I have to admit I am a bit shocked by the revelation today about Mitt "the Barber" Romney's past as a prep school bully. As much as I distrust the guy, I never thought of him this flat out evil. I guess that makes me naive given the other things that have been released about his character since he hit the national spotlight, but this particular incident strikes near to home for me.
Back in middle school one of my best friends was assaulted in an alley and the three men who assaulted him sheared his hair and cut a design (I never saw it) in what was left of it. He had to have his head shaved and ended up wearing a knit hat to school for the next few months. I remember the time well. He was very angry and depressed. He talked about revenge all the time. The plans were silly middle school plans like super-gluing a LOT of snap-and-pops together to form a nitroglycerin bomb. The wound to his ego was deep. He wasn't the same for a long time and that was just some random assault by strangers. I can't imagine how he would have felt if it had been classmates who perpetrated the act.
The whole thing seems so surreal. This isn't the typical act of a bully. This isn't a punch on the arm or stealing lunch money. This isn't even a horrid nickname or a burning sack of shit on the front porch or a gang of kids picking a fight with a single weaker one when no one is looking. This is something highly personal. It strikes me as being on the emotional level of rape - forcing someone physically to take what you are dishing out whether they like it not. Regardless of whether they cry and sob for help and beg you not to.
And Mitt claims not to even remember it. How do you do something that personal and offensive to another person and not even remember it? How do you lead the pack and wield the scissors and not even manage to hold the memory and in turn be able to say, "man I'm sorry. I was one rotten little shit. I did something horrible and can only hope I can be forgiven." Honestly, I don't believe that's even true. I believe Mitt remembers the incident quite well. I believe he knows how bad it was. I believe he realizes exactly how much he violated his classmate and he knows how much it might cost him. So like every other incident that doesn't fit the Mitt public profile, he is trying to shake it out of existence.
At some point you have to stop letting him do that. At some point you have to say, "ENOUGH! You're rotten to the core and I won't tolerate you anymore." Like the line from Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York delivered so flawlessly by Daniel Day-Lewis "I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. So because you are lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth." Unfortunately the fact is that it's not entirely true. Mitt is too volatile, too dogmatic, too much a bully. He runs very hot. His temper is unstable and the rest is window trimming.
Mitt deserves to be held accountable for this heinous act. Since he can't actually be held accountable legally, I only ask that people look long and hard at their vote for him and say, "Is this REALLY the man I want running our country?" If the answer is yes, then be aware of who you are voting for. Don't run from it. Embrace it. Own it. Live it. You can no longer hide from the simple fact that Mitt Romney is a rotten excuse for a human being and if you the people who vote for him get your way, he's soon going to be the most powerful rotten excuse for a human being on the planet. After all, he's running for President of the United States of America a country that prides itself on standing up to bullies... like Mitt...
11:50 PM PT: Wow, really cool so many people read, replied and recommended this diary. My first to make the recommended list (guess I'll have to send Mitt a thank you card).
I've had some discussions with people on other forums about why this should be the reason not to vote for Mitt and I want to clarify something. This isn't the sole reason not to vote for Mitt. It's just one of many. See the link in the first paragraph of the diary to see a much more detailed list. However for me this was a perspective changing moment. I mean up 'til now I could at least see why he made some of the decisions he has been hammered for by those of us on the left. Right or wrong there was a twisted but rational reason to do some of these things - vulture capitalist = make money, Dog on roof = protect his fancy car, etc. I'm not saying I agree with those decisions, but I can at least look at them and say, "okay if you remove the emotions there's a payoff that in some way benefits his life." But there's no valid reason to do what he did to this kid. It didn't earn him anything. It didn't protect anything. It gained him nothing. It was pure evil just to be evil. In short I always thought Romney was a self-absorbed twit I didn't realize he was a complete asshole. Hearing about this incident changed that perspective.
Thanks again for reading. Hope I'll manage to put something out you all enjoy as much sometime in the future.
-Jim (not Tim - the user name is a typo but it's my typo and unlike Mitt, I'm going to own it.)