he doesn t remember the incident but he remembers he s different today. listen to this. there are elements in life that change you. i m a very different person than i was in high school. i m quite a different guy now. i m married, i have five sons, five daughters in law and now 18 grandchildren. and i m the first to say, people can grow mature and be different. i have. a lot of people have. but why are you saying you re different if you don t remember that you re different from? indeed. and that s at the core of a big problem for mitt romney. can he relate to people who are weak, who are vulnerable? the washington post account, the most horrifying episode involved lauber, the young man that they assaulted to cut his
that he had long blond hair. so i think you put this behind you in a very clean way. but clearly, it was bullying. jonathan, if these four eyewitnesses are to be believed, it is clear that romney was not a fringe or peripheral member of the gang. as david corn was just saying. he was actually the leader who maliciously targeted this young boy and then took scissors to his hair. he is not in the gang. he is the leader of the gang. yeah. that incident in particular, it is violent. it is physically violent. it is emotionally violent. and you know, especially in high school when kids are still trying, they re just starting to figure out who they are and how they fit in and where they fit in in the grand scheme of things. to have something like that happen to you, mr. lauber never forgot it. i find it hard to believe that romney romney forgot it. the thing that resonates so many for people about this story,
quote, he entered stevens hall off the school s collegiate quad to find romney marching out of his own room ahead of a prep school possie shouting about their plan to cut lauber s hair. friedman followed them to a nearby room where they came upon him. tackled him and pinned him to the ground. as his eyes filling with tears scream for help. romney repeatedly clipped his hair with a pair of scissors. thomas buford, the wrestling champion who helped romney restrain the boy, later apologized to lauber telling the post, to this day, it still troubles me. but mitt romney saying he didn t recall the incident, offered a much more tepid response. well, you just say to yourself that back in high school, you know, i did some dumb things. and if anybody was hurt by that, or offended, obviously i apologize. if anybody was hurt or
i can t get into his mind about what he recalls or doesn t recall on the one has not. on the other has not, the cleaner thing to do would be to come out and say, particularly if you have time people saying this is what happened. to say i did some dumb things. i was silly. i will apologize to mr. lauber who has since passed away and then move beyond that. you don t want this to know about an indictment of your character now based on behavior that did you maybe one time in high school. and i think this has the potential to grow into something that it doesn t need to. and i think you re right. the selective memory or something like this is kind of hard for the public to digest. and so it is better to get out in front and say, look, it was a dumb thing to do. reading the article, i didn t walk away thinking he did it because he was presumed homosexual as much as they seem to have a problem with the fact
those involved in the moment. 30 years later, one of romney s classmates ran into lauber at an airport and asked him about what happened. according to the polls, lauber said, it was horrible. lauber went on to explain how frightened he was during the incident and, quote, it s something i ve thought about a lot since then. end of quote. and one of the young men who took part in the bullying told the post, quote, it happened very quickly and to this day it troubled me, says the wrestling champion who said he joined romney in restraining lauber. he subsequently apologized to lauber, who was terrified, he said. what a senseless, stupid, idiotic thing to do. but this morning a top romney adviser seems to shrug off the incident. governor romney doesn t remember that incident at all.