Hasphat'sAnts
Member
Four years from now, will you not want people to remember you for what you were in college, too?
Freshman year yeah.
Four years from now, will you not want people to remember you for what you were in college, too?
I am guessing that the people writing this off as kids being kids were asshole bullies themselves and are making excuses to make themselves feel better about being little shits when they were younger. Fuck you if you were a bully.
Maybe I should run for office. I seem to be the only human alive that wasn't a complete ass when I was 18
No, you were. Everyone was. Including mostly every president who has held office.
If you're right, then wouldn't you say that somebody who was a bully themselves and then grew up and felt bad about it be a prime example of how people can be stupid when young and then change later on? Thats hardly 'making excuses'.I am guessing that the people writing this off as kids being kids were asshole bullies themselves and are making excuses to make themselves feel better about being little shits when they were younger. Fuck you if you were a bully.
Nope I never personally bullied anyone. I just don't think this was a big deal on the scale of things that I saw in the 90s and 00s, let alone what probably went on back in those days. Romney's done worse things as an adult then cut someone's hair.
Everything I did at school was apparently gay. The way I stand is gay, the way I hold my pen is gay, the way I check out all the men in the locker room is gay, after a while I just didn't care and took it as a compliment for doing stuff differently.
I'm not gay btw.
What's more important to me is how he responds to it now, as a "man" and as a candidate to lead the entire country, and how he views his actions. His "I don't remember", "well I apologize IF anyone was offended" response was weak and cowardly, or worse, oblivious. It shows a lack of courage for taking responsibility for past mistakes, even ones you might consider "excuslable".
The fact that he even claims not to remember is disturbing, because his classmates remembered, and the victim sure rememberd, but to him it was probably "just another prank", and why should he care about anyone besides himself? He leads a charmed life, who cares about the kids he bullied? Out of sight, out of mind.
What's not great for him is this is in line with the widely-discussed treatment of his dog - dog was miserable and terrified strapped on top of a car, but he didn't give a shit and just sprayed him down. And he doesn't understand what all the fuss was about.
As leader of the free world, he'd be responsible for the welfare and well-being of millions of people, and his decisions could destroy the lives of people in countries thousands of miles away. If he is unable to show remorse or empathy for his personal decisions, or be honest and take responsibility for them, how will he respond (or will he respond at all) to the plight of the poor, the disenfranchised, minorities, people in third-world countries - people he will never see face-to-face, but who would depend on him just the same. If they're out of sight and not within the circle of his charmed life, will they matter to him, or will he even remember they exist?
I could respect him if he took responsibility for the incident, made a statement that bullying was wrong and unexcusable whether in the past or today, and that he learned from the incident. But it seems he's still the same privileged prep school boy who doesn't understand why "other people" get offended when he has a bit of fun.
I don't think President Obama has been perfect, either, but the contrast in the President supporting same-sex marriage and expressing his moral convictions, even at the cost of votes, vs. Romney's cowardice and lack of empathy is pretty stark.
Update: This is rich: Some of Romneys school-days friends are being asked by the campaign to step forward and defend him from the Washington Post story charges and theyre balking. Stu White told ABC News that he is still debating whether he will help, addding, Its been a long time since weve been pals.
Another classmate and old friend of Romneys told ABC a lot of guys who went to Cranbrook have really negative memories of Romneys behavior there. He described it as evil and like Lord of the Flies. The classmate, who wouldnt be named, says Romney is lying when he says he cant remember the hair-cutting incident.
It makes these fellows [who have owned up to it] very remorseful. For [Romney] not to remember it? It doesnt ring true. How could the fellow with the scissors forget it? the former classmate said.
And another classmate, Phillip Maxwell, who witnessed the hair-cutting incident, told CBS today: Mitt was a prankster, theres no doubt about it. This thing with Lauber wasnt a prank. This was, well, as a lawyer, it was an assault. It was an assault and a battery. And Im sure that John Lauber carried it with him for the rest of his life.
It seems like Romneys glib dismissal of the story is bothering his old friends. Stay tuned; Romneys going to have to say more about this soon. A lawyer just termed it assault.
I'm not a Romney fan by any means but I do find it laughable that what he did like 45+ years ago is being held against him now. I think its good politically to paint him as being a bully, and potentially having problems with gays, but lets not hold what people did like 45 years ago as a teen against them when they're 60+ years old.
What's more important to me is how he responds to it now, as a "man" and as a candidate to lead the entire country, and how he views his actions. His "I don't remember", "well I apologize IF anyone was offended" response was weak and cowardly, or worse, oblivious. It shows a lack of courage for taking responsibility for past mistakes, even ones you might consider "excuslable".
The fact that he even claims not to remember is disturbing, because his classmates remembered, and the victim sure rememberd, but to him it was probably "just another prank", and why should he care about anyone besides himself? He leads a charmed life, who cares about the kids he bullied? Out of sight, out of mind.
What's not great for him is this is in line with the widely-discussed treatment of his dog - dog was miserable and terrified strapped on top of a car, but he didn't give a shit and just sprayed him down. And he doesn't understand what all the fuss was about.
As leader of the free world, he'd be responsible for the welfare and well-being of millions of people, and his decisions could destroy the lives of people in countries thousands of miles away. If he is unable to show remorse or empathy for his personal decisions, or be honest and take responsibility for them, how will he respond (or will he respond at all) to the plight of the poor, the disenfranchised, minorities, people in third-world countries - people he will never see face-to-face, but who would depend on him just the same. If they're out of sight and not within the circle of his charmed life, will they matter to him, or will he even remember they exist?
I could respect him if he took responsibility for the incident, made a statement that bullying was wrong and unexcusable whether in the past or today, and that he learned from the incident. But it seems he's still the same privileged prep school boy who doesn't understand why "other people" get offended when he has a bit of fun.
I don't think President Obama has been perfect, either, but the contrast in the President supporting same-sex marriage and expressing his moral convictions, even at the cost of votes, vs. Romney's cowardice and lack of empathy is pretty stark.
Yes, Romney's past actions show the pattern of a sociopath-- the bullying along with guiding a blind teacher into a closed door along with strapping the dog to the roof-- but what's really telling is his inability to see what was wrong in these situations.
Yea, I didn't know about that part, either.Wait, what?
If you're right, then wouldn't you say that somebody who was a bully themselves and then grew up and felt bad about it be a prime example of how people can be stupid when young and then change later on? Thats hardly 'making excuses'.
And I dont think anybody is saying that bullying is fine or acceptable, just that you shouldn't judge somebody's character by what they did 40 years prior in high school.
What's more important to me is how he responds to it now, as a "man" and as a candidate to lead the entire country, and how he views his actions. His "I don't remember", "well I apologize IF anyone was offended" response was weak and cowardly, or worse, oblivious. It shows a lack of courage for taking responsibility for past mistakes, even ones you might consider "excuslable".
The fact that he even claims not to remember is disturbing, because his classmates remembered, and the victim sure rememberd, but to him it was probably "just another prank", and why should he care about anyone besides himself? He leads a charmed life, who cares about the kids he bullied? Out of sight, out of mind.
What's not great for him is this is in line with the widely-discussed treatment of his dog - dog was miserable and terrified strapped on top of a car, but he didn't give a shit and just sprayed him down. And he doesn't understand what all the fuss was about.
As leader of the free world, he'd be responsible for the welfare and well-being of millions of people, and his decisions could destroy the lives of people in countries thousands of miles away. If he is unable to show remorse or empathy for his personal decisions, or be honest and take responsibility for them, how will he respond (or will he respond at all) to the plight of the poor, the disenfranchised, minorities, people in third-world countries - people he will never see face-to-face, but who would depend on him just the same. If they're out of sight and not within the circle of his charmed life, will they matter to him, or will he even remember they exist?
I could respect him if he took responsibility for the incident, made a statement that bullying was wrong and unexcusable whether in the past or today, and that he learned from the incident. But it seems he's still the same privileged prep school boy who doesn't understand why "other people" get offended when he has a bit of fun.
I don't think President Obama has been perfect, either, but the contrast in the President supporting same-sex marriage and expressing his moral convictions, even at the cost of votes, vs. Romney's cowardice and lack of empathy is pretty stark.
I'm a pretty damn big liberal, and watching that idiot Lawrence O'Donnel on MSNBC get all angry made me LOL. It was a long ass time ago. I said and did a lot of dumb things when I was in high school.
Yeah, but since the alleged victim is dead, people can also inflate the situation to be something huge when, possibly, the alleged victim might not have thought it that big of a deal. But since he's dead, you'll never have that angle of the story.
The whole thing is just shady as hell, what with the timing of Obama coming out supporting gay marriage one day and then a 40+ year old story pops up the very next day, painting Romney as some anti gay bully. Really? This whole thing and other similar stories like "Oh, Obama was a druggie!" are so fucking stupid. Yes, BREAKING NEWS! People do stupid shit when they're young! Its when you're doing stupid shit as a grown man, like John Edwards, that it should be a real story, not this kind of garbage.
What's more important to me is how he responds to it now, as a "man" and as a candidate to lead the entire country, and how he views his actions. His "I don't remember", "well I apologize IF anyone was offended" response was weak and cowardly, or worse, oblivious. It shows a lack of courage for taking responsibility for past mistakes, even ones you might consider "excuslable".
The fact that he even claims not to remember is disturbing, because his classmates remembered, and the victim sure rememberd, but to him it was probably "just another prank", and why should he care about anyone besides himself? He leads a charmed life, who cares about the kids he bullied? Out of sight, out of mind.
What's not great for him is this is in line with the widely-discussed treatment of his dog - dog was miserable and terrified strapped on top of a car, but he didn't give a shit and just sprayed him down. And he doesn't understand what all the fuss was about.
As leader of the free world, he'd be responsible for the welfare and well-being of millions of people, and his decisions could destroy the lives of people in countries thousands of miles away. If he is unable to show remorse or empathy for his personal decisions, or be honest and take responsibility for them, how will he respond (or will he respond at all) to the plight of the poor, the disenfranchised, minorities, people in third-world countries - people he will never see face-to-face, but who would depend on him just the same. If they're out of sight and not within the circle of his charmed life, will they matter to him, or will he even remember they exist?
I could respect him if he took responsibility for the incident, made a statement that bullying was wrong and unexcusable whether in the past or today, and that he learned from the incident. But it seems he's still the same privileged prep school boy who doesn't understand why "other people" get offended when he has a bit of fun.
I don't think President Obama has been perfect, either, but the contrast in the President supporting same-sex marriage and expressing his moral convictions, even at the cost of votes, vs. Romney's cowardice and lack of empathy is pretty stark.
Wait, what?
If by collecting comics, being one of the "weirdo art students" and playing video games and D and D then thats a pretty broad definition of doing stupid things. Me and my group of friends. Just because you were an asshat that did stupid things doesn't mean every kid is. Stop projecting to excuse your actions.
at conservatives that dismiss the actions of an 18 year old Romney as "just a kid".
If he were a 15 year old black kid that killed someone they would all demand he be tried as an adult.
Right, and I bet anyone that played it in high school deserved wedgies.D and D is pretty stupid.
This was in 1965. That is when Mad Men takes place. Senator Byrd was probably in the KKK still at that time.
You dont know that they were not also remorseful. You just said it 'seemed like that' and then went on to create some pseudo-psychological rambling about how bullies only stop being bullies because the world doesn't let them bully anymore.If a person is more concerned about the actions they did causing them to be misjudged then actually being remorseful then yea thats making excuses. A truly remorseful person wouldn't be demanding, insinuating or begging for those actions to be swept under the rug. When that does happen with no repercussions for the bully at all that is accepting it and saying its ok. After all "kids" (since 18 now qualifies you as a kid, can't wait till college students are just kids too) are impressionable.
At this point when Romney has a press conference to express his true sympathetic apology to the dead bull-e it will be 100% politically motivated. It will satiate the media and empower his lobby to cry "he apologized lets move on and you are just harping on the issue" and his silent section that are cheering him for bullying a supposed gay youth will still be happy. After all, he is still bullying homosexuals. Which is sad because this issue really needs this national attention regardless of his politics.
As an adult? How long ago was that? I'm not so sure thats something I can forgive him for.Among his pranks included fucking with his blind teacher. The dog thing he did as an adult way later. While on a family trip he put his dog in a kennel and strapped it to the roof of his car for a long road trip. The dog shit itself and then he hosed it down in the kennel.
I'm thoroughly opposed to Romney being president, but this is pretty weaksauce political mudslinging.
It concerns me that Obama is "our" George W. Bush. If we're playing the "Which guy do you want to have a beer with" version of politics, it's clearly Obama this time. Mitt Romney is playing the role of Al Gore or John Kerry. That wouldn't be so bad except that Obama actually has worse policies than George Bush. Instead of torturing people, he just kills them with secret drone strikes. Obama is every bit as subservient to the Wall St banks. He supported extending the Bush tax cuts. His education policy has exacerbated No Child Left Behind.
Honestly, it's hard to imagine how Romney could be more conservative than Obama. He'd practically have to stand up and vocally endorse slavery.
Among his pranks included fucking with his blind teacher. The dog thing he did as an adult way later. While on a family trip he put his dog in a kennel and strapped it to the roof of his car for a long road trip. The dog shit itself and then he hosed it down in the kennel.
wow, so people are really excusing his actions, thinking that he's a "changed man"? That at 18 he's still a kid? that it shouldn't matter?
If an 18 year old molests a child, then beats their children at 45, would you fail to recognize the connection?
A man that bullies a perceived gay at 18, then advocates against the rights of gays at 45, do you assume that these events don't hold some connection?
Both show a lack of regard for human decency.
Sure, now he might not go out and attack some gay people on the street, but his actions are still relevant in how he deals with the social issues today. You can't just act as if these things never happened, and that they aren't part of who he is. When your a teenager, going through highschool, that's when your social fabric develops, that's how you define yourself as a man. It doesn't matter if he has restraint now, who he was then, and who he is today are still tied to his previous actions.
Oh for fuck sakes. He didn't molest anybody. Don't even compare the two. Nobody is excusing his actions. We're saying his actions as an 18 year old shouldn't be brought up when he is a 65 year old and that there are many worse things he has done as an adult that are more relevant to the office of the President than what he did as an 18 year old bully.
Oh for fuck sakes. He didn't molest anybody. Don't even compare the two. Nobody is excusing his actions. We're saying his actions as an 18 year old shouldn't be brought up when he is a 65 year old and that there are many worse things he has done as an adult that are more relevant to the office of the President than what he did as an 18 year old bully.
Oh for fuck sakes. He didn't molest anybody. Don't even compare the two. Nobody is excusing his actions. We're saying his actions as an 18 year old shouldn't be brought up when he is a 65 year old and that there are many worse things he has done as an adult that are more relevant to the office of the President than what he did as an 18 year old bully.
so far we've gotwow, so people are really excusing his actions, thinking that he's a "changed man"? That at 18 he's still a kid? that it shouldn't matter?
If an 18 year old molests a child, then beats their children at 45, would you fail to recognize the connection?
A man that bullies a perceived gay at 18, then advocates against the rights of gays at 45, do you assume that these events don't hold some connection?
Both show a lack of regard for human decency.
Sure, now he might not go out and attack some gay people on the street, but his actions are still relevant in how he deals with the social issues today. You can't just act as if these things never happened, and that they aren't part of who he is. When your a teenager, going through highschool, that's when your social fabric develops, that's how you define yourself as a man. It doesn't matter if he has restraint now, who he was then, and who he is today are still are still tied together.
So his stance on gay marriage, and the fact the he bullied gay people in highschool aren't connected at all?
Would you vote for a bully as class president?
Have you heard of something called the Paul Ryan budget plan?
so far we've got
MURDER
Animal cruelty and torture
And now molestation
Lets keep it up. Maybe we'll get a Hiroshima comparison next.
so far we've got
MURDER
Animal cruelty and torture
And now molestation
Lets keep it up. Maybe we'll get a Hiroshima comparison next.
Some may claim it's all in the past but people like that will still retain the same core personality even if it's slightly tempered by age.
Yeah I remember that. Though the dog shitting itself doesn't really fit into thatHey, he said the dog like it.
Was it ever clarified that he 'bullied gay people'? I know in high school, it was pretty common to call things 'gay' without actually meaning 'homosexual'.So his stance on gay marriage, and the fact the he bullied gay people in highschool aren't connected at all?
Someone bigoted against gay people was a bully to them in high school?
O:
SO SHOCKING
I'm not making a comparison between him and a child molester, I'm saying that the actions of a child molester at 18, and the actions of an abusive father 45 years later are tied together.
His actions at 18, abusing and bullying a gay classmate, and his approach on the rights of gay people in america are connected. If you want to attack the absurdity of the example as opposed to the actually argument, it just shows your cowardice. Sure people change, but not as much as we hope.
I'm not making a comparison between him and a child molester, I'm saying that the actions of a child molester at 18, and the actions of an abusive father 45 years later are tied together.
His actions at 18, abusing and bullying a gay classmate, and his approach on the rights of gay people in america are connected. If you want to attack the absurdity of the example as opposed to the actually argument, it just shows your cowardice. Sure people change, but not as much as we hope.