May 11, 2012

Even Romney's friend can't find anything nice to say about him.

The Romney campaign allegedly asked that a friend and former classmate of the presidential candidate offer “supporting remarks” in the wake of a Washington Post article about his past.

The article, published on Thursday, described how Romney and his friends pinned down a fellow classmate, John Lauber, and cut his hair with scissors. Romney had complained that it was “wrong” for the boy, who was often teased and accused of being gay, to have such long hair.

Stu White told ABC News that Romney’s older brother asked him and several other classmates to counter the story. White said he was uncertain whether he would offer his support.



http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/05/10/romneys-friend-campaign-asked-me-to-counter-prank-story/

May 10, 2012

Former Romney Classmate Describes ‘Bullying Supreme’ – A ‘Pack of Dogs’ Who Targeted ‘Different’ Boy

A high school classmate of presidential candidate Mitt Romney told ABC News today that he considers a particular prank the two pulled at Michigan’s Cranbrook School to be “assault and battery” and that he witnessed Romney hold the scissors to cut the hair of a student who was being physically pinned to the ground by several others.

“It’s a haunting memory. I think it was for everybody that spoke up about it… because when you see somebody who is simply different taken down that way and is terrified and you see that look in their eye you never forget it. And that was what we all walked away with,” said Phillip Maxwell, who is now an attorney and still considers Romney an old friend.

“I saw it with my own eyes,” said Maxwell, of the anecdote first reported by the Washington Post. Maxwell said Romney held the scissors helping to cut the hair of a student, John Lauber, who was presumed to be gay and who had long hair. “It was a hack job… clumps of hair taken off.”

Maxwell said he held the boy’s arm and leg, describing he and his friends as a “pack of dogs.”

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/former-romney-classmate-describes-bullying-supreme-a-pack-of-dogs-who-targeted-differentboy/

May 10, 2012

Romney classmate: 'To this day it troubles me'

“It happened very quickly, and to this day it troubles me,” Cranbrook wrestling champion John Buford told the Post. He later apologized to Lauber, who he said was “terrified,” he said. “What a senseless, stupid, idiotic thing to do.” Another classmate ran into Lauber, who later came out as gay, and apologized in the 1990s. “It was horrible.” Lauber told him. “It’s something I have thought about a lot since then.” The bullied classmate died in 2004, with his thinning hair still blonde. “He never stopped bleaching it,” his sister told the Post.


http://www.salon.com/2012/05/10/mitt_the_prep_school_sadist/

May 10, 2012

Matthew Shepard's mom: Romney’s prank was ‘an act of torment’

Judy Shepard, whose son was murdered for being gay, blasted Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for allegedly harassing prep school classmates he judged to be too effeminate.

“While this may seem like an innocent prank to some, it was an act of torment against a child for being different,” Shepard said. Her son Matthew was kidnapped and brutally murdered in 1998. “We expect the people we elect to be leaders in the charge against bullying so that all students are afforded the right to learn and grow in an environment free of fear. This incident calls into question whether Mitt Romney can be an advocate for the nation’s most vulnerable children.”

A Washington Post article published on Thursday described how Romney and his friends pinned down a fellow classmate, John Lauber, and cut his hair with scissors. Romney had complained that it was “wrong” for the boy, who was often teased and accused of being gay, to have such long hair.



http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/05/10/mother-of-murdered-gay-son-romneys-prank-was-an-act-of-torment/

May 10, 2012

What would the young rascal Mitt Romney be charged with these days over the Cranbrook incident?

Criminal: False Imprisonment? Assault and Battery? Assault With a Deadly Weapon? Conspiracy (for organizing it)? In some states, there might even be a Hate Crime enhancement.

Civil: Humiliation?


What do you think?

May 10, 2012

Romney refused to give 2002 Olympics tickets to widows and orphans of dead 9/11 firefighters.

Later, Romney denied free and/or discounted tickets to the widows and orphans of firefighters who died in the 9/11 atrocities, but felt free to parcel them out to various connected Utah pols.


http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/mitt-romney-bully-8732543#ixzz1uVMOaFOA

May 10, 2012

Romney classmate: It wasn't a prank. It was assault and battery.

The Post story led with a vivid description of Romney repeatedly clipping the hair of a young man - presumed by other students to be gay - while other classmates pinned him to the floor, as the victim screamed for help and his eyes filled with tears. "I don't remember that incident," Romney told Kilmeade. "I tell you I certainly don't believe that I ... thought the fella was homosexual. That was the furthest thing from our minds back in the 1960s. So that was not the case. But as to pranks that were played back then, I don't remember them all but again, high school days - if I did stupid things I'm afraid I gotta say sorry for it."

Phillip Maxwell, an attorney in Michigan, confirmed to CBS News that the incident with John Lauber is accurately described in The Washington Post piece. Maxwell was one of the Post's four on-the-record sources. A fifth asked not to be named. Maxwell says the only thing not accurate is that the Post reporter said the incident occurred in a dorm room, but it happened in a common room.

"Mitt was a prankster, there's no doubt about it. This thing with Lauber wasn't a prank. This was, well, as a lawyer, it was an assault. It was an assault and a battery. And I'm sure that John Lauber carried it with him for the rest of his life," Maxwell told CBS News.



http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57431851-503544/romney-apologizes-for-hurtful-high-school-pranks/?tag=stack

May 10, 2012

HS Friend Accuses Romney Of ‘Lying’ Over Bullying Incident

Somehow today, Mitt Romney has found himself in the most 2012 political scandal ever after The Washington Post published a report accusing him of being an anti-gay bully while going to his elite private high school. Heck, the only thing that could have made this story more perfect is if he had hassled gay kids while stealing poor women’s birth control. The GOP candidate responded by telling reporters he “did some dumb things” back then, he now apologizes, and, if it helps, he doesn’t believe he “thought the fellow was homosexual.” Now, ABC News is reporting that another classmate of Romney’s is accusing him of “lying.”

"One fellow classmate of Romney's at Cranbrook says he believes Romney is lying when he says he doesn't remember the Lauber incident."

That looks pretty bad, right? But you know what, whoever this classmate is, he’d never have gotten to say that if Romney had NEVER RESPONDED IN THE FIRST PLACE.



http://www.mediaite.com/online/abc-news-hs-friend-accuses-romney-of-lying-over-bullying-incident/

May 10, 2012

Calif. bill targets parents who skip kids' shots

The California Assembly has approved a bill that would make it harder for parents to opt out of immunizations for their children.

AB2109, approved Thursday, requires parents who choose to send unvaccinated children to school to first discuss the benefits and risks of immunizations with a physician.

California is among 20 states that allow parents to opt out of vaccines because of personal beliefs.



http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/05/10/state/n105403D15.DTL#ixzz1uUiFVRaA

May 10, 2012

It's not that Romney was a bully in high school, he never stopped being a bully.

- As Bishop of his Mormon congregation, he threatened a single mother with excommunication if the didn't give the baby up for adoption.

- As Bishop of his Mormon congregation, he showed up at a hospital where a member was about to undergo a life-saving abortion, accusing her of "trying to get off easy".

- At Bain Capital, he ruined numerous lives with his vulture capitalism.

- He strapped his dog to the roof of a car.

- As Governor of Massachusetts, he went after education and other programs with a hatchet.

- As presidential candidate, he obliterated his opponents with negative ads, while never saying anything positive about himself.


Mitt Romney has a lifetime pattern of victimizing those he perceived to be weak to get whatever he wanted in life.