Romney issued a perfunctory, half-assed apology for severely bullying a kid perceived to be gay in high school. Mere hours after the story ran in the Washington Post, he scheduled a quickie interview with FOX’s Steve Brian Kilmeade.
Just to underscore his sincerity and seriousness, Romney even included a hearty chuckle in the middle of his apology, saying:
“Back in high school, I did some dumb things, and if anybody was hurt by that or offended, obviously I apologize for that. I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school, and some might have gone too far, and for that I apologize… I don’t remember that incident. [laughs] I certainly don’t believe that I thought the fellow was homosexual. That was the furthest thing from our minds back in the 1960s, so that was not the case… As this person indicated, he was closeted,” Romney said. “I had no idea that he was gay and can’t speak to that even today. But as to the teasing or the taunts that go on in high school, that’s a long time ago. For me, that’s about 48 years ago. Again, if there’s anything I said that is offensive to someone, I certainly am sorry for that, very deeply sorry for that.”
So, so sorry. Let’s all move on! Nothing to see here.
There’s nothing like an apology without any redemptive action. It’s like people think their wrongs can be cleared up with words. They can’t. You need to do something about it, too, which GLSEN duly called out.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Said GLSEN Executive Director Dr. Eliza Byard:
“This is deeply troubling behavior on the part of an individual in Governor Mitt Romney’s position. Romney’s so-called apology for his past actions sheds new light on his disturbing track record on bullying and suicide prevention while Governor of Massachusetts. Far from being ‘hijinks’ or a ‘prank,’ Romney’s behavior toward his high school classmate amounted to harassment and assault. And GLSEN remembers all too well Romney’s troubling record while he was Governor of Massachusetts on programs designed to protect LGBT youth and prevent youth suicide. Nearly one in five lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students will be assaulted at school this year. What would Mr. Romney propose to do as President to address this horrifying reality?”
Well, he could go march in a Pride Parade, for starters.
Cam
I don’t remember an incident, but I was a prankster, if anybody was hurt or offended I’m sorry.
The typical politicians B.S. apology.
The thing about this situation is, the witnesses, both Democrats and Republicans, were so upset and guilty about it, that it was still upsetting to them 50 years later and yet Romney claims he couldn’t remember it.
1. He is either a liar
or
2. He did so many similar things that they all run together in his mind.
Combine this with his treatment of his dog, his firing people and saying he likes to fire people and you have a fairly sociopathic guy with ZERO empathy for his fellow man.
Meowzer
Student: You bullied me and tormented me in high school, you owe me an apology.
Romney: I’m sorry you feel that way.
tjr101
I’m sure the Log Cabiners and GOPricks will blame Obama for this.
Marie Cohn
A tsunami of professional literature would concur that Teen Mitt was bashing the Fag out of himself in 1965.
Marie Cohn
Kilmeade is the brunette, Doocy the blonde. (Both are total wankers). Ya gotta geddit.
Johnny
I think this situation is being blown way out of proportion.
Do I believe Romney was an obnoxious high school bully? Probably.
Is it also possible that he doesn’t even remember some kid he messed with? Probably.
We’ve all done things as kids we aren’t proud of.
I’m certainly not a Romney supporter but I don’t think this incident has any place in a political discussion. He’s right, it was 50 years ago.
Bad Dog
@Cam: I may not agree with you, but I find your less-than-sane rhetoric amusing to no end. Political desperation has never sounded so pathetic as when Cam begins spouting the crazy. Good times, indeed.
Cam
I LOVE the Romney defenders trying to deflect.
We have one (#4) who spent an entire post attacking Queerty because they got the name of the reporter wrong and claiming that ROMNEY is being “Bullied” with non-issues.
This is the problem with the GOP tactics of coming on to these blogs to defend their candidates. They don’t even understand that calling questions asked about Romney’s past “Bullying” when the past they are asking about is him committing assault and battery on a student is delusionally idiotic.
But they will keep trying. The LDS Wards, AND the Romney campaign has instructed supporters to try to distract from any issue unflattering to him.
Bad Dog
@Cam: Thanks for confirming my opinion.
jademist
I am a 62 year old gay man. I have been “out” almost my entire life, so I know a little something about which I speak – unlike some asinine Republican candidates for President.
I was IN high school in the 60’s (I graduated in ’69). Trust me, you lyin’ sack of sh*t: being gay, or even being “perceived” to be gay, as a teen-aged young man, was certainly a BIG thing…at least, to those of us who were bullied and beaten-up!
I can imagine at your private, high-tone Philips-Exeter or whatever private academy you attended, the stigma would have been even more acute and severe.
Just because you, in your self-righteous delusion, think we of the LGBTQ community are not fully human does not mean that your opinion of us is true! Nor can it excuse your behavior.
If there is a god, I’ll be waitin’ for you to die…
I have never considered voting for some ideologue-Republican, but your cavalier attitude towards men and women like me simply cements that you are not worthy of the Oval Office. In business, you have proven that you are a thief; in politics, you have proven yourself to be a liar; and now, we discover, you have proven yourself to be a bigot…gee, what else will you turn out to be? Like an onion, you keep shedding new layers.
And YOU think you have the chops to REPRESENT ME?…you don’t know what life is all about, you Mittiot. It is to laugh!
Danny
Romney should give the victim of his assault $200 million in restitution, or Romney should do jail time for the criminal assault.
Danny
@johnny The passage of time does not lessen responsibility for crimes, just ask the survivors of the Holocaust, any rape survivor, any assault survivor, any attempted-genocide survivor, or any other crime target.
RomanHans
@Johnny: “We’ve all done things as kids we aren’t proud of.” Uh, attacked somebody and held them down while cutting their hair off? Uh, no.
jason
Romney was actually one of the most gay-friendly Governors in America. He was way ahead of his contemporaries, including Democrats.
J Stratford
Well… we should all go to Romney for a haircut!!!
Cam
@Bad Dog:
The typical attempt to take attention away from their candidate.
Either they try to bring up Obama or some other topic. If that doesn’t work, merely make a few broad insults without specifics aimed at the people commenting.
Thank you for confirming that you have no defense for Romney’s behavior and have to resort to these sad tactics.
Cam
@jason:
Jason, while he was governor he went before Congress and asked them to amend the U.S. Constitution to outlaw gay marriage. He wanted to alter the highest governing document in the nation to enshrine his bigotry.
I know you know this because we have had this same discussion on 3 other posts. If you want to vote for Romney for some reason fine, but please stop trying to lie about his politics.
Clockwork
I was bullied by a kid in school. He would shove things in my face and tell me to kiss it.
We would be in line and he squeeze my butt, which is rather frightening when the kid is much larger than you. The kid also made fun of my name and encouraged other kids to chant it as a modified obscenity.
Turned out the bully was gay. I hold no grudge.
Good grief
@jason, You are lying bald-faced. Romney did all he could as governor to delay and impede gay marriage in Massachusetts, including endorsing a ban on gay marriage constitutional amendment and dredging up an old miscegenation law to prevent out of staters to marry in Massachusetts. He also donated $10,000 to a 2006 campaign to outlaw same-sex marriage in South Carolina, and $10,000 to the Massachusetts Family Institute, an anti-gay organization.
Chad
@Johnny: This is what is sad. Bullies often don’t remember or realise the harm they do, but to the bullied kid the memory will never go away.
B
Important information is being ignored – how old was Romney when these incidents occurred? The Washington Post article puts the haircutting incident in the spring of 1965. Romney was born in March 1947, which means he just turned 18 when the incident occurred. At the age of 18, some people are just entering college. He was old enough to know better: it is not like this occurred when he was 14 and maybe a bit immature for that age.
I don’t think we should berate presidential candidates by saying that, at the age of 9, the candidate had pulled Mary Jane’s pigtails and that the candidate needed to find Mary Jane and offer an apology. But Romney’s incident occurred at a much later age – when he was about to graduate from high school. He was old enough to be expected to act much more like an adult.
UsualPlayers
(a) I remember Romney fighting gay marriage in MA. I also remember him fighting on other fronts against equality. He donates to NOM. There’s no way to spin that as pro-gay rights.
(b) The fact is, if you are going to be a gay Republican, and support this guy, you do yourself no favors by defending his gay rights record. The better approach (even if I would question it) is to say you are somehow going to change things from the inside. As it is, you are left defending a guy who bullied gay people. Who has a record of harming gay people. to defend that makes you Kapos rather than people trying to change things from the inside.
UsualPlayers
@B: Well, since he recently donated to NOM, I don’t think you really want to get into playing “he’s a changed man now” since the facts don’t add up that.
I get it. Republican gays are desperate to justify voting their pocketbooks, but honeslty you come across as liars and pathetic.
kevininbuffalo
@Danny: Sadly, the victim John Lauber died of cancer in 2004.
B
No. 24 · UsualPlayers (who can’t read) wrote, “@B: Well, since he recently donated to NOM, I don’t think you really want to get into playing “he’s a changed man now” since the facts don’t add up that. I get it. Republican gays are desperate to justify voting their pocketbooks, but honeslty you come across as liars and pathetic.”
Read No 22 ten times until it sinks in – I was clearly indicating that what might be excusable at an age of 14 is not at the age of 18, Romney’s age when the incident occurred. It should have been clear to you – just look at my last sentence, “[Romney] was old enough to be expected to act much more like an adult.” And the comment was only a few sentences long, so it is not like you missed something on page 10 because you gave up on page 9.
Steve
The important question in this is: Are there any victims of hazing or bullying comitted _after_ Romney was 21 years of age? And, were any of those victims under-age? A criminal charge of child-abuse or sexual-assault, not covered by a statute-of-limitations, would throw a major wrench in Romney’s plans.
It would be most entertaining if a few young men were to show up just after the Republican convention, claiming that they were sexually assaulted by Mitt Romney within just the last few years, while they were still under-age.
Hyhybt
I could see, if you really believe Romney would be better for the economy/foreign relations/whatever, deciding that is more important than gay rights and voting accordingly. (And I’m glad not to have to make that decision.) But to pretend he’s got a good record on gay issues is nuts. I’m sure you could find worse, but that doesn’t mean much.
UsualPlayers
My point is that age is not a factor here at all, and its strange to even bring it up so I really don’t care how you qualify it.
B
Re No 27: “And, were any of those victims under-age?” At the time, Romney was 18 or close (depending on when spring break was), but the person whose hair he cut was a junior, not a senior, making him more like 16 years old (maybe just turned 17).
Romney and crew were picking on a kid one year behind him, and you’d expect a priori very little direct interaction between kids in different age groups.
Draw your own conclusions about what that indicates about Romney.
Hyhybt
@B: That depends. I had lots of high school classes with people a year ahead or behind me, and some with people from all four years. But the two adjacent years, especially, were pretty well intermixed.
UsualPlayers
For the really stupid, who don’t seem to get it: Age only matters if you can show a change of heart. Donating to NOM indicates there has been no change of heart so age does not matter.
Mk_Ultra_Again
Romney is sooo creepy he could practically be a robot.
Mormon hijinks.
“If we can’t find a Mormon fit for the job, send a robot!”
B
No. 30 · Hyhybt wrote, “@B: That depends. I had lots of high school classes with people a year ahead or behind me, and some with people from all four years.”
My experience was that the people you tended to interact with where in the same grade as you.
B
No. 31 · UsualPlayers said, “For the really stupid, who don’t seem to get it: Age only matters if you can show a change of heart.” The “really stupid” seems to be “UsualPlayers”, who doesn’t understand that a particular instance of misbehavior is far more excusable at an age of 14 than at an age of 18.
The point was that, for his hair-cutting incident, Romney was old enough to know better.
Mike
Is the guy he supposedly pulled a prank on actually gay? Or did people just think he was gay?
Either way it happened decades ago and it’s pointless now since the guy has been dead for awhile.
Also keep in mind that 99% of people have been bullied and 99% of people have been bullies, or just played pranks on people while students.
Then again as a gay male friend of mine says, “Bullying has become the new AIDS!”
Hyhybt
@B: Somewhat, but not all that much. But then, it was a small school; I don’t know how big my class started out, but there were only about sixty of us at graduation.
B
No. 36 · Hyhybt wrote, “@B: Somewhat, but not all that much. But then, it was a small school; I don’t know how big my class started out, but there were only about sixty of us at graduation.: That is probably atypical – a very small school.
samwise
I wouldn’t worry about Romney, boys. On election day, Obama will give Romney a wedgie.
Belize
@Bad Dog:
You know what the difference is between people like you and Cam.
Cam: “You are wrong because (gives tirade mixed with a few facts here and there.)”
You: “You are wrong because it inconveniently goes against my fragile beliefs.”
Try to act sly won’t change that fact. Sorry. Try again. 🙂
Belize
@UsualPlayers: Can you honestly tell me that you’re willing to entrust nuclear codes to a man who, at least once, believed that he had the right to conquer another human being? No need to answer that.
Belize
@Mk_Ultra_Again: “If we can’t find a Mormon fit for the job, send a robot!”
What’s the difference?
Oh… right. Robots sans the possibility of malfunctioning has a higher success rate. Got it.
jeff4justice
To the gays who will complain about not giving Obama credit, let’s flip the table on you: since the alternative party candidates in the Green Party, Libertarian Party, Peace & Freedom Party, & Justice Party are 100% pro-equality will you give them your support?
Matt
Belize-You can claim that about ALL Presidents and all politicians. They are all bullies and what do you think the game of politics is about? It’s certainly not about voting that’s for sure.
Barefoot Accountant
For a more complete list, see Hugh’s list at http://obamascandalslist.blogspot.com/2009/10/table-of-contents.html:
1. Reneged on pledge to filibuster FISA Amendments Act (July 2008)
2. Lobbied for $700 billion Paulson TARP bank bailout
3. Pushed for no sanctions against Lieberman despite his support for John McCain
4. Nominated healthcare company lobbyist Tom Daschle as Secretary of HHS
5. Had neoliberal Robert Rubin as his chief economics adviser
6. Then had the equally neoliberal Larry Summers assume this role
7. Chose the failing upwards Timothy Geithner to head Treasury
8. AIG bonuses and money to Goldman under Obama
9. Doubling down in Afghanistan
10. Delay and reduction of withdrawal from Iraq
11. Moving Guantanamo activities to Bagram
12. Military commissions for some detainees
13. Support for indefinite detention
14. Refusal to release torture photos under FOIA
15. Refusal to investigate and prosecute Bush era criminality
16. Geithner’s DOA economic rescue programs: the PPIP and TALF
17. Minimal help for homeowners and no cramdowns
18. Treatment of Chrysler and GM with bankrupcy compared to bank no fail “stress tests”
19. Kabuki of TARP repayment by banks while still dependent on government credit lines
20. Extra-Constitutional use of the Fed by the Executive for fiscal policy
21. Credit Card bill without usury caps and with 9 month delay for other reforms
22. Business friendly Mary Schapiro named to head SEC
23. Gary Gensler who helped deregulate derivatives named to head CFTC
24. $787 billion stimulus: too little, too late, poorly structured
25. Use of financial crisis to attack Social Security and Medicare
26. The great healthcare non-debate
27. Continued use of state secrets argument in ongoing Bush era cases
28. Use of signing statements, including one to punish whistleblowers
29. Vetting process problems, especially tax related ones
30. Leaving Dawn Johnsen’s nomination to head OLC twisting in the wind
31. Eric Holder, failure to reform DOJ, not removing worst of Bush USAs
32. Failure to move against new oil bubble
33. Retention of Bush Defense team: Gates, Patraeus, and Odierno
34. Continued missile strikes inside Pakistan
35. Keeping Bush’s domestic spying programs and adding a new one, cybersecurity
36. Choice of Elena Kagan who favors expansive Presidential powers as Sollicitor General, her subsequent nomination to the Supreme Court
37. Leaving EFCA (to help counter anti-union companies) to wither in Congress
38. Welcoming Arlen Specter who brings nothing to the Democrats into the party
39. Weak ineffective proposals for financial reform
40. Obama wanted John Brennan at CIA but settled for making him his counter- terrorism adviser
41. Chas Freeman with broader Mideast perspective done in by AIPAC
42. Dennis Blair made DNI; failed to act to stop atrocities in East Timor
43. Choice of McChrystal involved in torture in Iraq to head Afghanistan command
44. Obama threat to suspend intelligence cooperation with UK over Binyam Mohamed case
45. Efforts to keep Bush and Obama White House logs secret
46. Playing games with “Don’t ask, don’t tell”
47. Filing a brief to overturn Jackson (access to lawyer) in the Montejo case
48. Not withdrawing Bush brief in Osborne DNA case
49. Egregious brief in challenge to Defense of Marriage Act
50. The Supplemental which made Iraq and Afghanistan Democratic wars
51. Choice of Rahm Emanuel as the President’s Chief of Staff
52. Choice of Dennis Ross as Iran envoy and then his move to the White House
53. Politically embarrassing processes to fill Obama and Clinton’s Senate seats
54. Choice of Bill Richardson, then Judd Gregg to head Commerce Department
55. Reneging on pledge to re-negotiate NAFTA
56. Obama’s throwing his pastor Jeremiah Wright to the curb, then reaching out to religious conservative Rick Warren
57. Continued challenges to habeas corpus petitions over indefinite detention, the Janko case
58. The Obama White House website
59. Continuing an ineffective program that Iran can exploit politically
60. Going slow on climate change when there is no time to
61. Not withdrawing a Bush-era amicus brief in the Ricci v. DeStefano reverse discrimination case and supporting a rollback of Title VII
62. Appointment of a CIA General Counsel who doesn’t know if waterboarding is torture
63. Appointment of a DNI General Counsel who doesn’t know if waterboarding is torture
64. CIA delay in a FOIA request concerning torture
65. The influence of Goldman Sachs in the Obama Administration
66. Attempt to keep secret the Cheney interview on the Plame affair
67. Mountaintop removal under Obama
68. Attempt to restrict Congressional notification on intelligence matters
69. Opposition to a second stimulus
70. Another egregious attempt to fight a habeas corpus petition in the Jawad case
71. Continuing charter schools and standardized tests
72. Holder’s decision to support a weak, narrow review of torture
73. Re-appointment of Ben Bernanke as Fed Chairman
74. Continuing renditions
75. Politically dubious company was used to vet reporters in Afghanistan
76. Judge vetoes a too weak SEC plea bargain with Bank of America
77. Justice’s argument for making Bagram a new Guantanamo, the al Maqaleh case
78. Defense to turn over databases to poorly controlled fusion centers
79. Obama changes but keeps Bush’s Star Wars program
80. Failure to win an Israeli freeze on settlements
81. White House refuses to back its own staffer environmentalist Van Jones
82. Politicized US Attorney in the Siegelman case cleared by Office of Special Counsel
83. Criticism of Iranian nuclear program; support of Israeli nuclear weapons
84. Support for a weakened reporter’s shield law
85. Use of the Zazi case to retain broad Patriot Act surveillance provisions
86. Wilner v. NSA, continuing the coverup of warrantless surveillance of communications between attorneys and detainees
87. Attempt to spike the Goldstone report on Israeli-Hamas war crimes in Gaza
88. Slowness in filling federal judgeships
89. Inadequate aid to overwhelmed state budgets
90. Attempting to dodge the Supreme Court deciding whether innocent Guantanamo detainees can be resettled in the US
91. Allowing drilling in the waters off the north coast of Alaska
92. Keeping detainee accounts of CIA torture secret
93. Current FBI manual allows for widespread domestic spying
94. Securitization invalidates most foreclosures
95. Geithner wanting unlimited powers to save large banks
96. Another state secrets defense to conceal domestic spying
97. Circuit Court dismissal of Maher Arar suit
98. Weakening Sarbanes-Oxley and calling it financial reform
99. Unemployment
100. Inspector General for Fannie and Freddie ousted for investigating fraud
101. Gaming courts to convict Guantanamo detainees
102. White House counsel removed for his principled stands on torture and Guantanamo
103. US seizes mosques claiming Iranian connection
104. Howard Dean removed as head of the DNC
105. Scientist with close ties to Monsanto put in charge of all governmental agricultural research
106. Pesticide lobbyist nominated as Chief Agricultural Negotiator for trade
107. Effort to let some government contractors avoid paying taxes
108. A bad US Attorney nomination for Northern Iowa
109. Hunger in America
110. The breast cancer recommendations fiasco
111. Ongoing confusion and disorganization in the military commissions process
112. Phillip Carter another official in closing Guantanamo resigns
113. Refusal to sign anti-land mine treaty
114. The Ghizzawi case and the legal limbo of “cleared for release”
115. Black prisons at Balad and Bagram
116. Delay in declassifying historic documents
117. Max Baucus’ conflicts of interest in healthcare and with his girlfriend
118. Major security breach at a White House party and a ridiculous assertion of “executive privilege”
119. Dana “Pig Missile” Perino nominated to the Broadcasting Board of Governors
120. Cass Sunstein, an anti-regulator in a regulatory position
121. Warrantless for profit electronic surveillance by telecoms and search engines
122. The government sides with torture lawyer John Yoo and attacks Bevins actions again
123. The TSA publishes its security manual online
124. Toxic legal arguments in al Zahrani v. Rumsfeld, yet another Bevins action
125. The Nobel Peace Prize and a neocon acceptance speech
126. Blackwater’s involvement in military and CIA assassination and drone programs
127. Congressional Research Service censorship in the firing of Morris Davis
128. AIG writes off $25 billion in debt and sticks taxpayers with the bill
129. The Administration plays hardball to kill an amendment that would lower drug costs
130. A poorly considered blank check to Fannie and Freddie
131. Continuing a Bush botch in the Nisoor Square massacre case
132. Jonathan Gruber, a major defender of Obamacare was also a paid consultant for it
133. A Geithner related cover up of the AIG at par payments on swaps
134. Adoption of stealth signing statements
135. al Bihani, more bad legal reasoning in another Guantanamo habeas case
136. Cutting Medicare and Social Security by deficit commission proposed
137. A 3 year non-freeze budget freeze proposed
138. NASA flights privatized
139. OPR report on Yoo and Bybee watered down and its relation to the Padilla case
140. Government targeting of US citizens for assassination
141. Abuse of informants by ICE agents
142. Obama leaves Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board empty
143. Obama backs firing of teachers in Rhode Island
144. Irish human rights advocate Edward Horgan has US visa pulled
145. Threatened veto of 2010 Intelligence Authorization Act over Congressional notifications
146. Obama Administration intimidation of whistleblowing site: wikileaks
147. Fish and Wildlife Service continues to ignore science on endangered species
148. Senate vacation more important than jobless benefits
149. Government seeks to compel turnover of emails without a warrant
150. Obama goes after an NSA whistleblower: the Thomas Drake case
151. Obama goes after a CIA whistleblower: the James Risen case
152. Weakening Miranda rights in national security cases
153. Advocating the privatizing of public housing
154. Another step in making Bagram the new Guantanamo, the al Maqaleh case, the appeals court edition
155. Massey mining disaster, 29 die because of corporate greed and poor regulation
156. Obama proposal for a line item veto
157. A military commander allowed to use military forces for intelligence operations without Presidential approval
158. Political pandering in sending 1200 National Guardsmen to the Southwest border
159. A sad record on resisting Guantanamo habeas petitions
160. Israel attacks an aid convoy for Gaza; Obama punts
161. A further erosion of Miranda: Berghius v. Thompkins
162. Naming James Clapper, a Bush appointee, to be the next DNI
163. DOJ seeks to protect Vatican in sex abuse scandal
164. Yahya Wehelie, an American exiled without charge
165. Failure to replace National Labor Relations Board members means hundreds of decisions must be reviewed
166. SCOTUS opts for overly broad definition of material support to terrorist groups
167. Speaker Pelosi backstabs Social Security
168. Complaints by government scientists of political interference at Bush era levels
169. Flip flop on free trade agreement with Colombia
170. SEC declares major victory but lets Goldman off easy
171. Private contracting of intelligence continues under Obama
172. Two Guantanamo prisoners to be deported back to Algeria against their will
173. The Shirley Sherrod affair: trumped up charges of racism and a bungled response 174. Whitewash report on Bush era US Attorney firings
175. Despite its record, Blackwater still gets big US government contracts
176. Wikileaks releases government files showing Pakistan involvement with Taliban and admission that things are going poorly in Afghanistan
177. Obama seeks to get access to everyone’s web histories without a court order
178. Teacher funding sacrificed to keep Education Secretary Arne Duncan happy
179. State’s top Iran hand resigns over Obama’s Iran policy
180. Citizens United: validation of unlimited corporate political funding
181. Push to expand US arms sales around the world
182. Project Vigilant, Infragard and “volunteer” corporate spying for the government
183. Obama’s approval hits Bush levels in Arab world
184. Effort to pre-empt state environmental lawsuits involving green house gases
185. Justice’s Anti-trust division asleep at the wheel
186. Kagan’s recusals render her even more ineffective on the Supreme Court
187. Poverty level highest since 1994
188. Courts run interference for corporate violators of international law
189. Warren named to set up but not to run Consumer Financial Protection Board
190. Chief economic adviser Larry Summers leaves; Obama looks for someone even more pro-business to replace him
191. DOJ IG report goes soft on Bush era surveillance against peace groups and other activists; meanwhile the Obama Administration conducts raids against similar groups
192. Move to put backdoors in the internet to facilitate spying and more requirements on banks on international money transfers of any size
193. HHS Secretary Sebelius delays for at least two years required insurance coverage for contraception
194. Americans on Medicaid increased to 48.5 million in 2009
195. Big home lenders suspend foreclosures as their documentation gets challenged in court
196. HR 3808, a bill passed by Congress, to facilitate the acceptance of false documentation by banks in foreclosure proceedings
197. ICE raids and deportations increase under Obama
198. Social Security COLA frozen for second straight year; no action taken
199. Waivers for military aid to countries with child soldiers
200. Big and deserved losses in the 2010 elections
201. 42 million Americans on food stamps at the end of FY 2010
202. No indictments for those involved in the CIA destruction of the torture tapes
203. The Bowles-Simpson Cat Food Commission proposals
204. $3 billion in aid for Israel for a 90 day settlement freeze
205. No change in Democratic Congressional leadership after 2010 election disaster
206. Forced proselytizing still prevalent at US Air Force Academy
207. TSA harassment and violation of the 4th Amendment
208. More TSA idiocy: full body scans and invasive pat downs
209. The response to the 2009 coup in Honduras
210. Use of diplomatic personnel to spy at the UN
211. Fed proposes rule change to Truth in Lending Act to protect bank fraud
212. FCC head Genachowski takes an axe to net neutrality
213. Lieberman and Amazon.com seek to censor wikileaks
214. Pressuring the Spanish government into dropping torture prosecutions against 6 high level Bush officials
215. Neoliberal free trade deal with South Korea at a time of high unemployment
216. Hamfisted banning access to wikileaks by government departments
217. Massive screwup in printing $100 bills
218. Extending tax cuts for the rich in a poor compromise on jobless benefits
219. Dancing boys of Afghanistan paid for by US contractor Dyncorp
220. EPA backtracks on smog standards
221. Former OMB director Peter Orszag goes to Citigroup
222. Obama breaks the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to supply Israel with nuclear fuel
223. DREAM Act for children of illegal immigrants done in by Senate Democrats
224. DOJ drops investigations of corrupt members of Congress
225. The FBI’s Guardian database, another useless, intrusive surveillance program
226. Pentagon weakens rules on contractor conflicts of interest
227. Investigation by state Attorney Generals into foreclosuregate: no criminal charges
228. Obama names Mr. NAFTA Bill Daley as his new Chief of Staff
229. Obama names neoliberal free trader Gene Sperling to replace Larry Summers
230. Executive Order to make regulations more business-friendly
231. Gulet Mohamed: Detention and torture of US citizens by proxy
232. Nelson v. NASA: government can demand intrusive, unnecessary information about its employees
233. Choice of GE’s outsourcing CEO Jeffrey Immelt as Obama’s Jobs Czar
234. Failure to weaken or eliminate the filibuster
235. Corporate targeting of Wikileaks and liberal organizations
236. Reaction to the popular revolution in Egypt
237. HHS Secretary Sebelius helps states cut Medicaid rolls and funding
238. Petraeus accuses parents not US attacks for burns to children in Afghanistan
239. US general in Afghanistan sets up illegal propaganda program targeting Americans
240. Obama plans to devastate small block grants program for the poor
241. Silence on the Wisconsin labor protests
242. Former Senator Christopher Dodd quickly becomes lobbyist after promising not to
243. Obama reinstitutes sham review tribunals at Guantanamo
244. DOJ colludes with Bush era official Scott Bloch to keep him out of jail
245. The treatment of Bradley Manning
246. State Department spokesman PJ Crowley forced to resign over Manning comments
247. Massive conflicts of interest in David Stevens at HUD and soon to be head of main lobbying group for the mortgage industry
248. Mild reaction to bloody anti-democratic repression in Bahrain and Yemen
249. Torture psychologist appointed to White House task force
250. FBI program which allows them to investigate anyone doesn’t work (surprise)
251. In his Libya war, Obama has completed the unconstitutional process of Presidents’ usurpation of Congress’ power to make war
252. Obama accepts award for transparency in secret
253. Democrats create PACs to receive unlimited contributions from anonymous donors 254. 2011 government shutdown threat as Shock Doctrine
254. The 2011 “great” biprtisan budget deal
255. The OCC deal to cover for banks in foreclosuregate
256. Reshuffling neocons at DOD and the CIA
257. Leak of Detainee Assessments shines light on the weakness of cases against many Guantanamo inmates
258. Geithner shields foreign exchange derivatives from Dodd-Frank regulation
259. Crazy new application for some US passports
260. DOJ wants SCOTUS to allow for GPS tracking without a warrant
261. An industry stacked panel to study fracking
262. SCOTUS attacks small claim class actions
263. SCOTUS okays fraud in financial presentations
264. SCOTUS attacks large class actions and Title VII
265. DOJ’s non-investigation of torture produces few results
266. Department of State threatens participants of Gaza flotilla with terrorism charges
267. Detainees now held on ships to avoid judicial scrutiny
268. CIA operating a black site prison in Somalia
269. SCOTUS and DC Appeals Court torpedoing detainee habeas petitions
270. SCOTUS greatly expands warrantless searches; Obama DOJ approves
271. Tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve after the 2011 spike in gasoline prices
272. Christine Varney, head of DOJ Anti-Trust Division, goes to law firm that had case before her
273. Senseless 2011 debt ceiling crisis, budget cutting, and attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid
274. TSA closes US airspace to Mexican human rights activist
275. DHS guts its unit monitoring right wing terrorism in US
276. “Recovery” benefited corporations, not workers
277. Harassment of a government scientist Charles Monett because his work clashes with drilling in the Arctic
278. African Americans and Hispanic wealth took hardest hit from financial crises
279. Cass Sunstein sitting on labor rules to protect child workers
280. Oil leasing in Gulf resumes
281. Administration pressures NY AG Schneiderman to go along with bogus mortgage settlement
282. DOJ dumps responsibility for its bungled gun running sting on handy US Attorney
283. US ranks 41st in the world in infant mortality
284. White House engages in selective prosecution of Dan Choi over DADT protest
285. COBRA extension ditched
286. Obama spikes EPA ozone limits
287. 2011 Obama fictional jobs plan
288. Contractors cost twice as much as unionized federal workers doing the same work
289. New EPA greenhouse gas limits also being drawn out
290. CFTC proposes ineffectual limits on commodity speculation
291. State Department targets career officer Peter Van Buren for writing critical book
292. Secret Law and the OLC legal justification for killing a US citizen abroad
293. US incomes fall more after recession than during it
294. Another Afghanistan fail: torture rampant in Afghan prisons
295. Bank of America dumps derivative exposure on to the FDIC with Fed approval
296. New rule to legitimize government lying in response to FOIA requests
297. Cronyism and the Keystone XL pipeline
298. Despite pledge, Obama still taking money from lobbyists
299. Secure Communities and deportation as a business
300. The Occupy movement and the attacks upon it
301. DOJ prosecuting financial fraud at the lowest rate in 20 years
302. US stops funding of UNESCO
303. 42% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck
304. The Post Office facing cuts because of unnecessary prefunding mandates
Barefoot Accountant
have become very disenchanted with President Barack Obama even though I voted for him in 2008.
1. He did not even propose the public option healthcare system: he had campaigned on that system, promising to propose it. (Wikipedia: ”President Barack Obama promoted the idea of the public option while running for election.[3] After becoming President, Obama downplayed the need for a public health insurance option including calling it a “sliver” of health care reform,[4] but had not given up pursuing the idea before the health care reform was passed.[5] The preceding statement is disputed by evidence that the Obama administration had agreed to drop the public option from the final plan in the summer of 2009[6] in a back room deal with representatives of the for-profit hospital lobby[7]“)
2. He has appointed countless Wall Streeters to his top economic team, failing to appoint labor voices like Robert Reich.
3. He has bailed out Wall Street instead of Main Street: remember TARP? And then the banks dispensed $6 billion in bonuses in that year to its executives.
4. He failed to attack the mortgage crisis, leaving an elephant still in our “room”, with one-third of home mortgages now underwater.
5. He failed to veto the National Defense Authorization Act, doing away with habeous corpus, allowing the government to arrest and detain indefinitely without a trial or hearing.
6. He agreed to an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the rich, and on top of that, he agreed to an egregious reduction of the estate taxes on the rich, exempting as much as $10 million from any estate taxes and lowering the estate tax rate down to a ridiculous rate of 35%, when our country has a $15 trillion debt. That alone saved the Walton heirs $17 billion in taxes.
7. He has failed to indict and imprison any of those banksters involved in all of that fraud on Wall Street from the subprime mortgage, including robo-signing, and selling shit-backed mortgage securities known to be worthless.
8. He appointed Jeffrey Immelt to head his Jobs Council when GE has been saying “China, China, China,” and shipping all jobs overseas while closing plants here in the US.
9. President Obama is now considering and proposing to lower the corporate tax rate to 26%, when corporations are not only at a low-time rate of paying taxes but getting billions in tax subsidies from our government and opening up offices on the 19th floor of one building on the Cayman Islands to avoid taxes altogether.
10. President Obama spoke in favor of PIPA and SOPA, when the internet is the last vestige of free speech and the availability of free information to the general public.
11. There were no indictments by President Obama of all the contractor fraud reported on by Bernie Sanders and Ron Paul in a Congressional Report released over a year ago. Whenever the rich and big corporations are caught in fraud, Eric Holder adopts a policy of “looking forward”, instead of holding them accountable.
12. President Obama agreed to the “grand bargain” (thank, God, Boehner did not accept it) to cut over $2 trillion in spending, including social security, medicare, medicaid, and other social safety-net programs merely in return for hypothetical “revenue increases” of $800 billion relying on “dynamic scoring”.
13. President Obama has done nothing to level the trade treaties, where corporations are shipping labor to Cambodia (22.5 cents per hour), China, Philippines, etc., where labor is paid 25 cents per hour. This is exporting slavery to other countries. Where is the level playing field for Americans?
14. President Obama in 2009 only proposed $140 billion in infrastructure spending when Paul Krugman and other economists predicted that $1.5 trillion was needed for our economy to recover. And last year only proposed a paltry $108 billion in infrastructure spending.
15. President Obama praised the recent JOBS Act, which allows corporations to go public and raise capital without audited financial information in their public presentations for the first five years, allowing them to present fictitious numbers and defraud investors?
16. President Obama has failed to propose the return of Glass-Steagall, separating commercial and investment banking, which will soon plunge us back into another mega-bailout of Wall Street.
17. President Obama has failed to propose the break up of the big banks and corporations. What ever happened to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act?
18. President Obama touted a $25 billion robo-signing settlement when a trillion dollars of our pension and retirement funds were stolen.
19. While campaigning, President Obama promised to put on his walking shoes for labor, but failed to even show up in Wisconsin and walk the picket line against Governor Walker.
20. President Obama has not declared war on the Supreme Court, as President Roosevelt did, to oppose the corporate/rich posture of Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Alito, and Roberts. Why not take them on?
21. President Obama has arrested and raided more marijuana users in less than four years than George Bush did in eight years. Why is President Obama proposing cuts to social security, medicare, and medicaid while spending more on marijuana arrests and raids, especially when a majority of Americans are for legalization of pot and for the open sale of marijuana for medical use?
Time and time again President Obama did not fight the good fight for working Americans, who are losing their jobs, health insurance, homes, dignity, etc.
I am tired of the lame excuse of how we must vote for Obama because of the Supreme Court. How can anyone believe that Obama would not disappoint progressives on that issue after he failed to undertake a recess appointment of Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a position to which she was more entitled to direct than any other American?
I am done with President Obama.
Belize
@Johnny: “We’ve all done things as kids we aren’t proud of.”
Yes. Mine was letting a kid get harassed the way Romney harassed John Laubner simply because the ones doing the bullying were my friends. Rest assured, I’ve had a change of heart. 😉
Belize
@Barefoot Accountant: I knew someone who tried to make a similar list on based on Romney. His hard drive crashed. 😉
Hyhybt
@B: I never claimed otherwise. I never HINTED otherwise. I said “it depends,” and gave an example where the assumption that high schoolers pretty much stuck with their own class was untrue.
Hyhybt
@jeff4justice: If and when they become large enough to take seriously.
But that has to happen first, because I’m not a *complete* idiot.
Martin
Wow so many “professional” commenters we never usually hear from…
I guess it means Queerty has been endorsed by the Romney campagn. Congratulations Queerty! Good job…
About doing things to people “when you’re just some kid in High School”. The same people who say he should not be reckoned accountable for this ASSAULT are quite happy to sentence other teenagers to long prison sentences or indefinite imprisonment or a death sentence.
Where is the plea for diminished responsibility on account of “tender age” in those cases??
Blatant hypocrisy from a sociopath…
Cam
Would the “Professional Commenters” please stop thinking that people on gay blogs are either idiots or have no memory?
The Mormons tried these tactics during Prop 8, even going so far as to claim that they were victims because we wouldn’t let them be bigoted against us.
The facts are these.
Obama, not as much of a fierce advocate as we hoped…BUT, signed the DADT repeal, told the DOJ to stop defending DOMA in court, extended benefits to gay govt. employees and partners, and announced his support for gay marriage.
Romney, stated he would NOT have signed the DADT repeal. As governor of MA. not only asked Congress to amend the U.S. Constitution to outlaw gay marriage, but found an antiquated law to prevent gays from out of state from being married in MA for a few years. Has stated that not only is he opposed to marriage, but he is also opposed to Civil Unions.
So coming on here and trying to just attack Obama won’t work in deflecting the subject. To gays, this is the difference between two different types of people.
1. A person (Obama) who isn’t really your best friend, but will hang with out and if you need him to help you out, will reluctantly help you in exchange for you paying him or buying him pizza and beer.
2. A person (Romney) who tries to steal your wallet or hit you with a rock every time you walk by.
Danny
I guess politicians in general love to believe that the people they have harmed somehow magically forget the human rights violations caused by those politicians. Does not happen. People never forget when politicians violate human rights. Ever.
hilltop
here is an excellent coverage by racheal maddow of wiilard romney.
he laughs at the gay guy being bullied, he laughs at the closing of factories, he laughs of his dog being on top of a car, he loves firing people, corporations are people. this guy is EVIL.
AND i am not gay and and i am a dude. we need everybody to defeat this ugly inside man. everybody in this country deserves the right to get married and repelling doma. this country is much better then this
ScaryRussianHeather
Wapo is going to be the one issuing the apology. The alleged victim’s family is denouncing the story, going to have the family’s lawyer issue a statement and says the entire family knew nothing about this and the victim would be furious if he were alive today.
Furthermore, Wapo has changed the story without issuing a correction.
The “victim” led a much more interesting and diverse life than say, oh…Barack Obama for one and nobody even bothered to check into anything PAST being 14 years old. Typical.
DEM Governor Andrew Cuomo Wiki:
“In early 2011, Cuomo first came under criticism for proposing cutting all funding for New York State programs that support homeless and runaway youth from 6.1 million to 2.3 million: a level not seen since the 1980s. The 70% cut from two years before would leave thousands of youth in New York City without shelter beds.”
40% of homeless youth are LGBT. Did GLSEN call him out?
ScaryRussianHeather
* typo = “interesting and diverse ADULT life than Obama”
Hyhybt
@Martin: The passage of time doesn’t excuse wrong done, but it can put it in context. I didn’t (and don’t) think it was right to use Bush’s drunk driving as a reason he shouldn’t be president not because that’s not serious, and not *simply* because it was long ago, but because he’d changed his ways in the meantime. (There were, of course, plenty of other reasons not to vote for him.)
Someone who has just committed an offense, while you might take into account whether it was consistent with their past behavior or not and whether they *seem* remorseful, you cannot really tell yet whether they’ve grown out of it. Bush gave up drinking, and from all evidence stuck to that. Romney, while he’s made some relatively friendly noise when running for office in a state that wouldn’t elect anyone who didn’t, and while he apparently quit reacting with physical violence as people often do once they’re past school age, still seems to have the underlying attitude that led to it: we’re worth less as people.
By the way: how do you tell professional commenters?
Joh
@Barefoot Accountant:
Some of that is wrong, some of that is opinion and none of it pertains to the subject of this post!
You can vote for Mittens.
Scribe37
@Johnny: It speaks of the man character. He was the leader of a gay bashing. He could not even bully the kid on his own, but jumped the kid with six other guys. Holding down a kid and cutting off his hair because you think his new color is gay is fucked up. Romney might not have remembered but I guarantee the kid remembered it til the day he died. If the kid had killed himself over the abuse what would you say then? There is no way this was the first thing that Romney did to the kid and most likely not the last.
Chris
Scribe, honestly who gives a fuck? It’s not gay bashing at all.
Martin
@Hyhybt: I never said anything about the passing of time and the way a person can change. Romney effectively said his actions should be thought as not so serious because they were just immature pranks of a naughty school boy.
There is however some intellectual inconsistency between this point of view and the FACT that crimes committed by teenagers may result in capital punishment (1). The latter view being held in many traditionally republican states such as Texas. Even where capital punishment of teenagers is not done they may still receive long prison sentences.
This would beg the question: Are teenagers accountable for their actions?
Romneys answer seems to be: “Yes and no. I wasnt, but they were”. That is not very logically consistent…
Personal or political threads seem to attract some funny commenters oddly absent on other threads, having opinions at odds with the one expressed in the article or deflecting attention away from the issue. Inferring a specific agenda is perhaps not that far fetched…
1. Says wikipedia…
Since 1642 (in the 13 colonies, the United States under the Articles of Confederation, and the current United States) an estimated 364 juvenile offenders have been put to death by states and the federal government. The earliest known execution of a prisoner for crimes committed as a juvenile was Thomas Graunger in 1642. Twenty-two of the executions occurred after 1976, in seven states. Due to the slow process of appeals, it was highly unusual for a condemned person to be under 18 at the time of execution. The youngest person to be executed in the 20th century was George Stinney, electrocuted in South Carolina at the age of 14, June 16, 1944. The last execution of a juvenile may have been Leonard Shockley, who died in the Maryland gas chamber April 10, 1959, at the age of 17. No one has been under age 19 at time of execution since at least 1964.[101] Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, 22 people have been executed for crimes committed under the age of 18. 21 were 17 at the time of the crime. The last person to be executed for a crime committed as a juvenile was Scott Hain April 3, 2003 in Oklahoma.[102]
Before 2005, of the 38 U.S. states that allow capital punishment:
19 states and the federal government had set a minimum age of 18,
5 states had set a minimum age of 17, and
14 states had explicitly set a minimum age of 16, or were subject to the Supreme Court’s imposition of that minimum.
Hyhybt
@Martin: But the passage of time *is* relevant. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have statutes of limitations.
Romney (and countless others) ought to have been punished for doing such things at the time. But the incident, by itself, says very little about what sort of person he is *now,* which is far more important.
The trouble, so far as considering him for office in 2012, isn’t so much what he did in 1965 (if the account is true, but his reaction seems to confirm it) but that it only expands on what he’s done since. And, of course, that the Romney of 2012 would consider such a thing to be just a prank.
1equalityUSA
No. 61 -Hyhybt, Beautifully said. I like your thoughts a lot.
Hyhybt
@1equalityUSA: Muchas gracias con queso.
Martin
I dont get why you feel compelled to argue against points i dont make?
As i said its not very cohesive thinking to want to punish youngsters for their crimes and then defending uour own disgusting behaviour by saying i cant be held responsible. I was just a kid playing pranks. Either youngsters are not fully responsible or they are, in which case he can only say “but it was so long ago” which isnt a great defense…
I never heard him say young people should get off the hook on account of immaturity before
Martin
He could of course also have said im truly sorry and have learnt from my mistakes, bullying is wrong! But then he didnt… Which of course is why the 48 years since the incident seem not to matter as he shows no sign of having developped out of his sociopathic behaviour
Hyhybt
@Martin: If your posts are to be read in a way that makes any sense at all, then you are arguing that the passage of time and what happens during that time is irrelevant to how a past action should be treated. That implicit claim is simply the only way to connect this with, for example, someone who is currently that age and has recently committed a crime. That you don’t outright *state* the claim makes no difference: it’s still very plainly there, and (equally plainly) that’s what I’ve been addressing.
Being disingenuous and pretending I’m talking about something totally different than you helps nothing.
Martin
If he says my cruelty doesnt count as reprehensible because i was a teenager, and then maintains that teenagers are accountable to the extent of deserving life inprisonment or even a death sentence the he has two standards for accountability for teenagers. One for himself and one for others. That is hypocrisy.
Im tired of bullying teenagers being excused because of their age. When they mercilessly persecute other teenagers they are said to be unable to understand the consequences of their actions. Yet society will hold them accountable for anything from shoplifting to murder with no regard to their immaturity.
Whether he should be punished today is another matter completely.
As to the question of your narrow intellectual horizon im afraid i cant help you there…
Martin
@Hyhybt: Your obsession with proving me wrong or deflecting my argument that teenagers are old enough to know what is right and what is wrong seems to indicate a certain sympathy for bullies. Why else this determined denial?
I should think there were examples of victims enough to inspire a little compassion? If teenagers are not old enough to face responsibility for bullying then by implication we cant ask them to stop.
Excusing this behaviour is so bad…
Hyhybt
@Martin: He didn’t say it doesn’t count as reprehensible.
And your speculation about my motives (and gross misrepresentation of my position) in #68 is baseless.
Hyhybt
@Hyhybt: Or, perhaps we’re closer than it appears. I am disagreeing with *you* (not necessarily with Romney, who so far as I know hasn’t directly addressed the comparison) about the applicability of the comparison you are trying to make. But we agree that the fact that Romney-of-today is so dismissive of his own past actions is a mark against him.
Martin
@Hyhybt:
“Back in high school, I did some dumb things, and if anybody was hurt by that or offended, obviously I apologize for that. I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school, and some might have gone too far, and for that I apologize… I don’t remember that incident. [laughs] ” (…). “I had no idea that he was gay and can’t speak to that even today. But as to the teasing or the taunts that go on in high school (…)
No clearly he isnt just laughing the whole off, and he totally isnt saying that the premeditated physical assault on a younger boy by pinning him to the ground and cutting off his hair is harmless school boys pranks, even if the other guy was crying… And he totally isnt implying that these things are normal in a high school, teasing and taunting…
What he did was public humiliation and corporeal punishment of deviant element but since he was in school it doesnt really count as such…
Martin
@Hyhybt: @Martin: Incidentally you give no motivation for your badly argued attacks on my point, so what is it that makes you think teenagers should not be held accountable for for the stress and pain they knowingly inflict on their “friends”…?
Hyhybt
@Martin: I neither said nor suggested any such thing. You made that up on your own.
B
No. 48 · Hyhybt wrote, “@B: I never claimed otherwise. I never HINTED otherwise. I said “it depends,” and gave an example where the assumption that high schoolers pretty much stuck with their own class was untrue.”
I checked the post you replied to and I quoted everything you said exactly (with a typo – a ‘:’ instead of a ‘”‘) and then commented that your case was atypical. You used “That depends” in comment No 30 and I quoted that and replied to it in No 33.
Your “complaint” seems to really be that you expect people to maintain a mental map of the history of all your comments, including how they are threaded. Multiple that by the number of people who typically post comments on a given article, and it is obviously intractable.
Hyhybt
@B: OK, so I gave the example first. It doesn’t matter; it was very plainly to show only that the assumption is not a safe one, not to prove that the opposite is more usual.
VERY plain. Almost unbelievable that anyone could possibly have genuinely misunderstood rather than looking for an argument type of plain.
Nonetheless, I prefer to give the benefit of the doubt.
B
No. 67 · Martin commented, “Im tired of bullying teenagers being excused because of their age.” The problem is that a teenager is defined as someone between the ages of 13 and 19 inclusive. What is excusable or treated in an age-appropriate way at 13 may definitely not be excusable at 19. In Romney’s haircutting incident, he was 18 years old or very close – 18 is old enough to be shipped off to a war zone.
B
No. 75 · Hyhybt wrote, “@B: OK, so I gave the example first. …”
LOL. Are you crazy? Here’s the whole exchange you are complaining about:
——
No. 30 · Hyhybt
@B: That depends. I had lots of high school classes with people a year ahead or behind me, and some with people from all four years. But the two adjacent years, especially, were pretty well intermixed.
No. 33 · B
No. 30 · Hyhybt wrote, “@B: That depends. I had lots of high school classes with people a year ahead or behind me, and some with people from all four years.”
My experience was that the people you tended to interact with were in the same grade as you.
No. 36 · Hyhybt
@B: Somewhat, but not all that much. But then, it was a small school; I don’t know how big my class started out, but there were only about sixty of us at graduation.
o. 37 · B
No 37 · B
No. 36 · Hyhybt wrote, “@B: Somewhat, but not all that much. But then, it was a small school; I don’t know how big my class started out, but there were only about sixty of us at graduation.: That is probably atypical – a very small school.
——
It’s really hard to see why you are so upset, unless you are trying to bluster your way out of some statement of yours that you now think is wrong.
B
No. 35 · Mike asked, “Is the guy he supposedly pulled a prank on actually gay?”
According to press reports, he was gay, but he came out after he graduated.
Hyhybt
I’m not upset. But I don’t like being misrepresented or told I’ve made arguments I haven’t made or anything along those lines. Neither does anyone else.
The “whole exchange” goes back further, which is clear from the post you have listed first beginning with “it depends.” My post was a direct response to this: “Romney and crew were picking on a kid one year behind him, and you’d expect a priori very little direct interaction between kids in different age groups.”
An answer to that pointing out that what you said “you’d expect a priori” is not necessarily going to be the case is perfectly reasonable and straightforward, and that is precisely what I offered. So: how were you confused by it?
B
No. 79 · Hyhybt wrote, “I’m not upset. But I don’t like being misrepresented or told I’ve made arguments I haven’t made or anything along those lines. Neither does anyone else.”
You weren’t “misrepresented or told [you’ve] made arguments [you] haven’t made,” but upon looking at the previous post (No 29), I was not replying to you but to someone else (as is evident by the quote). The comment numbering is off, though – that can happen if Queerty deletes a comment, which happens occasionally and probably did in this case. Someone had asked, “And, were any of those victims under-age?” and the comment number for that was 27. It is now missing. Queerty must have removed it for some reason. Your post was at Number 28 and when Number 27 was removed, your post became Number 27.
I know the quote was in a deleted comment – I always copy and paste the text rather than retype it when quoting and I can no longer find what I quoted. Also, I normally include the author’s name, but will not if it is something made up to be obnoxious or rude. That seems to be the case here and is possibly why the original No 27 was deleted.
Keep in mind that I can’t change a comment after it is submitted, and I can’t predict when Queerty is going to remove something.
Regardless, the exchange you were complaining about contained direct quotes from you and comments germane to those quotes by me. Just look at No 77.
Hyhybt
I never thought your comment now at #29 was a response to me, nor indicated in any way that I did think so.
Please take that into account, begin with the portion of #29 that I’ve quoted and read my first response as being the response-to-that-and-only-that that it always has been, and see if that helps things. We now have this:
You: “Romney and crew were picking on a kid one year behind him, and you’d expect a priori very little direct interaction between kids in different age groups.”
Me: “That depends. I had lots of high school classes with people a year ahead or behind me, and some with people from all four years. But the two adjacent years, especially, were pretty well intermixed.”
OK now?
1equalityUSA
The focus should be on Romney and his sadistic streak that needs to be vetted by this Country before such a person becomes the hold of the highest office in the land. Let’s focus on Romney. His dog would appreciate it.
Troglodyte
@1equalityUSA: His dog wouldn’t appreciate it nearly as much as Obama’s dog would’ve appreciated not being lunch.
B
No. 81 · Hyhybt wrote, “I never thought your comment now at #29 was a response to me, nor indicated in any way that I did think so.”
Oh, really? In No. 77 the only thing I didn’t quote was #29, which was my comment. In No. 79, you wrote, “I’m not upset. But I don’t like being misrepresented or told I’ve made arguments I haven’t made or anything along those lines. Neither does anyone else.” Well, everything I commented on was what you said after your sentence “That depends,” and I quoted you in full. That makes your statement about being misrepresented or told that you made arguments you hadn’t made a lie.
You described your high school experience. I pointed out that mine was different. Then you said that your class was a very small one (maybe 60 people) and I stated that a class that small was probably atypical. Your comments were short and mostly quoted in full. The full exchange is shown in No 77 (excluding #29, which I wrote). Nothing I wrote misrepresented anything you said nor did I even paraphrase what you said – I used exact quotes, typically of the full comment I was replying to (with one exception, where the second sentence was irrelevant to my response as it simply supplied a small, additional detail).
Hyhybt
@B: All right, I see the problem now. Most of it, anyway, although I’m still puzzled why you apparently thought pointing out that a very small school is atypical was useful.
The main problem is that I didn’t realize I was getting replies from *two different people.* MARTIN was misrepresenting my statements, not you. I’m sorry for the mixup.
Jonathan
That sickening self assured laugh along with the “that was a long time ago” & “I can’t remember” lines sez it all. He’s a hater no doubt. Go fuk urself Mitt.
Will Rogers
Re #44 & 45 @Barefoot Accountant. Truly remarkable list of questionable if not indeed bad deeds. Amazing to consider this list of offenses are actions of a Democrat.
It is incredibly frightening to consider the contents of such a list of harmful acts coming from a Republican.
They are all greedy politicians. It’s just that some are greedier than others.
Ned Flaherty
@jason: No, not at all. Romney struggled to portray himself as “gay-friendly” when running for office, claiming he’d be more gay-friendly than Ted Kennedy ever was. But once elected, he did everything he could do to set back LGBT human rights: halting the state bullying commission, opposing marriage equality, etc.