I have a brother who is 13 months younger than me. We can talk about stuff growing up that involved both of us. Some of it both of us remember (although details might vary) and sometime one of us will be completely stupefied with absolutely no recollection of the same family event that involved us both but only one recalls.
Which one of you forgot about the time where one of you led a group of guys on an attack of a queer looking boy, held him down, and cut his hair while he's crying? Which one of you forgot about the time the friendly old teacher who couldn't see was deliberately led into a closed door?
The person that even conceived of doing those things, or participating in them, even as a child, seems like a really peculiarly nasty and dickish person. And it seems he was not a shy follower of bad influences but that he was an enthusiastic leader in these "pranks." I don't think that sort of person, as a high schooler, cannot redeem himself as an adult, can't grow out of it, can't experience genuine remorse and realize the errors of his sort of extraordinarily mean youth and move on. The problem is we see no evidence he has done so; in fact the converse is true. He still seems like a prickly dick, incapable of empathy, still a privileged brat of the "let them eat cake" variety. And his non-apology apology for some truly brutal hazing, both of teacher and student, is troubling too. It doesn't make you worry for the fact that he used to be that kind of guy; it makes you worry he still is.
By the way, I did some truly crappy stuff in high school. Mean stuff. I did it when I was angry and I did it to my friends and I did it to kids I barely knew at all, though it was usually to my friends. And sometimes I admit I just did it because I thought it was funny to be mean, as Mitt obviously did and seems still to do. But the thing is I felt really bad about that stuff. Almost right away. And in the cases where it wasn't right away I didn't let myself get far into my adulthood without tracking down the kids I'd hurt and apologizing and meaning it. I was wracked with guilt that I'd picked on other kids. I understand that I did it to feel more secure in myself as all kids are insecure, but I still felt remorse for it. Mitt quite apparently didn't and he apparently still doesn't. That's just crummy. I mean I disagree with him on so much policy and yes we should be debating that stuff but this just makes me not like the guy and sorry but that's important too.
Incidentally, none of my bad acts as a teen were as cruel as Mitt's. And none of them were against kids that were in a lower caste than I somehow or that were especially vulnerable -- for example I wouldn't have picked on a kid for being a terrified, closeted, outcast homosexual or an adult for being blind. I'm not a cripple-kicker. Mostly when I picked on kids I picked on ones that were obnoxiously over-confident (and I was those things as well). But I still felt bad as hell for it after the fact.
What is all this talk about Romney still being "mean?" To what are you referring. Is he still pranking people....
Let the housing crisis run its course I like being able to fire people Let me tell you a "humorous" story about my father closing a plant and all the people that lost their jobs Don't bail out the auto industry Don't just ban gay marriage; ban civil unions too Corporations are people, my friend. Those are a few of the Grinchian policies/positions he has recently endorsed. The last one is understandable. I can see how a heartless robot could make that mistake.
Oh I see, maybe you thought I meant average. No, I meant cruel or, if you like, heartless. He is also famously prickly and often loses his temper when questioned or challenged on anything. Much like me in a way, I admit, but I was not raised with every single advantage, I was horrified to learn of Romney's idea of 'hijinks' and too I am not running for president. The bottom line is that he's a prickly prick who is apparently incapable of empathy. We already knew this before the Post story. The major revelation of the story was that he has actually been this way for 60 years. At least.
This just seems like a Bowling for Soup day on the D & D. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jrxI_euTX4A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> And why hasn't anyone posted this pic yet?
