Here’s a few simple rules that need to be followed. When you get exposed for having done something cruel and dickish that has haunted your fellow actors all their lives. Do not first say you “don’t remember the incident.” Stand up and own it.
Second, apologies do not include the words — “If my actions, words, offended anyone….” You don’t start apologies with “if”. Apologies go like this. “I am so very sorry for what I did. There is no excuse for such behavior, and I apologize. I’ll understand if you can’t forgive me, but I hope you will.”
See? Look how easy.
I didn’t like Romney because of his lack of a core, or any real sense of belief, and his new conservative values, but what I see now is a man totally without empathy. To the workers at the companies Bain capital destroyed. To that poor dog on the roof. To this young man he humiliated and brutalized at school (and btw Romney was 18, that doesn’t qualify as a kid in my book), to the folks at the potluck when he dissed the cookies and humiliated the people who brought them.
I don’t like bullies. He’s a bully.
That is exactly the impression I get–Romney is a man without any empathy. He doesn’t consider or understand how his actions have impact beyond himself or that not everyone starts from the same position as himself.
But what of Obama?
There was one other child in my class, though, who reminded me of a different sort of pain. Her name was Coretta,and before my arrival she had been the only black person in our grade. She was plump and dark and didn
And how old was Obama when this occurred? This sounds like a child’s story. Little boy embarrassed because he was with a _girl_. Romney was 18 when he battered this kid. I consider that a grown up.
And it’s so part of his personality. Dissing the people who brought the cookies from the bakery, making a joke out of firing people.
And let’s not forget the blind teacher that Romney walked into a door. That is not a prank. That is cruel.
Here is an example of a proper apology — by an actor no less. Courtesy of Janice Gelb who sent me the link.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/guy-pearce-im-a-dickhead-20120413-1wyik.html
This exemplifies Romney & the GOP as a group– unless they’re being negative, defensive or aggressive they have no real strategy for their campaign. They don’t seem to have the skills to reverse “Swiftboat”. No finesse, no ability to take a potential negative & turn it into a positive. Very 1 dimensional. Instead of denying the incident, which has far more deeper repercussions today as a public safety issue because of the # of suicides it’s connected to (parents — particularly mothers, hint, hint– the female vote–are very concerned about this), why not extend an apology by reaching out to 1 of the anti bullying projects? Mention your past deed that you’re man enough to take responsibility for & make amends. That’s how you gain respect from voters(since they’re obviously more important to him than people).
I talked to Connie Willis this morning. The incident that Obama describes in his book occurred when he was 10 years old. A child, in grade school, and who hasn’t had the experience of some little boy being taunted for liking a girl, or a girl liking a boy. At that age the opposite sex always has cooties.
I reiterate — Romney was 18 years old, and he and the others in this group assaulted and battered this kid. (Battery is a legal term meaning to lay hands upon). It was horrible and humiliating for this young man. And now the right is trying to defend Romney that he was “enforcing the dress code.” Oh, please, teachers and administrators enforce dress codes, not a gang of young men.
So what exactly chizrcteraaes Gary other then vetoing everything in sight. Turns out he became governor the year I left NM, so I remember the election, but I wasn’t around when he took office.
Hey, Rand,
You have a future as a political consultant if you wanted it. What a great suggestion. Turn the negative into a positive, but instead the right is trying to deny it ever happened despite these other actors in this event coming forward, defend it as a prank, Limbaugh actually mourned the fact that bully is no longer acceptable behavior. (Why am I not surpirsed?)
If Romney were to make a tape for the “It Get’s Better” initiative he would take all the heat off this. But instead he is now backing down from allowing gays to adopt children. He has no core and no spine.
Thank you so much for the compliment! But to quote Shepard Smith(never thought [i]that[/i] would happen!), “Politics is weird. And creepy. And now I know lacks even the loosest attachment to anything like reality.”
It’s just common sense to take responsibility for your actions, good & bad. Especially when you’re trying to appeal to the people who you want to hire you (for a job you’ve been trying to land for the last 6+ years). You would think such a brilliant “job creator” would know that. But he, & the rest of the robber barons along w/ the political party they’ve paid for, have no real concept of what it takes to create anything– good will, decent wages, businesses w/out government subsidies,competitive fairness, prosperous employees. Only profit for a select few at any cost.
So bullying at 10 isn’t bullying because 10 year olds are immature? There are plenty of examples of children this age being quite emotionally hurt and wounded by their peers and we shouldn’t pretend otherwise.
Clearly what Romney did was rougher/meaner/etc. but let’s not excuse the one and rage against the other just because you don’t like Romney. Eighteen year olds aren’t exactly exemplars of maturity, either. My point is, it sure seems like a double standard to me…I somehow doubt 10 year old Romney pushing a little girl down would be so easily excused.
Anyway, I know I’m a much different person now than when I was 18 (or even 10)…I’d imagine you are and I’d imagine Romney is, too. I’m sure there’s plenty of policy problems you could have with Romney without needing to villify him as a person, too.
I’m sorry there is no comparison between a 10 year old and an 18 year old. And there is a pattern. Yelling “atta girl” to the boy who seemed effeminate whenever he spoke up in class, walking the blind teacher into a door, strapping a dog onto the roof of a car, and then when the dog freaked and shit all over himself turning a hose at a gas station on the dog and then putting him back on the roof.
And you’re wrong about my position. If Romney had been 10 this would not be an issue, and I would completely be cutting him slack. He was 18, he gathered up a group of students and battered this kid. And you will notice the others involved have been haunted by it. Romney, not so much. In fact he first said he didn’t remember the incident at all, then when he realized some of the men had been part of his little posse he changed his stance and we got the non-apology apology.
This goes to character, and a man who has this attitude toward the weak, the outsider is going to govern the same way. He has already made it clear that he’s going to try and cut the deficit on the backs of the poor. Of course we are going to have to make cuts, but we have to make cuts in defense too, — which Romney says he will increase spending — close corporate loopholes, and we have to raise revenue with shared sacrifice and that means the top tier of earners too
Cody: First of all, an impulsive act by a 10-year-old is not the equivalent of an 18-year-old planning an attack with others and then carrying it out.
More importantly, Obama owned up to his actions and has expressed remorse, unlike Romney.
Finally, this tactic of trying to find equivalent behavior in the opposition when a negative story comes out about a candidate has been tried again and again and it’s ludicrous. This latest try has about as much relevance as the previous try, comparing a 10-year-old kid’s father giving him dog meat to eat to a grown man with a family putting his dog on the roof of his car. Other than the fact that the word “dog” appears in those two stories, they are not in the least similar, and yet the attempt is made to equate the two.
Just because an opponent did something wrong in the past does not excuse your candidate’s wrong behavior, especially if your candidate won’t even fully apologize for it.