HeatherN explores the idea that Mitt Romney’s flip reaction to his alleged bullying of a classmate calls into question his ability to advocate for the rights and safety of children.
Perhaps the most tragically famous mother of an LGBT individual is Judy Shepherd. She’s been fighting for LGBT rights for the past 14 years, ever since the tragic murder of her son, Matthew Shepherd, because he was gay. If anyone can understand the emotional impact of having one’s personal life thrust into the media, it’s her. And if anyone can understand the tragic impact homophobic and anti-LGBT actions can have, it’s certainly her. Her reaction to the news that Mitt Romney apparently bullied a perceived as gay when he was in high school was understandably strong.
I am in partial agreement with what she says, particularly with regards to Romney’s dismissal of the incident. Bullying someone is not a prank, regardless of why you were bullying them. Forcibly holding someone and cutting off their hair is not a harmless prank. Romney made a serious mistake in dismissing it as such. And that, to me, is why this story is important.
Should Romney’s actions in high school be under scrutiny like this? I’d have to say, no. High school bullies can see the error of their ways and grow as people, just like we all do. However, we can’t put that cat back into the bag. The story is out there, and Romney responded. And that is what is problematic. Romney failed to recognize how potentially serious an incident like that could have been. He literally laughed it off, while ‘apologizing’ for it. Even if he didn’t actually remember the incident, he could have at least discussed the seriousness of bullying, etc.
When Judy Shepherd said, “This incident calls into question whether Mitt Romney can be an advocate for the nation’s most vulnerable children.”
I imagine she was probably talking about the incident in high school. I would argue that really, it’s Romney’s response to this incident that calls his ability to advocate for vulnerable children into question.
What do you think? Is Mitt Romney capable of advocating for the safety of children if he doesn’t even remember bullying this teen when they were in high school?
Author’s Note: Judy Shepherd made her statement before Christine Lauber spoke to ABC.
And another thing. Many people seem to be dismissing this as some kid doing something because they don’t know better and kids do stupid things. I’d like to point out that he was in high school. A 16 year old kid understands fully the difference between right and wrong. I am not too far out of high school myself, and I know that I would never in a million years have done something like that.
I have a 12 year old that wouldn’t do that.
Should Romney be held accountable for things he did as a teenager? No, not really. Everyone has done stupid things, though I am willing to bet most people didn’t lead a posse of people to forcibly restrain an innocent person and assault them. Romney SHOULD be held accountable for how he has responded as an adult to his actions in the past. If you orchestrated a gang-assault on a defenseless individual as a high school student and were asked about it as an adult, you’d probably show a significant amount of remorse at doing something so heinous. You would not… Read more »
The point here is that Romney had a chance to prove his leadership skills by taking the issue and speaking about the broader point of bullying because right here and right now in 2012 this IS an issue of national importance. And not only did he not do this, he dismissed it flippantly. And in so doing he proved that when not being fed lines by his campaign and not sticking to well worn talking points, he had nothing to say other than making a pathetic attempt protect himself. We should not be surprised, that’s what our nominating process does.… Read more »
Doing something like that is pretty serious, but everyone has done something mean to someone else at some point. I’m not sure how relevant the actions of a 16 year old boy are to the likely actions of the 64 year old man he became. If he’d done it as a 30 year old maybe, but at the high-school age there’s still an argument to be made that he might have been just going with the crowd. If the pasts of everyone on this thread were gone through with a fine tooth comb would we all come up looking squeaky… Read more »
“I’m not sure how relevant the actions of a 16 year old boy are to the likely actions of the 64 year old man he became.”
The child is father to the man. It would one thing if his adult life made it clear that this incident didn’t reflect his basic character. But in fact his life’s work in business has been frankly predatory, a la Gordon Gecko.
Yeah, that’s sort of my point with this article. If he’d said something along the lines of – “I didn’t bully this kid, etc…but I also want to say that I recognize bullying is a serious problem; it shouldn’t be taken lightly…I can assure you my administration would take it seriously, etc.” Then I’d actually be on his side in this one issue. But that’s not what he said…he laughed it off as if, even if the incident had happened, it wasn’t a big deal. Which indicates a lack of empathy for vulnerable groups of people.
Empathy. It’s needed. Many people grow up without it at all, it may actually be a brain disorder of sorts. This haunting NYT article gives a great overview of how these types of people may be born not made. Which is why I always come back to the validity of something like Schrodinger’s Rapist, though I’d call it “Schrodinger’s Monster” and degender it. Anyone can look fully human. Some people aren’t though. Some people are capable of great evil (as we think of it) and can fool nearly anyone. Many of the run our corporations. “The societal costs of nonviolent… Read more »
It’s hard to believe this story is still making news. Something from 40+ years ago that the victim’s own sister doesn’t recall is being put out there at a suggestive piece that Mitt Romney is a bully. It’s a tired political trick that the liberal elites are making hay from. Where was the deep digging into Obama’s record? Just treat both sides equally. If you want to have a bias, that’s great, but let it be know that you favor a side.
The deep digging into Obama’s record presumably occurred when he went up against the Clinton Political Machine, and if there was anything to be found they would have found it. Not everybody has tons of skeletons in their closet. And it’s not like Obama obfuscated things like his past drug use. When asked about it, the response was “When I was a kid, I inhaled. That was the point.” Boom, think what you think of the answer, but it’s a straight answer. If the conservative media outlets can’t dig anything of substance up, then maybe there’s just nothing of substance… Read more »
Trey,
Its pretty pathetic BS to try and invalidate a story like this by calling it a Liberal political trick. It isn’t. This story is making news because bullying has finally been made a national priority. And as president, Romney would need to give a damn about the issue. Its his response now, not his actions 40 years ago that is the story, In a country where kids are bullied to the point of suicide, or murdered because they’re gay, his response is just another good old boy fail. And so is yours.
Hear hear. Not only does this reflect on his ability or his willingness to look out for specific groups of vulnerable people, as you point out, but on his general ability to give a shit for anyone who isn’t as privileged as he is, which means almost the whole nation. So this is not some minor point. “This story is making news because bullying has finally been made a national priority.” I would hope that concern about bullying is not the preserve of liberals. I would hope that you don’t have to be a liberal to have some shred of… Read more »