Conservatives counter claims that Mitt Romney was a bully: Obama was even worse!

[truthisfreedom]

Source: NY Daily News

Several right-leaning news outlets are pointing to an excerpt in the President's memoir, "Dreams from My Father," in which Obama details how he teased and shoved a middle school girl named Coretta — the only other black student in his grade.

"We have uncovered somebody who has actually admitted to engaging in real inappropriate behavior as a youth," Fox News host Sean Hannity said on Thursday evening.

...

He continued, "'I'm not her boyfriend!' I shouted. I ran up to Coretta and gave her a slight shove; she staggered back and looked up at me, but still said nothing. 'Leave me alone!' I shouted again. And suddenly Coretta was running, faster and faster, until she disappeared from sight. Appreciative laughs rose around me. Then the bell rang, and the teachers appeared to round us back into class."




Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election-2012/conservatives-counter-claims-mitt-romney-a-bully-obama-worse-article-1.1076353?localLinksEnabled=false

---

Slight shove of potential love interest on playground=pinning down a gay boy and attacking him with scissors.

Pathetic.

[mysuzuki2]

1. not to mention Obama growing into a decent person and Rmoney

continuing to be a bully into adulthood.

[truthisfreedom]

2. I think the measure of damage done is this: Which one was screaming? Which one left four witnesses

with an impression that lasted their entire lives?

[HotRodTuna]

35. Sounds like both of them

neither was acceptable behavior. If I found out a boy my daughter liked shoved and yelled at her in front of her classmates I'd be just as pissed as if my son had been pinned down and had his haircut in front of his peers.

But since they were both kids, I'm willing to cut them both some slack.

[bongbong]

42. More false equivalence

This is a prime case of False Equivalence, used by repigs to try to justify their crimes, lies, theft, and hatred of America.

[AlbertCat]

64. Middle school is not High school

Middle school involves PUBERTY... when girls are still icky to boys...but they are confused by the changes going on. High school is AFTER puberty.

Shoving is not pinning someone down and cutting off their hair.

[sufrommich]

69. Obama was on the playground in elementary

school when he pushed the girl,he was probably all of 10 years old. But both sides are bad,so vote republican,right?

[Orangepeel]

71. Really? Just as pissed?

Your 10 year old pushes another kid on the playground. Your 17 year old goes after a kid, holds him down and cuts his hair. Same reaction from you?

[polichick]

3. The more they say, the worse they look.

[ZombieHorde]

4. President Obama owned his mistakes when he wrote about them for all to see.

He has grown since childhood. I am not so sure Romney can say the same about himself.

[JDPriestly]

29. We will know that Obama has really "grown" when he stands up for liberals

and calls Republicans "idiots."

Then we will know that he no longer is the coward he was in that story.

Remember the public option. Obama said he wanted it the Friday before he agreed to a bill without it. Just as he turned on Coretta and blamed her for those who were bullying him, he turned on supporters of a public option and left us empty-handed. If he had really learned his lesson, he would have stood up for what he knew was right and the country would be better for it.

Obama still has time to learn this important lesson. You don't have to fight back. You just have to stand tall and stubborn.

[emulatorloo]

39. Interesting Goal-Post moving. Obama must call Republicans "idiots", or DU can't support him,eh?

Interersting non-sequiter post

[JDPriestly]

59. Obama should not be ashamed to be identified with those of us

who are liberal, maybe a tad to the left of him (what used to be mainstream or conservative Democratic -- My ties to the Democratic Party date back to the Adlai Stevenson/McGovern liberal days). He should not criticize or fight with us but rather work with us.

Instead of criticizing us for our ideas, he should be attacking the Republicans and conservatives and their ideas.

He has started to do this regarding marriage rights for gays.

I've noticed gradual improvement since Rahm Emmanuel left the Obama team. I hope we will see more "growth" in Obama.

Here's to four more years -- better, more grown-up years.

[villager]

5. Plus, this was in Obama's memoir. Rmoney claims "not to remember"

n/t

[nobodyspecial]

6. Huge differences here

But logic was never their strong suit.

[zeemike]

17. There is more logic to it than appears.

They accuse you of being a bully....you accuse them of being a bully....attack is the logic...always attack and never apologize or recognize the situation or admit to any wrong...it is the logic of Machiavelli.

[nobodyspecial]

21. That is not logic

That is strategy

[happerbolic]

23. ...it is the logic of Machiavelli...

... as well as their blessed heroine Ayn Rand.

[yodermon]

46. completely OT but i just stole your sig line animated gif

cool

[happerbolic]

61. Hell, i can't even remember...

...where I ......'borrowed' it from.

(gotta' watch out for those 'tag' words) almost used it myself... hahaaa...

[obxhead]

7. If you can't be better than them, make sure they do the same thing.

SOP from the Republican playbook.

Not that it anywhere near the same, but the truth really doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is what the M$M tells the sheeple to believe.

[mac56]

25. +1000

[coalition_unwilling]

8. I don't see any fucking scissors (aka a 'deadly weapon') in

Obama's account. Nor is anyone crying or screaming for help.

[iamthebandfanman]

9. Haha, good ole sean. Love the

"somebody who has actually admitted to engaging in real inappropriate behavior as a youth" even though Mitty Boy has ADMITTED he engaged in somethign inappropriate (hes sorry , remember) ... lol

[spartan61]

16. I believe Mitty said.

"I'm sorry IF I offended anyone. His "I'm sorry" is qualified by the word "IF." I guess that means if no one was offended, then he isn't sorry.

[riverwalker]

10. Willard and the disabled teacher

Safety glass was not required in doors until 1970, he could have seriously injured this poor guy. "Romney giggled hysterically" sadistic asshole.

"One venerable English teacher, Carl G. Wonnberger, nicknamed “the Bat” for his diminished eyesight, was known to walk into the trophy case and apologize, step into wastepaper baskets and stare blindly as students slipped out the back of the room to smoke by the open windows. ...
As an underclassman, Romney accompanied Wonnberger and Pierce Getsinger, another student, from the second floor of the main academic building to the library to retrieve a book the two boys needed. According to Getsinger, Romney opened a first set of doors for Wonnberger, but then at the next set, with other students around, he swept his hand forward, bidding the teacher into a closed door. Wonnberger walked right into it and Getsinger said Romney giggled hysterically as the teacher shrugged it off as another of life’s indignities."

[Voice for Peace]

11. actually remembering with regret

enough to highlight in his book.

[1StrongBlackMan]

12. But what amazes me is ...

that's the best this highly paid surrogate (hannity), coordinating with romney's equally highly paid campaign brain trust, can come up with.

A romney presidency would be a complete mess.

[thelordofhell]

13. I'm beginning to think conservatives own more copies of Dreams From My Father than liberals

They go to it constantly........dog eating.....bullying. They know more stuff from that book then they do The Bible.

[bongbong]

43. The Bible?

All they "know" from their version of the Bible is "Blessed are the moneychangers".

[thelordofhell]

54. That's my point

They can cite chapter and verse from Obama's book, but they don't know shit about The Bible they so ardently say they obey.

[Libertarian90]

81. Naive

So all republicans are bible thumpers then? There's no room for people to agree with the majority of their policies and not be religious? I find that hard to believe. Just like there are some of us who agree with democratic policies, but who are also ardently crhistian?

[ScreamingMeemie]

82. crhistian---is that an offshoot?

Welcome to DU

[thelordofhell]

83. Where did I say that all republicans are bible thumpers?

I'm saying that republican bible thumpers are mostly clueless about the bible

[allan01]

14. re:Conservatives counter claims that Mitt Romney was a bully: Obama was even worse!

hey republicans , do u know what happend in france a bit ago ? the big conservative thought he had the election in hand as did the m$n. in lord helmets voice " fooled u ". people got fed up with the meaness of the potlics . so watch out .

[Harriety]

15. Well hell... I fought with a neighbor kid over a swing and then she fell....

Does that make me a bully? No we were little kids, and that stuff happens. What our President did was try to get a point across from a young boys perspective, that he was not that girl's boy friend so he gave her a shove. That is not the same thing at all as a bunch of toughs holding down another teenager and cutting his hair. I'm sure that young man was marked for life from what Romney and his preppy fiends did.

[truthisfreedom]

18. He was definitely marked for life. Here's a quote from the original article, from the victim:

Sometime in the mid-1990s, David Seed noticed a familiar face at the end of a bar at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

“Hey, you’re John Lauber,” Seed recalled saying at the start of a brief conversation. Seed, also among those who witnessed the Romney-led incident, had gone on to a career as a teacher and principal. Now he had something to get off his chest.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t do more to help in the situation,” he said.

Lauber paused, then responded, “It was horrible.” He went on to explain how frightened he was during the incident, and acknowledged to Seed, “It’s something I have thought about a lot since then.”

He never recovered, obviously. When you die from liver cancer, it's highly likely you had cirrhosis, and that implies alcoholism. I blame Mitt and his vicious "prank."

[Kolesar]

19. "Sean Hannity, human bag of hammers" -- Steven Colbert ... eom

[chrisa]

20. I think analyzing someone's behavior as a child is pretty dumb.

For both Mitt and President Obama.

[Stinky The Clown]

22. Okay then how about this?

The story involving Obama was from his memoirs. In other words he remembered it and owns his actions - with actual regret.

Willard says he doesn't recall. I think it is safe to say he's lying about not remembering. Of course, worse still, is if he actually did forget. For any normal person an act such as Willard's is almost impossible to forget. If Willard has indeed forgotten, that says volumes about his character.

I think this is an excellent comparison of Willard to Obama.

[monmouth]

30. Willard was 17-18 years old...n/t

[JDPriestly]

24. Sounds to me that Obama was being bullied by kids claiming he was Coretta's

boyfriend. So Obama took it out on Coretta instead of on the actual bullies.

That is typically how people respond to bullies. It is an example of cowardice, not of bullying.

But we know that Obama likes to compromise not fight back.

That story explains why Obama and his team were so quick to criticize liberal Democrats and took so, so, so, so long to start fighting back against the Blue Dogs and Republicans.

Instead of fighting those who are picking on him, he turns on those who are like him. Now we should be able to figure out how to point this out to him. He would be ashamed of himself if he realized this is his pattern.

[magical thyme]

45. very good point. nt

[JDPriestly]

57. I thought about this story more and realized that it was about

racial profiling by the students. The kids were ridiculing both Obama and Coretta for being black, suggesting that they had to be a couple just because they had the same color of skin.

It was racism. That is a really obvious form of bullying.

[erpowers]

26. 12-14 Year Old Obama Pushes Girl; 17-18 Year Old Romney Pushes Boy to the Ground

First, since President Obama was in middle when his incident happened he was about four or five years younger than Romney. As a result, someone could say President Obama was still learning and might not have known a more mature way to handle the situation. Second, President Obama shoved the girl because people were saying she was his girlfriend. On the other hand, Mitt Romney was a 17 or 18 year old high school senior. If he did not know better he should have know better. In addition, he bullied the other boy just because he did not like something about the boy. There is a big difference between being a boy and pushing a girl because you do not want people to think she is your girlfriend and being a young man and bullying a boy just because you do not like him.

[truthisfreedom]

33. Here's a little breakdown.

Mittens did this (as a near-adult):

1] Gathered posse
2] Hunted down boy
3] Tackled boy
4] Got on top of him, pinned him to ground
5] Hacked off his hair with scissors

Mittens' victim did this:

1] Screamed in protest
2] Disappeared from school for days
3] Remembered it years later, calling it "horrible" and saying that he recalled it often
4] Died of liver cancer without receiving an apology from Mittens

Obama did this (as an early teen):

1] Looked to girl to say she wasn't girlfriend
2] Lightly shoved her in frustration

Obama's victim did this:

1] Ran off playground without saying a word

So who's the bully? How is what Obama did bullying?

[TuxedoKat]

72. Actually, he was only 10, in 5th grade

still elemenatary school, in most places, or at least back thern. TX4Obama posted this link to another thread:

http://www.mediaite.com/online/barack-obama-teaches-mitt-romney-how-humans-react-when-they-do-something-wrong/

Even bigger difference between 10 and 17-18.

[Iliyah]

27. If it gets even worse for

Mittens, Fake news and the insane party of no WILL MAKE UP SHIT on Pres O and guess what, their brain dead audience and followers will believe every single word of it and repeat it over and over again, and the corporate media will repeat it over and over and again, and many blogs, tweets, facebook and other social media outlets will repeat it over and over again until it becomes FACT.

[drm604]

32. Just like the swiftboaters did to Kerry.

[adigal]

44. Yes, expect to see all of the right wingers saying this on news sites

They got their marching orders from their Leader.

Big huge differences: Obama was a kid, it was a shove, not holding down, and he felt badly enough about it to write about it in his book. That is the sign of a good person.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

28. You mean the thing he wrote about himself because he felt shitty about? Yeah this is taylor

made for hacks like Chugg Toad and Mc Rove's Backup Dancer to bring false equivalencies into the so called mainstream.

[drm604]

31. By what twisted logic is that worse?

Obama shoved a girl in grade school.

Romney pinned down a boy and forcibly cut his hair while he cried and screamed for help, in high school.

How can anyone who is being honest say that the first is worse? Hannity is a lying POS who does the bidding of those who pay him. There's no way he really believes that the grade school incident is worse.

[McCamy Taylor]

34. So, Romney was trying to prove he wasn't in love....?

[HotRodTuna]

38. *rimshot*

[Frank Cannon]

68. I have no doubt that Willard's tiny pecker...

was hard as a rock when he got on top of that kid and assaulted him.

[truthisfreedom]

36. Let's just face the elephant in the room. Mitt Romney should have been tried as an adult and served

time for illegal imprisonment and assault with a deadly weapon. He committed a crime.

End of story.

[HotRodTuna]

41. And thus the criminalization of youth continues

when I was in high school (jr high? can't recall) some of my "friends" shoved my head, and that of another of my friend's in the toilet for the good old swirly treatment. Needless to say things weren't too friendly after that, and they all got in trouble. Should they have been imprisoned for years for "false imprisonment and assault"? No. They were immature kids and I'm sure they've grown up since then, doesn't mean we're buddies though, I can tell you that.

He should have been disciplined by the school, not the courts.

[truthisfreedom]

51. I should have put in the sarcasm emoticon. It was an attempt at being over-the-top.

Sorry.

[truthisfreedom]

52. Although: When principals were asked what would happen to a student if this happened in a modern-day

school, here was the reply:

Many of today’s principals would be likely to throw the book at a student who pinned down a classmate and clipped his hair, as Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney did as a high school senior in 1965.

Romney was not disciplined at the time. If such an attack happened in the public schools of 2012, it would probably lead to suspension and might also be referred for expulsion, a number of local public school leaders said following a Washington Post report of the incident involving Romney.

A call to police would probably also be in order because it would be considered an assault, said Alan Goodwin, principal of Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda.

So that's something to think about.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/romney-hair-cutting-prank-school-leaders-say-similar-incidents-today-would-lead-to-punishment/2012/05/11/gIQAmvuJIU_story.html

[treestar]

74. +1 Absolutely

There is no way that would be just "boys will be boys" today.

[coalition_unwilling]

56. Buried deep in the original WP story were some chilling lines:

"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."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mitt-romneys-prep-school-classmates-recall-pranks-but-also-troubling-incidents/2012/05/10/gIQA3WOKFU_story.html?hpid=z2

[DallasNE]

80. Yes, I Saw That Too

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=118401

[treestar]

75. A crime is a crime

That's an assault. They may be subject to the juvenile system. But we don't allow youth to commit assault and battery now, claiming it's just the way kids are and the law of the jungle. Kids are born barbarians, but they have to be trained out of it. By the time they are in high school (and we entrust them with driving) they should not better to commit assault and battery on others. That was not "normal" youthful behavior. Plenty of people get through their teens without assaulting other teens.

[DallasNE]

37. Obama Remembers An Event

Where somebody is bugging him and he stands his ground with a slight shove but later has remorse. Romney doesn't remember an event where he goes looking for somebody with a posse, chases him down from behind and tackles him and then physically assaulted him and responds by blaming Obama for giving the story to the WP. Oh, yeah, there sure is a lot of equivalency there.

[treestar]

76. Exactly. Right wing "equivalency" is as usual, false

[emulatorloo]

40. Is Hannity as dumb as he appears, or is he acting

out his part in the RNC script?

[VWolf]

47. Both. They're not mutually exclusive. n/t

[grantcart]

48. the real comparison is between one man

Who is self aware and another who is completely clueless.

[nolabels]

49. Yea, looks like he is worse, just look what is happening to them.

Eventually bullies meet someone who is equal or better at the game, the rest is just comedy

[CBHagman]

50. "Uncovered."

[Tx4obama]

53. What Hannity, et al, fail to disclose is what Obama wrote immediately following the excerpt

Barack Obama Teaches Mitt Romney How Humans React When They Do Something Wrong

-snip-

What Hannity, et al, fail to disclose is what Obama wrote immediately following the excerpt they’re flogging:

For the rest of the afternoon, I was haunted by the look on Coretta’s face just before she had started to run: her disappointment, and the accusation. I wanted to explain to her somehow that it had been nothing personal; I’d just never had a girlfriend before and saw no particular need to have one now. But I didn’t even know if that was true. Iknew only that it was too late for explanations, that somehow I’d been tested and found wanting; and whenever I snuck a glance at Coretta’s desk, I would see her with her head bent over her work, appearing as if nothing had happened, pulled into herself and asking no favors.

My act of betrayal bought me some room from the other children, and like Coretta, I was mostly left alone.

-snip-

Full article here: http://www.mediaite.com/online/barack-obama-teaches-mitt-romney-how-humans-react-when-they-do-something-wrong/

[roscoeroscoe]

55. exactly~ eom

[JI7]

58. it was something he felt bad about at the time and never forgot , what Romney did was even worse

and lets assume he did forget , i think that's just as bad or worse. because then it's something that wasn't a big thing for him.

[HeiressofBickworth]

60. Talk about false equivalence!

In Romney's case, he pursued a kid, got the kid on the ground and cut off his hair. Romney was the aggressor.

Obama's case: "'I'm not her boyfriend!' I shouted. I ran up to Coretta and gave her a slight shove; she staggered back and looked up at me, but still said nothing. 'Leave me alone!' I shouted again."
It appears that Obama was the victim of bullying and was fighting back. "Leave me alone!" Is that what an aggressor says? No, it's what the victim of bullying would say.

Leave it to the RW to distort, obfuscate and deliberately lie. It's like the story about eating dog -- Obama didn't kill the dog, Obama didn't cook the dog, he ate dinner and found out later that it was dog. How is this a stain on his reputation?

I think that we will see more of these little stories ripped from Obama's book and re-interpreted by the RW to find a way to dishonor Obama.

[alphafemale]

62. It states in the article he was TEN. How is that Middle School?

That's 4th or 5th Grade. Also they were at Recess. I'm in his general age group though a few ticks younger. You didn't have recess after elementary school.

It's good that he has regrets for the incident.

That it happened at 10 instead of Middle School, which in my mind was more like 14, takes this incident to a such a much lower scale beneath what Romney did as to be ridiculous.

[DallasNE]

79. Isn't Middle School 6th, 7th & 8th Grades?

I was 11 in 6th grade and 14 as a high school freshman, which I presume was the case with Obama. My daughter went to a magnet middle school that included 5th grade but I doubt they had magnet schools back then. Of course a key difference was that Obama knew he was wrong within seconds and had remorse. Romney's "if I did it, I apologise" comment recently shows no remorse to this day and the episode was far more serious. And this reflects on parenting as well.

[Brooklyn Dame]

63. How low can they go?

Well, that's a rhetorical question because we see on a daily basis JUST how low they can go. These are not the same type of situation. At ALL. And Mitt knows it -- it's just that he's not man enough to admit he even remembers it.

http://borderlessnewsandviews.com/2012/05/whats-so-funny-mitt/

http://borderlessnewsandviews.com/2012/05/the-most-boring-and-phony-man-in-the-world/

[athenasatanjesus]

66. Romney as an adult is still part of the party that bullies gays.

Adult Obama isn't in the girlfriend bullying party.

[nxylas]

67. Actually, they're now saying it never happened

A Breitbart site made up a lie (catapulted by the Daily Caller and the rest of the RW echo chamber, linking to each others's stories in an endless circle) about the Washington Post retracting the story and admitting that the eyewitnesses never saw the incident. The Washington Post meanwhile is standing by its story, but of course the baggers will never see that, because they believe that looking at a mainstream media site not approved by the cult will sap and impurify their precious bodily fluids.

[rocktivity]

70. In the interest of fairness and balance, here's the rest of that passage

Last edited Sat Jan 5, 2013, 07:51 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002676494

"For the rest of the afternoon, I was haunted by the look on Coretta’s face just before she had started to run: her disappointment, and the accusation. I wanted to explain to her somehow that it had been nothing personal; I’d just never had a girlfriend before and saw no particular need to have one now. But I didn’t even know if that was true. Iknew only that it was too late for explanations, that somehow I’d been tested and found wanting; and whenever I snuck a glance at Coretta’s desk, I would see her with her head bent over her work, appearing as if nothing had happened, pulled into herself and asking no favors."

rocktivity

[treestar]

73. I read the book and don't remember that part

Must not have made a great impression. Reading it here, it still doesn't. Doesn't compare to Rmoney's acts at all.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

78. I've read some of the book and remember the story quite clearly

What struck me at the time -and what I took away from it -was that President Obama was remorseful for his actions and the way that he had behaved and not only regretted it but learned from the error of his ways and became a better person because of it.

Whereas the half-hearted non-apology that Mittens gave suggests to me that he probably remembers the incident and couldn't care less

[ibegurpard]

77. Obama remembers and is ashamed of it

Romney doesn't.

there's the HUGE difference