BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. ? Mitt Romney returned from a three-week spring break in 1965 to resume his studies as a high school senior at the prestigious Cranbrook School. Back on the handsome campus, studded with Tudor brick buildings and manicured fields, he spotted something he thought did not belong at a school where the boys wore ties and carried briefcases. John Lauber, a soft-spoken new student one year behind Romney, was perpetually teased for his nonconformity and presumed homosexuality. Now he was walking around the all-boys school with bleached-blond hair that draped over one eye, and Romney wasn?t having it.
?He can?t look like that. That?s wrong. Just look at him!? an incensed Romney told Matthew Friedemann, his close friend in the Stevens Hall dorm, according to Friedemann?s recollection. Mitt, the teenaged son of Michigan Gov. George Romney, kept complaining about Lauber?s look, Friedemann recalled.
Romney apologizes for school pranks
Philip Rucker 11:45 AM ET
Mitt Romney, responding to a Washington Post article, said he was sorry for high school pranks that ?might have gone too far.?
Why does Romney seem so stiff?
Jason Horowitz APR 17
Friends say the fun, affable man they know hasn?t appeared on the campaign trail ? perhaps because he?s trying too hard.
A few days later, 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 named. The men have differing political affiliations, although they mostly lean Democratic. Buford volunteered for Barack Obama?s campaign in 2008. Seed, a registered independent, has served as a Republican county chairman in Michigan. All of them said that politics in no way colored their recollections.
?It happened very quickly, and to this day it troubles me,? said Buford, the school?s wrestling champion, who said he joined Romney in restraining Lauber. Buford subsequently apologized to Lauber, who was ?terrified,? he said. ?What a senseless, stupid, idiotic thing to do.?
?It was a hack job,? recalled Maxwell, a childhood friend of Romney who was in the dorm room when the incident occurred. ?It was vicious.?
?He was just easy pickins,? said Friedemann, then the student prefect, or student authority leader of Stevens Hall, expressing remorse about his failure to stop it.
The incident transpired in a flash, and Friedemann said Romney then led his cheering schoolmates back to his bay-windowed room in Stevens Hall.
Friedemann, guilt ridden, made a point of not talking about it with his friend and waited to see what form of discipline would befall Romney at the famously strict institution. Nothing happened.
Athough these pranks were nasty, people at that age do stupid things. Neurologists say that a person's frontal cortex isn't fully developed until mid-20s -- and that is the area that deals with judgment. I think a more useful discussion is how much Romney got away with because of his parents' wealth - not getting in trouble for the pranks, dodging the draft.
Romney was well into his 30s when he slapped his dog on the car roof -- now that was nasty and stupid and showed he hadn't matured much...See More
...and his frontal cortex has remained in the same or worse condition it was in during his prep school days
Surprise, surprise, the governor's son doesn't get kicked out for assaulting another student. There is a very clear pecking order in the private schools I've known about, where the children of richer, more powerful, and more famous people get away with much more than others.
But having a famous father doesn't excuse Romney. At least Romney's buddies had the decency to apologize to their bullying victim. I would be willing to cut The Willard some slack on this if he'd done the same. As it is...See More
Surprise, surprise. The term 'assault' was not in the law books in the 60s. Not like today when 'spitting' on someone is considered 'assault'.
Many on these comments want to give Romney the benefit of the doubt when his staffer says Romney doesn't remember participating in the attack. I'm sure that everyone here remembers a lot of their high school days and would especially remember leading a gang attack on a defenseless boy, just as Romney's cohorts all did. As a psychologist, I can think of three credible scenarios whereby Romney would legitimately not remember leading the attack on the boy:
1) Romney is mentally impaired
2) Romney i...See More
..................................................................
well aint that just special !
?He can?t look like that. That?s wrong. Just look at him!? an incensed Romney told Matthew Friedemann, his close friend in the Stevens Hall dorm, according to Friedemann?s recollection. Mitt, the teenaged son of Michigan Gov. George Romney, kept complaining about Lauber?s look, Friedemann recalled.
Romney apologizes for school pranks
Philip Rucker 11:45 AM ET
Mitt Romney, responding to a Washington Post article, said he was sorry for high school pranks that ?might have gone too far.?
Why does Romney seem so stiff?
Jason Horowitz APR 17
Friends say the fun, affable man they know hasn?t appeared on the campaign trail ? perhaps because he?s trying too hard.
A few days later, 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 named. The men have differing political affiliations, although they mostly lean Democratic. Buford volunteered for Barack Obama?s campaign in 2008. Seed, a registered independent, has served as a Republican county chairman in Michigan. All of them said that politics in no way colored their recollections.
?It happened very quickly, and to this day it troubles me,? said Buford, the school?s wrestling champion, who said he joined Romney in restraining Lauber. Buford subsequently apologized to Lauber, who was ?terrified,? he said. ?What a senseless, stupid, idiotic thing to do.?
?It was a hack job,? recalled Maxwell, a childhood friend of Romney who was in the dorm room when the incident occurred. ?It was vicious.?
?He was just easy pickins,? said Friedemann, then the student prefect, or student authority leader of Stevens Hall, expressing remorse about his failure to stop it.
The incident transpired in a flash, and Friedemann said Romney then led his cheering schoolmates back to his bay-windowed room in Stevens Hall.
Friedemann, guilt ridden, made a point of not talking about it with his friend and waited to see what form of discipline would befall Romney at the famously strict institution. Nothing happened.
Athough these pranks were nasty, people at that age do stupid things. Neurologists say that a person's frontal cortex isn't fully developed until mid-20s -- and that is the area that deals with judgment. I think a more useful discussion is how much Romney got away with because of his parents' wealth - not getting in trouble for the pranks, dodging the draft.
Romney was well into his 30s when he slapped his dog on the car roof -- now that was nasty and stupid and showed he hadn't matured much...See More
...and his frontal cortex has remained in the same or worse condition it was in during his prep school days
Surprise, surprise, the governor's son doesn't get kicked out for assaulting another student. There is a very clear pecking order in the private schools I've known about, where the children of richer, more powerful, and more famous people get away with much more than others.
But having a famous father doesn't excuse Romney. At least Romney's buddies had the decency to apologize to their bullying victim. I would be willing to cut The Willard some slack on this if he'd done the same. As it is...See More
Surprise, surprise. The term 'assault' was not in the law books in the 60s. Not like today when 'spitting' on someone is considered 'assault'.
Many on these comments want to give Romney the benefit of the doubt when his staffer says Romney doesn't remember participating in the attack. I'm sure that everyone here remembers a lot of their high school days and would especially remember leading a gang attack on a defenseless boy, just as Romney's cohorts all did. As a psychologist, I can think of three credible scenarios whereby Romney would legitimately not remember leading the attack on the boy:
1) Romney is mentally impaired
2) Romney i...See More
..................................................................
well aint that just special !
opcorn2 :shrug: :SIB