Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Politics In General Mitt Romney's Disturbing Selective Amnesia

Seems that Mitt Romney may be suddenly suffering from a disturbing bout of selective amnesia, apparently he can't remember having led an attack on another student at his prep school, one John Lauber, where Romney himself cut off the poor soul's hair. You see Lauber was a nonconformist who apparently marched to his own drummer and this was something Romney and his crew couldn’t abide. Quoting a recent Washington Post article, “Mitt Romney’s prep school classmates recall pranks, but also troubling incidents”: “[Matthew] Friedemann entered Stevens Hall off the school’s collegiate quad to find Romney marching out of his own room ahead of a prep school posse shouting about their plan to cut Lauber’s hair. Friedemann followed them to a nearby room where they came upon Lauber, tackled him and pinned him to the ground. As Lauber, his eyes filling with tears, screamed for help, Romney repeatedly clipped his hair with a pair of scissors. The incident was recalled similarly by five 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 goes without saying that the above account hardly paints Mitt Romney in a favorable or noble light and even though the incident took place so many years ago and could legitimately be considered to be out of character behavior, the real issue here isn’t whether or not it happened but Romney’s claim that he couldn’t recall the incident. In the ensuing fallout of this revelation Romney, appearing on Fox News, said “As to pranks that were played back then, I don’t remember them all, but again, high school days, if I did stupid things, why, I’m afraid I’ve got to say sorry for it”

First of all it’s highly unlikely that one could ever forget having engaged in such behavior unless, of course, this behavior was ongoing and common in which case Mitt Romney might forget one among many haircuts administered to offbeat class mates as there would be too many to remember in the first place. Also, the fact that five of those who were involved or witnessed the incident possess specific and vivid recollections to this day of the of the attack on Lauber pretty much renders Mitt Romney’s claim that he can’t remember the incident to be suspect prima facie.

So what we’re left to consider is two very unsettling questions related to Mitt Romney’s character. First, is he so driven by ambition as to totally disregard the truth in an attempt to skirt clear of this issue? What about the presumption of honesty that the voter is to have when assessing the qualifications of a candidate for president? Are we to assume in the final analysis that Mitt Romney is no more honest than the guy running a 3 Card Monty game on the street even though he’s got better credentials and wears well tailored suits? Secondly if Romney really and truly couldn’t recall an event as brazenly bold and dramatic as attacking another student and cutting off his hair, how can we rely on him to remember those important facts about economics, foreign and domestic policy, national security and military matters that are the daily bread of the president of the United States?

I’ll be the first to admit that I was no saint in high school or immediately thereafter and I myself pulled off a few bold and brazen stunts, some of which were truly stupid if not physically reckless, one or two which could have been considered borderline criminal. However, it doesn’t take too much of an effort to summon up memories of each and every one of them. I for the life of me can’t believe that Romney could, as if by magic, fail to remember an incident so searing in its boldness as the attack on John Lauber. Prior to this story the rap on Romney was that he was too rich to relate or too socially inept to come across as the proverbial “guy you’d like to have a beer with.” However this disturbing story from the past doesn’t bode well for Romney and only serves, along with others, to further keep him from getting back to the one topic where can actually take Barack Obama to task and that’s talking about the economy. In a campaign where negative attacks have already begun and will only intensify, Mitt Romney’s prep school past has just yielded up another negative image that belies his squeaky clean persona and will surely be used against him somewhere along the road to the 6th of November.

Steven J. Gulitti

5/11/12

Sources:

Mitt Romney’s prep school classmates recall pranks, but also troubling incidents; http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...cidents/2012/05/10/gIQA3WOKFU_story.html

Bullying Story Spurs Apology From Romney; http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/11/u...snares-romney.html?_r=1&ref=politics

Apology Tour; http://thepage.time.com/2012/05/10/apology-tour/?xid=thepage_newsletter

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I'm quite sure that he is afraid that he has got to say sorry for it. !!

It's the chuckling that gets to me.

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I find the incidents of brutal bullying very disturbing.

I felt the same way about the young George W. Bush's sadistic blowing up of frogs when I first read about it.

The ancient Greeks tended to believe that character was set at birth, and did not fundamentally change throughout life.

I would not go so far, but I think there is some truth to that view.

Perhaps one of the most serious issues our nation faces today is that this seemingly cruel and callous action is actually a plus for Romney among most of his Conservative base. Maybe we wouldn't want to have a beer with a guy who would do this but they would.
To them the boy deserved to have his hair cut because he was a non-conformist. Anyone who who is seen to be "different" needs to be taken down a notch.
Everybody who matters knows he is lying about not remembering because that is the same thing they would say. And they would add the cruel chuckle for emphasis as well, as if to say, don't cross me or I'll cut you too. I suspect we may have another sociopath in line for the White House who simply can't understand why anyone would think this sort of behavior might be considered wrong. We already know how Republicans feel about empathy.

I think that you hit the nail on the proverbial head.

Romney's selective ethics mixed with both his ballsiness and ignorance, to me, is way more the problem than his memory.

Mohammad Ali's strategy of "Ropa-Dope" was clever. It wasn't particularly fun to watch, but he did wear down his opponent and then he beat the hell out of them.

Clinton was able to take that strategy, turn it into political tool to wear down voters and his opponents - and ultimately everybody became exhausted with ongoing reports about all the women Clinton allegedly has sex with, which created a variety of media frenzies beginning with his earliest presidential campaigns all the way through the Monica days.

Every politician over the last couple or so decades has used the Clinton Lie-Distort-Distracta-Dope strategy for a reason. It just works. Romney is trying his damnest to move on in his campaign with the hopes it continues to work.

In fact, I'm so worn out that I don't really give a damn about who is elected president because our election history tells me that outcomes are always the same: The politicians win...the voters lose...no matter who takes office.

Awww Gregg, you make it sound like it's all been bad. I've been here almost 60 years and I don't think a day has gone by when I didn't have food to eat and a roof over my head. I've gone to sleep every night with a general sense of security and optimism that tomorrow would be as good as yesterday and that today was pretty good.
Governments have always plagued mankind with a variety of ills and this one is no different and perhaps better than most.
This Romney fella is a frat boy prick. A rich kid that was born rich and will die rich. He has no connection whatsoever with the world that I live in and I can guarantee that voters will come out worse with this one than the other one.

Greger,

As my grandma use to say, "The proof is in the puddin."

Lets just say that it all started out with good intentions until the politicians screwed it up exponentially generation after generation.

I've not been starving or doing without much of anything. I have more than most people according to what is labeled as the differences between the "Haves" and the "Have Nots".

I wasn't born into a family with much of anything. I was raised by grandparents whose house at the time is smaller than say my living room and kitchen combined. In fact, my grandfather converted a back porch area into a room that I could stay in and not get overwhelmed by the elements. That was cool enough for me.

But via sacrifice and possibly a hell of a lot of luck...I somehow collected more toys than most do. My life is comfortable. And I don't consider myself as well to do or wealthy. Non-the-less, life is pretty comfortable. And, by the way, I've passed my mid 60s...which my 60's hasn't been my most favorite age that I've lived in comparison to past days. But, I guess living this long is better than the alternative by a long stretch.

The government doesn't sacrifice. It lives in a very wealthy fashion at all of our expense. It takes and then makes people beg...or for political reasons...they allow various types of redistribution to occur to keep the serfs from rebelling.

Dunno, Greger. I feel a lot of contempt for a broken system of government that shows no signs of becoming unbroke. Why should it? It has everything to gain...one way or another. It has everything to gain...regardless of which party is in power. It has everything to gain simply by virtue of how the government has evolved based on the type of laws that were created at its beginning. None of the "Loopholes" has government really addressed because the Constitution was suppose to protect us from the government. But unfortunately, the failures grow because of the not so groovy legalities in the Constitutional , which gives government its ability to operate as it does.

So...I will continue to grow my disrespect for our broken institution.

As of today. Yep, it's all bad and getting worse, and as we good RR'ers say..."In my humble opinion."

No arguing about all of that, Gregg, but I will posit that a government which can be generally ignored, and believe me I do mostly ignore it, is not a completely bad government. I fully understand though that without some changes it may, for future generations, become impossible to ignore. That would be very very bad.