Pic Of The Moment: Mitt Romney On LGBT Equality

[EarlG]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002668805

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002668931

[lukkadairish]

1. O M G

That is gut wrenchingly horrible. I am looking for someone from the Post to follow up on this and ask him about it in public. I don't usually use foul language in public, but Romney is officially now an intolerant fucker.

[SunSeeker]

2. This is an explosive story.

And it is certainly in keeping with Romney's heartless other actions. Like laying off thousands in order to make millions for himself as a vulture capitalist, and torturing the family dog on the roof of his car. He really is evil.

[freshwest]

46. Somewhere we have the story of his cornering and bullying a pregnant woman privately.

He's pure GOP, ready to oppress and abuse on a whim because of intolerance.

[groundloop]

3. Further proof he was an "entitled" little rich bastard

I've run across that type of individual before, they are sickening.

[TBMASE]

4. Is John Lauber gay?

I keep seeing "presumed".

I only ask because there were similar things done by upper classmen at the various sports camps I attended in HS. They'd single you out for whatever reason...either you weren't black enough or your hair wasn't right or you wore your socks wrong, shit like that....and yes, you'd get called faggot or soft a number of times during the process.

I just wonder if the guy was actually gay or if the media just went with presumed because they haven't actually talked to the man

[SalviaBlue]

7. Boys will be boys?

[TBMASE]

9. I'm just curious

[freshwest]

48. Looking to defend Romney here? Wrong website.

[NewJeffCT]

11. Does it matter if he was gay or not?

it's a clear case of bullying, if not outright assault.

of course, IOKIYAR

He'll just say it was a youthful indiscretion.

[TBMASE]

14. It is bullying

but it's hardly out of the norm in an all male environment, especially at the time.

The media says "presumed gay" I just want to know if he actually WAS/IS. Was he attacked because he was gay or because of his hair? How did it affect his life?

[MADem]

24. He was. No excuse--and didn't the Missus go to the "girl's campus" of that outfit?

I rhought that's where he met his beloved, Miss Caddy in Every Garage/Horse in Every Barn. It's not really "all male" when the opportunity to interact with young ladies at school dances and other events exists. He may have gone to classes with boys, and lived in a boy's dorm, but he wasn't off in the country with no access to female companionship.


Look at the little fucker now backtracking and (non) apologizing-- now he's claiming he didn't know the kid was gay, and issuing one of those Non-Apology Apologies....he's fucked. You know how the "Obama's playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers" meme goes around? Don't tell me that someone at WAPO didn't tip BO that this story was being readied at the printer!

Romney Apologizes For Bullying In Prep School, Says He Didn't Know Victim Was Gay


WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney made a surprise appearance on Fox host Brian Kilmeade's radio show Thursday morning to respond to a lengthy Washington Post story on his time as a prep-school prankster and occasional bully of closeted gay students.

"They talk about the fact that I played a lot of pranks in high school," Romney said. "And they describe some that you just say to yourself, back in high school I just did some dumb things and if anybody was hurt by that or offended by it, obviously I apologize."

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

It's never quite clear whether a politician's high school years are fair game for political attacks. Romney suggested during the interview that the acts he was apologizing for were merely youthful indiscretions; the Post described him pinning a closeted gay classmate to the ground and cutting his long hair, for example. But with the story suggesting latent homophobia in an adolescent Romney and with President Barack Obama having endorsed same-sex marriage on Wednesday, the piece reverberated.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/10/romney-bully-gay-bullying_n_1506382.html

This isn't "hijinks" or "pranks." it's not even "bullying." It's fucking assault and battery. What a sick SOB.

He's mean to people, he's mean to dogs. He's an asshole.

[Tumbulu]

36. You are right, this is simply bullying and mean

and apologies now just don't cut it. What a typical republican. No wonder he is there nominee.

[TBMASE]

37. Was the kid gay?

The post article doesn't say.

Was it anti-longhairism or anti-gay?

[MADem]

41. Yes. The WAPO source has it. Mitt Romney Doesn't Like Gay People.

But Friedemann and several people closest to Romney in those formative years say there was a sharp edge to him. I

n an English class, Gary Hummel, who was a closeted gay student at the time, recalled that his efforts to speak out in class were punctuated with Romney shouting, “Atta girl!” In the culture of that time and place, that was not entirely out of the norm. Hummel recalled some teachers using similar language.

....The boy few at Cranbrook knew or remember was born in Chicago, grew up in South Bend, Ind., and had a hard time fitting in. He liked to wander and “had a glorious sense of the absurd,” according to his sister Betsy. When the chance to get out of Indiana presented itself, he jumped at it, and enrolled at Cranbrook. He never uttered a word about Mitt Romney or the haircut incident to his sisters. After Cranbrook asked him to leave, he finished high school, attended the University of the Seven Seas for two semesters, then graduated in 1970 from Vanderbilt, where he majored in English.

{Lauber} came out as gay to his family and close friends and led a vagabond life, taking dressage lessons in England and touring with the Royal Lipizzaner Stallion riders. After an extreme fit of temper in front of his mother and sister at home in South Bend, he checked into the Menninger Clinic psychiatric hospital in Topeka, Kan. Later he received his embalmer’s license, worked as a chef aboard big freighters and fishing trawlers, and cooked for civilian contractors during the war in Bosnia and then, a decade later, in Iraq. His hair thinned as he aged, and in the winter of 2004 he returned to Seattle, the closest thing he had to a base. He died there of liver cancer that December.

He kept his hair blond until he died, said his sister Chris. “He never stopped bleaching it.”

[SemperEadem]

55. it really doesn't matter

rmoney had no business putting his hands on him for any reason whatsoever. His sexuality does not give license for rmoney to assault him.

[freshwest]

47. Like Rush excusing Abu Graib. Just a fraternity prank.

[SemperEadem]

54. Of course a politician's high school years are fair game

if they can jump up and down on Obama's head for where he went to grade school, what he ate as a child, then of course, rmoney's high school years are fair game. It ludicrous to think otherwise, considering the shit they put Obama through.

[MADem]

60. Good for the goose, good for the gander!

And I think there's been PLENTY of crap through the RMoney goose!

This wasn't just high school indescretions--he was bullying people in university as well!

He apparently shaved a few guys' heads and painted them red.

Frustrated hairdresser, he's starting to look like....

[Uncle Joe]

12. Whether he was gay or not isn't even the point, if you attack someone because you presume

they're gay, it's the same thing.

If you call someone faggot whether they're homosexual or not, that mentality is the same toxic ground; from which sexual based hate sprouts from, attacking someone because they're different is no different.

[TBMASE]

15. What if he was attacked because of his hairstyle?

does that change things?

In the 80's, in all male enviorments, the weaker kids were called gay or presumed gay because they wouldn't fight back. They were weeded out of the sports programs in HS.

I just want to know what affect it had on his life

[Uncle Joe]

17. That's the same "toxic ground" that I'm speaking of, it's basically just a matter of degree.

I don't know what effect it had on this man's life but I do know that some kids on the receiving end of being bullied for whatever reason end up committing suicide.

[TBMASE]

19. Some kids who have break up with a girlfriend/boyfriend

commit suicide too.

Some kids move on and do great things without a second thought. I'm just curious as to how the event affected the man's life.

[Uncle Joe]

22. I don't view breaking up with a boy or girlfriend as being the same toxic ground

from which hate crimes sprout from.

The same can't be said for bullying or children that abuse animals, that kind of hate springs from the same source, I'm not suggesting that all bullies or child animal abusers go on to be homophobes, racists or child abusers but I would be willing to wager the same can't be said in reverse.

As for what happened to this man, in the big picture it makes no difference because this story isn't a statement about his character rather it's a reflection of Romney's.

[TBMASE]

38. So we're to be judged by what we did as teenagers?

I feel for the guy, I've been there. But the attack seems to be more about his hair than his sexuality.

I was just interested in what happened to the kid. Turns out he died in 2004

[Uncle Joe]

42. Not in isolation, actions as an adult carry more weight, people do change but we can use

their teenage behavior as clues, hints or evidence to fill in the picture of that person's full character.

What has Romney been like as an adult?

Personally I believe his actions as an adult are in perfect harmony with his high school, senior bullying behavior.

It makes no difference what the excuse for bullying is, whether it be hair, sexuality, size, intelligence, race, religion or gender it all springs from the same toxic ground source, that being a total disregard or disconnection for the feelings of the victim.

While you may be interested in what happened to the kid, to me the most important element of this story is the reflection of the characteristics, behavior and track record of a person that might occupy the most powerful office in the land.

[TBMASE]

45. point taken

[BlueMTexpat]

67. +1 billion or so! eom

[crunch60]

65. Can you for a moment put yourself in his shoes? Like being attacked, thrown to

the ground, hair cut off, embarrassed and humiliated just because of your looks? Try it, it's called empathy.

snip:
Some 30 years later, Lauber—who died in 2004—told one of the witnesses to the assault that:It was horrible ... It’s something I have thought about a lot since then.

[MADem]

27. Someone should attack that bigoted asshole for those ugly-ass teeth he's got.

See how he likes "appearance-based" bullying. He looks like he went to a Russian Dentist!

Wonder how he'd feel if someone held him down and pulled a tooth or two? Hey, it's just "hijinks!"

What, with his millions, he can't put his ass in the chair and get some better fillings? He's probably got a few deteriorating ones, and the mercury leaching into his system is making a bad situation worse! Mad hatter, anyone?

[SemperEadem]

56. the point is: he was attacked. Period.

romney had no business laying his hands of him for any reason. Period. End of story.

[siligut]

23. Doesn't matter

Rmoney singled him out for being different and then attacked him. It was Rmoney's prejudice and belief that he had a right to inflict his values on an individual who he didn't approve of.

And it isn't like sports camp where team building, physical contact and aggression is the goal.

[Maven]

25. Yes.

The WaPo reported he later came out to family and friends.

But why does that have any bearing on assaulting a fellow student with a pair of scissors because of his haircut?

Do you really think the assault had nothing to do with thinking that student was queer?

[ingac70]

49. Lauber is dead now....

another guy who was picked on by Rmoney said the jerk used to scream "Atta girl" at him in class.... he is gay.

[TBMASE]

52. yeah I read that

[awoke_in_2003]

58. "Is John Lauber gay?"...

who cares? Whether he is gay, bi, or straight and perceived gay is of no consequence. Bullying is wrong.

[TBMASE]

59. Yes but the article framed it as an anti gay attack

which is what spawned my question.

The attack itself is bullying, I was merely questioning if he was attacked because he was gay or because of his hair and failure to conform.

[awoke_in_2003]

62. I think the only reason he was attacked...

is because Mitt perceived him as an easy target. That is what bullies do- at least until you crack their nose open for them. Of course, this was a herd of bullies, which are tougher to deal with. They were looking for someone to push around, and came up with "excuses" for their actions later.

[TBMASE]

75. I agree with that

And I think it's more important that he was bullying the kid, not that he might or might not have been gay

[barbtries]

5. bastard.

wasn't it gw who actually branded his classmates in his fraternity. mean people.

[Mc Mike]

70. +1 thanks. NT.

[Uncle Joe]

6. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, EarlG.

[HangOnKids]

8. "He can't look like that. That's wrong."

Who the shit is Rmoney to tell ANYBODY what they should look like? Typical of all cowards to revert to bullying. Mitt is a very spoiled shit stain, with a very big mean streak in that stain.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

10. Romney can't act like that. That's wrong.

Just look at him!



O Mitt Romney! (name created by our own Peace Patriot) Now!

[Ratty]

13. Ah, I see he's calling it all "hijinks" and "pranks"

Makes it all sound so innocent and just some guys having a little fun.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mitt-romney-apologizes-for-high-school-pranks-that-might-have-gone-too-far/2012/05/10/gIQAC3JhFU_story.html

[HCE SuiGeneris]

20. Very interesting comments below the story, well worth reading...

Thanks for the link!

[IggleDoer]

16. To a repub, this shows "leadership" abilities

It would be the first time for Mittens

[FailureToCommunicate]

18. "Hi-jinx" are funny. This sounds like "assault"!

This skeleton seems dusty, but sturdy.

I hope it has "legs"

[MADem]

28. Seamus was dusty, too--and he had four legs and a tail! Woof, woof!

The more people know about RMoney, the less people can "tolerate" him.

[krispos42]

21. Psychopath.

Clinical.


Like most "successful" businesspeople.

[ajk2821]

26. Thank goodness

I am glad that the person Mitt assaulted was not black, who knows what Mitt's mob would have done to him?

Someone please ask Mitt when he did he know he was homophobic and is he still homophobic now?

[MADem]

29. I wonder how many black people attended that private school back then?

He graduated in 1965. It was a different world back in the day.

They might have had a "Token" or two, but de facto segregation was the norm in those days, particularly at the private schools.

[Hayabusa]

30. Holy Hell...

Just that... Holy hell...

[begin_within]

31. So Romney is a closet hairdresser.

[FailureToCommunicate]

34. Romney Scissorhands?

[Windthin]

66. Romney Scissorhands

I believe it is something more like this: >

[link:http://windthin.deviantart.com/art/Romney-Scissorhands-301365223|

[FailureToCommunicate]

74. That's more like it!

I wanted to start the meme but didn't have the Photoshop chops. Unfortunately the comparison doesn't quite work, because Edward Scissorhands as I remember the movie was a misunderstood, sympathetic character, not the privileged, clueless, prep school pep rally bully turned vulture capitalist that Romney is.

[MADem]

39. Apparently, he liked to give people makeovers--he did it at University, too.....

He is one perverse fucker, but he has been well and truly mocked by a vicious wit at Vanity Fair:
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2012/05/Mitt-Romney-Childhood-StylistBully-Gave-Non-Consensual-Haircuts

Mitt Romney, Childhood Stylist/Bully, Gave Non-Consensual Haircuts
by Juli Weiner

...Despite the Post’s specious claim that Romney “wrote the most letters to the girls at the sister school across the lake,” tackling boys in one’s dorm for the purpose of giving makeovers sounds . . . you know . . . a little like it would be banned twice in North Carolina.

According to a different Post article from last month, Romney did the same sort of stuff while an undergraduate at Stanford. In 1970, Romney’s father, former Michigan governor George Romney, “said Mitt and his friends lured students from the University of California into a trap where they ‘shaved their heads and painted them red.’”

Romney, a member of Glee Club and Pep Club at Cranbrook, “was playfully teased with chants of Wiiillard, Wiiillard by his friends.” (Willard is Mitt’s real first name.) You can imagine how this went: Wiiillard, Wiiillard, please tell me if these bangs make my face look wide.

[begin_within]

50. The upper class is so childish.

[Generic Other]

32. Just as cute as W's story of the frogs and the firecrackers

These people who are pathological bullies as children do not change as adults.

[grantcart]

33. this story is well sourced and has legs

hasta la vista baby.

[Rhiannon12866]

35. Holy ****! Mittens was a bully!!

[Dont call me Shirley]

40. Mitt is a sociopath, he lacks all the higher emotions,

compassion, empathy, sympathy, tenderness, generosity, dignity, respect, understanding.

Sociopaths get a great deal of pleasure from harming others, human and animal.

[AllyCat]

43. Tackling a kid to the ground and cutting his hair is "hijinks and pranks"?

And we thought stacking someone's locker was the height of funny.

Rmoney is a bully plain and simple.

[Jamaal510]

44. This picture of Willard is hard on my eyes...

[totodeinhere]

51. At the risk of being flamed for saying this, I am more concerned about the Mitt Romney of today

than what he did more than 40 years ago in high school. Bullying in school is wrong of course, but I'll tell you what, I probably did some things during my high school years that were wrong too. Probably many of us did. I am more concerned about Romney's signing off on the Ryan budget that would destroy Medicare. And I am terrified about what might happen if he were elected and got a couple of Supreme Court nominations. I will let what he did 40 years ago pass and concentrate on the issues of today.

[MADem]

61. No flame, but what you do as a child, and as a young adult, shapes you as you mature.

The thing you're not noting is that he STILL DOESN'T GET IT.

He went on Faux and gave a "non-apology apology" for his behavior, all the while laughing nervously and awkwardly. "If I offended anyone I am sorry" doesn't cut it.

The day he says "I get it--I was wrong and if that guy I brutalized were still alive I'd beg his forgiveness," then he might be on the road to getting it. But he's not even on the footpath leading to the road. He still thinks that kind of brutality (which he did in college, too) is "hijinks" and "youthful indiscretions"--not what it was, which is assault and battery and bullying.

He doesn't get what he did wrong in this instance, or with the dog on the roof, or when he split up companies and raided pension funds for the Almighty Dollar. He's fucking clueless, mendacious and pleasantly VICIOUS in his uncaring.

He's not a nice person, and it's apparent that he has NEVER been a nice person.

[totodeinhere]

68. You make some good points. I understand exactly what you're saying.

And yes he is a jerk. It's just that there are a lot of reasons to oppose him. I just hope that this won't distract us too much from those other things.

[MADem]

72. Some people, too, are single issue voters.

They don't vote based on the campaign platforms of the candidates.

They may have money in the Caymans, a horse in every barn, and three Caddys...and a gay child who has been bullied at school. They might have three or four houses and a private airplane...and a dog they love that they couldn't imagine torturing on a day-long highway ride atop a vehicle.

These issues may be "silly" for some, or not meaningful in the big scheme, but they inform voters as to character. It's pretty clear to me that a guy who would bully kids in high school AND university, then go on to torment an innocent dog and laugh about it as an adult, and make remarks, quite recently, too, about how much he enjoys firing people, has very serious character issues. As one of my elders might have put it, "There's just something 'not right' about that boy!"

[BlueMTexpat]

69. As reported by many here, this was hardly an isolated incident,

although in Lauber's case, it may have been the most traumatic.

If it were an instance of aberrant behavior and Mitt's subsequent behavior had changed for the better, that would be one thing. Most of us have done things that we wish we hadn't, but most of us did not do things that rise to the level of assault and battery, which the Lauber and other incidents described here definitely were.

In the case of Lauber, Mitt obviously felt that his behavior was validated because he believed Lauber to be homosexual. That is the very definition of a hate crime today. That Mitt does not - even now - acknowledge that and tries to dismiss his behavior as "hijinks" shows that he has not learned any lesson whatsoever.

Unfortunately, Mitt's behavior today is entirely consistent with this past behavior. You are thoroughly forewarned about what his future behavior will be.

[Mkap]

53. Westbaro endrosement?

Anyone know if Mittens has secured the Westbaro Baptist church endrosement yet?

[awoke_in_2003]

57. What a dickhead...

I really hate to use that term here, but I couldn't think of anything more eloquent

[crunch60]

64. I use that term a lot, lol.. just seems appropriate sometimes.

[AC_Mem]

63. Bully, judgemental, pig

And yet, people will ignore this deep character flaw because of course, anyone is better than our President.

I hope ALL the stories about this ignorant human being come to light. This is NOT the behavior of a "Christian", however, sadly, it certainly is the behavior of the typical (republican primarily) hypocritical "Christian" that we see today.

Jesus had long hair, so it appears according to pictures. Jesus was a kind and loving soul, peaceful, different, a psychic healer actually. Only The Creator knows what Mitt and his gang of fools would have done to him.

Shine the light of truth on this man. He is UNFIT to shine the shoes of President Obama.

Shame Shame Shame

[ejpoeta]

71. i told my husband about this and said of course it was a prep school

because mitt was too rich for public school. Bob (my hubby) said of course it was a prep school because if romney was in a regular school someone would have stuffed him in a locker. And I think he's right. IF he were in public school I think he would have been on the receiving end of bullying.

[obietiger]

73. The term bully does apply...

to Mr. Romney as do the terms insensitive, arrogant, heartless, cruel, and snobby. Shame on him.