, I personally put more faith in people who treat everyone with respect. That is the bottom line.
Regarding his attitudes toward the LGBT community, his record as Governor of Massachusetts includes a contentious relationship with gay-rights issues and advocates, who describe his actions as “an assault on the LGBT students that the state had set out to protect.” The Executive Director of MassEquality calls him a “political opportunist willing to score points on the backs of LGBT people – if that’s not the definition of a bully, I don’t know what is.” Most disturbingly, he worked to defund and undermine a commission that had worked for many years to help LGBT youth, who are often subjected to bullying (such as what Romney himself did) and at high risk of suicide.
Romney is apparently not SO abashed by or concerned about being accused of homophobia, though, because he plans to campaign for a constitutional ban on gay marriage. Nothing says "equality" like denying rights to one group of American citizens. Obviously, Romney's trademark is pandering, so we can expect to see more of that until it's time to shake the Etch-a-Sketch.
Regarding his attitudes toward the LGBT community, his record as Governor of Massachusetts includes a contentious relationship with gay-rights issues and advocates, who describe his actions as “an assault on the LGBT students that the state had set out to protect.” The Executive Director of MassEquality calls him a “political opportunist willing to score points on the backs of LGBT people – if that’s not the definition of a bully, I don’t know what is.” Most disturbingly, he worked to defund and undermine a commission that had worked for many years to help LGBT youth, who are often subjected to bullying (such as what Romney himself did) and at high risk of suicide.
Romney is apparently not SO abashed by or concerned about being accused of homophobia, though, because he plans to campaign for a constitutional ban on gay marriage. Nothing says "equality" like denying rights to one group of American citizens. Obviously, Romney's trademark is pandering, so we can expect to see more of that until it's time to shake the Etch-a-Sketch.
What else
do we know about Mitt, that helps reveal his character? Well, of course we know that he strapped the
family dog, Seamus, on the roof of the car and left him there for a 12-hour
trip at highway speeds, even though it was all-too-apparent that the dog was in
serious physical distress. Mitt and Ann would
have people believe that the dog loved it up on the car roof, and they actually
devote a web page to the family’s love of dogs. However, Romney is also listed on two registriesof animal abusers, which in my experience is not where you usually find the
names of nice people who love dogs. I love dogs myself, as I know many readers do; it would not even
occur to us to strap a dog to the roof of a car.
Do these incidents
bear any relevance to Romney’s qualifications to lead the country? It is perfectly reasonable to look at them in
the context of what else we know about him and what this tells us about his
character. We know that Mitt Romney
made his fortune by sucking the capital out of businesses, saddling them with
unsustainable debt, and laying off their workers. He actually admits that he likes to fire people. Is that really the type of temperament that we
want or need in the President, especially at a time when so many people have lost their jobs?
We know
he is a political opportunist who summarily dismissed the former Acting
Governor in Massachusetts to fulfill his own political ambitions.
We know he was for most everything that he is now against, and he was
against most everything that he is now for. We know he claims credit for things that succeeded, even though he opposed them, and attacks his political opponents for doing things that he once supported. We know he does not have a very close relationship with the truth. No, let’s not mince words: he is a
world-class liar. But until this week, I
don’t think we fully appreciated what a mean-spirited, even cruel bully Mitt Romney can be.
***
Here is an excellent comment on the story by Ruth Marcus at WaPo. And then there are the inimitable Margaret and Helen with their usual wise and witty commentary, seeing through Mitt's excuses (h/t MrsTBB).
***
Update: Let's give Lawrence O'Donnell The Last Word. He says that Ann Romney's moment last week, when she tried to humanize Mitt saying he was "funny" and "wild and crazy," was planned because they knew about the WaPo article and wanted to get out in front of the criticism about Mitt's behavior. Lawrence and his guest, Jonathan Capehart, hit Romney very hard, not only for his bullying behavior but for his failure to take responsibility for it.
***
Second Update: It's not often that the backstory of a newpaper report gets so much coverage; this is a very interesting account of how the WaPo reporter, Jason Horowitz, got the story.
***
Here is an excellent comment on the story by Ruth Marcus at WaPo. And then there are the inimitable Margaret and Helen with their usual wise and witty commentary, seeing through Mitt's excuses (h/t MrsTBB).
***
Update: Let's give Lawrence O'Donnell The Last Word. He says that Ann Romney's moment last week, when she tried to humanize Mitt saying he was "funny" and "wild and crazy," was planned because they knew about the WaPo article and wanted to get out in front of the criticism about Mitt's behavior. Lawrence and his guest, Jonathan Capehart, hit Romney very hard, not only for his bullying behavior but for his failure to take responsibility for it.
***
Second Update: It's not often that the backstory of a newpaper report gets so much coverage; this is a very interesting account of how the WaPo reporter, Jason Horowitz, got the story.
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