What do you make of Romney's bullying incident in high school?

[regularguy]

Wasn't he one of the 5 witnesses?

Not that I'm aware of. The story said: "The incident was recalled similarly by five students, who gave their accounts independently of one another."

He knew of the incident before the Post talked to him, but not (by a long shot) contemporaneously with the event. The minor correction in the story, noted above, only changes the time frame of when he knew. There was no statement about him being an eyewitness that needed to be corrected.

[Byng]

Not that I'm aware of. The story said: "The incident was recalled similarly by five students, who gave their accounts independently of one another."

He knew of the incident before the Post talked to him, but not (by a long shot) contemporaneously with the event. The minor correction in the story, noted above, only changes the time frame of when he knew. There was no statement about him being an eyewitness that needed to be corrected.

Mom is grasping for straws!

[Mom49of4]

I am not a Romney supporter so I am not grasping at anything.

[Byng]

I am not a Romney supporter so I am not grasping at anything.

Hmm! Reading back through this thread you could have certainly fooled me! But of course, that is not too difficult to do!

[Mom49of4]

Perhaps it is best not to make assumptions without asking.

[Byng]

Perhaps it is best not to make assumptions without asking.

Do you actually mean, don't believe my lying eyes, believe you?

I am an old guy and if I have learned anything over the years, it is that 'if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck and looks like a duck, it is probably a duck! It served me very well, and on more than one occasion during my years in the military, kept me alive, so I am probably not going to change now! But thank you for the advice.

[Mom49of4]

Whatever. I am getting up there in years myself and do not put people in a box.

[Byng]

Whatever. I am getting up there in years myself and do not put people in a box.

Life and death situations do not often afford one that luxury hence often sharpen ones perception.

But correct me if I am wrong, but you are the same Mom49of4 that used to describe herself as a Democrat in the early days of the Bush Administration, aren't you?

We have been posting together for years over thousands of posts, and I can't recall a single post of yours that would make me think that your politics where anything other than from the right, other than you telling me/the board that you were to the center and left in your thinking?

Was I dreaming or was it my lying eyes letting me down again?

[Mom49of4]

I have dealt with life and death issues myself - so I don't consider it a luxury that I keep an open mind.

I don't like either candidate running for president.

[regularguy]

I don't like either candidate running for president.

How often have we all said that over the years? The first time for me was LBJ vs. Goldwater in '64... not that I could vote yet.

[Byng]

I have dealt with life and death issues myself - so I don't consider it a luxury that I keep an open mind.

I don't like either candidate running for president.

Just as I thought, my eyes were correct 'if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck and looks like a duck, it is probably a duck"!

I was getting a bit worried there for a minute, Mom!

[Mom49of4]

How often have we all said that over the years? The first time for me was LBJ vs. Goldwater in '64... not that I could vote yet.

There was a year I did not vote and it did not make a difference.

[Sprightly]

It helps explain and illustrate the willingness on the part of some to ignore or overlook anti~social behavior if they think it helps their candidate of choice to do so.

My position is that it wasn't comparable to rape, but SO WHAT? It's STILL inexcusable egregious behavior that the bully who did it would have certainly remembered had it been a single time. If it was normal behavior or "just a funny prank", I suspect many, many more people we all know would have committed such acts.

But I think that most people did not and would not. And neither would a reasonable person even think of organizing something like that assault on someone for being different in their eyes.

I haven't overlooked or made excuses for a damn thing. I don't find bullying to be acceptable behavior. But, then again, I am just a mere mortal being guilty of makings errors in judgment -- and did other stupid things -- especially when I was in my teens. I'm sure that I've forgotten many of them in the years since then. But you and the others? I'm sure that IF you, regularguy, byng, et al, ever did something hurtful in your teens, highly unlikely, I know, I'm sure that you would remember every detail of it -- almost fifty years later.

[regularguy]

I'm sure that IF you, regularguy, byng, et al, ever did something hurtful in your teens, highly unlikely, I know, I'm sure that you would remember every detail of it -- almost fifty years later.

Well... yeah. I clearly remember doing things - 50 years ago - that I regret. Remember them quite well. (Strange how the human brain won't erase the memories you want to forget.)

But I never did anything as outrageous as gathering a group of friends together to pin the "queer kid" to the floor and cut off his hair. I know I'd remember something like that, with guilt-soaked regret.

[Mom49of4]

Why the need to use the word queer?

[Byng]

I haven't overlooked or made excuses for a damn thing. I don't find bullying to be acceptable behavior. But, then again, I am just a mere mortal being guilty of makings errors in judgment -- and did other stupid things -- especially when I was in my teens. I'm sure that I've forgotten many of them in the years since then. But you and the others? I'm sure that IF you, regularguy, byng, et al, ever did something hurtful in your teens, highly unlikely, I know, I'm sure that you would remember every detail of it -- almost fifty years later.

Thank you for the plug, Sprightly, but doing "something hurtful" and forgetting about it is something all of us might be guilty of, but planning, leading and conducting a physical attack on a boy just because he might be Gay/weak/different, is way outside of just a "hurtful" act and is something nobody would forget as a witness yet alone the lead attacker.

And even in the very unlikely event that we did forget about it, our memory would surely come flooding back the second that the 5 other thugs we got to take part, all came forward, telling the same story when interviewed individually, wouldn't you say?

As I said earlier, I don't need anyone to jog my memory, because I know 100% that I would never have conducted an attack like that because, even as a child it was not in my nature to do so. Any ideas why Mitt Romney can't say that?

[regularguy]

Why the need to use the word queer?

It was the common derogatory term among teenage boys in the '60s. And now it's the irony-tinged parlance of hipster homosexuals.

[Byng]

Why the need to use the word queer?

That was how Gay's were described back then, Mom!

[Mom49of4]

That does not justify the use of the word now.

[Byng]

It was the common derogatory term among teenage boys in the '60s. And now it's the irony-tinged parlance of hipster homosexuals.

Byngo! Our local Gay Periodical has a "Queer" column written by a Gay Journalist! And before you go there Mom, I not only read it, I advertise in it!