HotWingConspiracy: I don't remember a lot of high school. But I also didn't violently assault people and cut off their hair as they cried and screamed for help. That might stick out in my mind.

Next you'll be telling us "gay-bashing" is a "thing."

Lucky LaRue: propasaurus: So, being a violent homophobic high school bully should be excused because he was only 17 and it was a long time ago and just youthful hijinks, just let it go.
But Obama eating a dog when he was 9 and living in another country is fair game and an appropriate indicator of his current character and he should be attacked for it. Got it.

It is really disheartening to see the rise of the herbal teahadist in the Democratic party. You're just the other side of the tea party coin, and contribute just as much to the public discourse.

Yeah, making a joke on fark comparing the dog-eating story to the gay-bashing story is destroying public discourse just as badly as Tea Party signs that say, "We came unarmed--this time!" and "Descent is the highest form of patriotic!"

/Both sides are bad, so you know who to vote for. . .

He that never swirlied a kid among you, let him first cast a stone

Saiga410: He that never swirlied a kid among you, let him first cast a stone

cast 'stone'

propasaurus: So, being a violent homophobic high school bully should be excused because he was only 17 and it was a long time ago and just youthful hijinks, just let it go.

But Obama eating a dog when he was 9 and living in another country is fair game and an appropriate indicator of his current character and he should be attacked for it. Got it.



Nailed it.

AdolfOliverPanties: Non-story. Even if he had picked on the gay kid, it was almost 50 years ago, times were different and maybe his views have...evolved?

Certainly nothing to make hay over politically, especially with all the other recent reasons to dislike this emotionless automaton.

I'd give Romney a pass, given the amount of time that has gone by, except he's pulling the "I don't remember doing that" crap. Bullshiat! From all indications, Romney is an unrepetent bully. And he's the worse kind of bully. He didn't do it because he was a tough guy showing off. He did it because he insists that everyone must comform to his standards. That's the making of a tyrant of the worse sort.

While I don't really believe that what a person did when they where in High School and possibly college should be held against them decades later the story showed that Romney grew up a spoiled child who rarely faced the consequences of his actions and that to me is a much bigger issue. After all how can a man who was raised and treated like he was above the law and never had to really work at anything in order to be successful be trusted to know what is best for America and the common man?

HighOnCraic: Lucky LaRue: propasaurus: So, being a violent homophobic high school bully should be excused because he was only 17 and it was a long time ago and just youthful hijinks, just let it go.
But Obama eating a dog when he was 9 and living in another country is fair game and an appropriate indicator of his current character and he should be attacked for it. Got it.

It is really disheartening to see the rise of the herbal teahadist in the Democratic party. You're just the other side of the tea party coin, and contribute just as much to the public discourse.

Yeah, making a joke on fark comparing the dog-eating story to the gay-bashing story is destroying public discourse just as badly as Tea Party signs that say, "We came unarmed--this time!" and "Descent is the highest form of patriotic!"

/Both sides are bad, so you know who to vote for. . .

fark it. This year I'm voting for Kodos.

Lucky LaRue: Second, you don't have to be like the tea baggers: It's ok to rise above the crazy and have civil conversations.

Yeah, but look how that turned out in the 2004 presidential and 2010 house elections. While us white tower liberals and god-fearing america lovers are the peak of professionalism, the "undecided" vote love this stuff.

So goes the death of civility. On a chariot made of High School rumor mills.

Lucky LaRue: First, I prefer to separate the tea baggers from the rest of the GOP. There's a whole lot of crazy going on under the Republican tent, but there are still some decent conservatives.

For ever curs'd be this detested Day,
Which snatch'd my best, my fav'rite Curl away!
Happy! ah ten times happy had I been,
If Hampton-Court these Eyes had never seen!

Isitoveryet: [26.media.tumblr.com image 160x221]
Mittens Farkus

Came for this

Someone should let Gov. Romney know that because he cannot recall the hi-jink in question that he also cannot recall who was aroused by holding down and forcing actions on the pretty boy with the long blonde hair in this hair-restyling man-pile.

What dire offence from am'rous causes springs
What mighty contests rise from trivial things

This would be less of an issue if Romney wasn't basically saying he'd do the political equivalent of this if he was elected. Highschool Highjinx indeed, but his outlook hasn't changed. He's still a bully and a bigot.

He was still in his Beta version, you can't blame his programs for a few bugs he had back then.

Lucky LaRue: Humean_Nature: I came in here ready to take a deep breath and defend Romney, but I see you guys have it covered. There are a lot of issues flying around in this elections, but this? This is shiat.

It's hard to stand by and watch someone get kicked for something they did 50 years ago. On the other hand, I can't say that I am *not* looking forward to him deal with this without looking inscecere about either this or his recent comments about gays rights.


I agree that what happened 50 years ago isn't going to be a reflection on the man today. I will however judge him on his response to the story. I find it difficult to believe that he doesn't remember it. There is one incident in my past where I bullied someone and I remember it pretty well.

The truth is I was a stupid kid and didn't realize the impact of my actions. As I grew up and considered the incident I reflected on what I had done and to a large extent that experience informs my opinion on bullying. As we grow into adults, our mistakes shape us as much as our triumphs and while I regret my actions, honest self reflection about them has made me a better person.

It's too bad Mitt learned nothing from his mistakes.

You gotta give credit to the people digging up this dirt, this guy has been around forever in presidential nominee terms but they keep finding shiat to portray him as a douche.

Citrate1007: He was still in his Beta version, you can't blame his programs for a few bugs he had back then.

yeah and back then Beta version meant his who operating system was stored on Betamax tapes.

Jake Havechek: "The race was close and Johnson was getting worried. Finally he told his campaign manager to start a massive rumor campaign about his opponent's life-long habit of enjoying carnal knowledge of his own barnyard sows. 'Christ, we can't get away with calling him a pig-farker,' the campaign manager protested. 'Nobody's going to believe a thing like that.' 'I know,' Johnson replied. 'But let's make the sonofabiatch deny it.'"

-- Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, '72

Doesn't apply in this case, since the Post had five witnesses to the incident, four of which who were willing to go on the record.

I do agree with AdolfOliverPanties that this incident happened so long ago that I don't think it's a big deal.

Well, you can't expect him to remember every single time he violently bullied someone in high school. Who can keep track?

Corvus: That was about the most NON non-apology ever!

"I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school, and some might have gone too far, and for that I apologize."

Non-apology? How do you get that out of his actual quote?

On its own and with a real apology this wouldn't be so bad but it just fits in too well with the self-entitled douchbag whining, "Anderson! Anderson!"

"Golly! I don't remember holding a crying bleach-blond boy down and cutting his hair as I was quite the jokester as a lad and was often involved in good natured pranks of that sort! Sorry he was such a pussy!" is just a detail in the portrait.

While I don't doubt that people change over time, the notion of young Mittens as Draco Malfoy is one that is pretty easy to buy into, And connecting the dots that his youthful attitudes carried on into a sense of entitlement and casual cruelty for those beneath him worthy of Lucius is something that isn't much of a stretch either.

DrewCurtisJr: Corvus: That was about the most NON non-apology ever!

"I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school, and some might have gone too far, and for that I apologize."

Non-apology? How do you get that out of his actual quote?

Comparing violently assaulting an underclassman to "hijinks and pranks"? Yeah, that's valid.

DrewCurtisJr: Corvus: That was about the most NON non-apology ever!

"I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school, and some might have gone too far, and for that I apologize."

Non-apology? How do you get that out of his actual quote?

He apologized for "some going too far", not for actually doing it. So if he had only cut 1 inch of hair off it was ok, but they went too far and cut 2 inches, so he apologizes for that.

omnibus_necanda_sunt: [img718.imageshack.us image 640x426]

One word... Plastics.

a lyin, flip-floppin bully.

Congrats on your choice republicans.

AdolfOliverPanties: it was almost 50 years ago

True. Rmoney has flip-flopped on gay rights at least twice since then.

magusdevil: Comparing violently assaulting an underclassman to "hijinks and pranks"? Yeah, that's valid.

He said he didn't remember doing that particular "prank".

The adventurous baron the bright locks admired ;
He saw, he wish'd, and to the prize aspired.
Resolved to win, he meditates the way,
By force to ravish, or by fraud betray;
For when success a lover's toil attends,
Few ask if fraud or force attain'd his ends.

Karac: I would think that being that big of an asshole is the kind of thing you remember. How many people did Romney assualt in high school for them all to blend together?

I have been wondering that as well.

High School Wedgie Veterans for Truth are going to swiftboat him.

I guess if Romney really can't remember this incident of being a bully at age 18 then I guess this incident is lost in his mind among a large number of similar incidents.

If they had no bad consequences for him then they must have been ok.

It will be fun to watch. The Right-wing tried to make Obama trying dog when he was 10 an issue.

Will they now dismiss Rmoney high school bullying as just youthful high jinks?

/of course they will.

For those of you absolving this guy of his behavior 50 years ago, you need to understand that if he was a particularly hateful bully, then this behavior stays with the victims for years and decades. I can't even remember some of the shiat that was said and done to me 20 years ago, but I still remember that it was done, and who did it. Hell, I was a big guy, and the only thing I had going for me was that I was big enough that they wouldn't touch me, just say things. Other kids had it much worse due to individuals in particular. That isn't really the important piece though, because hey, who gives a shiat about those weirdos that got picked on all that time ago, right?

The man is a billionaire politician who has made a career out of farking people over and acquiring wealth and power. All of us are that weirdo as far as he is concerned. He'll have the same contempt for everyone here and now that he did back then in school. There is not much out there that changes these bullies over the years. That person is usually still there in them, no matter how much church they attend, Jesus they accept or growing up they do.

There are plenty of reasons to think this guy would make an awful president, so just add this one to the pile. I don't think you should plan your entire vote around this one incident, but this behavior, and his tactics at Bain should make it clear that he sees everyone else as weaker and inferior to himself, and more disturbingly, he is willing to act on those perceptions. There have been plenty of guys like that in the White House before, but that doesn't mean we should make a habit of letting them in there in the future.

CPennypacker: This would be less of an issue if Romney wasn't basically saying he'd do the political equivalent of this if he was elected. Highschool Highjinx indeed, but his outlook hasn't changed. He's still a bully and a bigot.

See? And people call him a flip-flopper. Sheesh.

I am not sure if something that happened in highschool is relevent by itself, but the more I learn about the guy, the more he comes off as a terrible human being.

As an independent, I think I'll sit this election out.

big pig peaches: I am not sure if something that happened in highschool is relevent by itself, but the more I learn about the guy, the more he comes off as a terrible human being.

As an independent, I think I'll sit this election out.

So terrible human being vs. moderate Democrat, and you see no reason to make a choice?

During the 2002 Winter Olympics Romney lit into an 18-year-old security volunteer, Shaun Knopp, who told reporters that Romney rudely asked "who the fark" he was and "what the fark" an amateur like him was doing at the Olympics. Romney denied dropping f-bombs

I'm sensing a pattern here.

Karac: Probably the part where he characterizes him and his friends knocking another kid down and forcably restraining him while he begs for help as 'hijinks'.

Except he says he doesn't remember doing that.

Then he makes another "non-apology"

"Again, if there's anything I said that is offensive to someone, I certainly am sorry for that, very deeply sorry for that."

qorkfiend: big pig peaches: I am not sure if something that happened in highschool is relevent by itself, but the more I learn about the guy, the more he comes off as a terrible human being.

As an independent, I think I'll sit this election out.

So terrible human being vs. moderate Democrat black man, and you see no reason to make a choice?

Fact: Romney does not remember this event happening.

Fact: Obama has a time machine and will stop at nothing to destroy his opponents.

How can we be sure that Obama didn't go back in time and make this happen? I posit that it's one of those things that we may never know for sure.