{"id":11585,"date":"2012-05-11T05:15:30","date_gmt":"2012-05-11T09:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geneveith.com\/?p=11585"},"modified":"2012-05-11T05:15:30","modified_gmt":"2012-05-11T09:15:30","slug":"was-mitt-romney-a-high-school-bully","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/05\/was-mitt-romney-a-high-school-bully\/","title":{"rendered":"Was Mitt Romney a high school bully?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The Washington Post<\/em> has a big story of the sort that opposition researchers love, an event from the past that can discredit a candidate with voters.\u00a0 Reportedly, when Mitt Romney was in high school, he and some friends jumped a guy with long hair\u2013someone who was also teased as being gay\u2013and cut his hair.<\/p>\n

Romney does not remember the incident, but has apologized anyway.\u00a0 Meanwhile, some bloggers are questioning the story,<\/a> noting at least one big contradiction in the account.<\/p>\n

First of all, is this a legitimate story, or is it biased gotcha journalism with a political purpose?<\/p>\n

Second, is it fair to use a person\u2019s childhood or adolescent behavior to discredit him as an adult?<\/p>\n

Third, does this incident disclose a character flaw that should disqualify a person from public office?<\/p>\n

\nFourth, do you think this report could harm Romney\u2019s squeaky-clean image, to the point of making voters\u2013who often care more for image than for issues\u2013think that he\u2019s mean and so refuse to vote for him?\n

Finally, is this story a portent that\u00a0 journalism, political discourse, and our democratic republic are all doomed?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

via Mitt Romney\u2019s prep school classmates recall pranks, but also troubling incidents \u2013 The Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Washington Post has a big story of the sort that opposition researchers love, an event from the past that can discredit a candidate with voters.\u00a0 Reportedly, when Mitt Romney was in high school, he and some friends jumped a guy with long hair\u2013someone who was also teased as being gay\u2013and cut his hair. Romney […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,36],"tags":[1415,1473],"class_list":["post-11585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-politics","tag-media-bias","tag-mitt-romney"],"yoast_head":"\nWas Mitt Romney a high school bully?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Washington Post has a big story of the sort that opposition researchers love, an event from the past that can discredit a candidate with voters.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/05\/was-mitt-romney-a-high-school-bully\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Was Mitt Romney a high school bully?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Washington Post has a big story of the sort that opposition researchers love, an event from the past that can discredit a candidate with voters.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/05\/was-mitt-romney-a-high-school-bully\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-11T09:15:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/05\/was-mitt-romney-a-high-school-bully\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/05\/was-mitt-romney-a-high-school-bully\/\",\"name\":\"Was Mitt Romney a high school bully?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-05-11T09:15:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-05-11T09:15:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"The Washington Post has a big story of the sort that opposition researchers love, an event from the past that can discredit a candidate with voters.\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/05\/was-mitt-romney-a-high-school-bully\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/05\/was-mitt-romney-a-high-school-bully\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/05\/was-mitt-romney-a-high-school-bully\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Was Mitt Romney a high school bully?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Was Mitt Romney a high school bully?","description":"The Washington Post has a big story of the sort that opposition researchers love, an event from the past that can discredit a candidate with voters.\u00a0","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/05\/was-mitt-romney-a-high-school-bully\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Was Mitt Romney a high school bully?","og_description":"The Washington Post has a big story of the sort that opposition researchers love, an event from the past that can discredit a candidate with voters.\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/05\/was-mitt-romney-a-high-school-bully\/","og_site_name":"Cranach","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","article_published_time":"2012-05-11T09:15:30+00:00","author":"Gene Veith","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gene Veith","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/05\/was-mitt-romney-a-high-school-bully\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/05\/was-mitt-romney-a-high-school-bully\/","name":"Was Mitt Romney a high school bully?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-05-11T09:15:30+00:00","dateModified":"2012-05-11T09:15:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1"},"description":"The Washington Post has a big story of the sort that opposition researchers love, an event from the past that can discredit a candidate with voters.\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/05\/was-mitt-romney-a-high-school-bully\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/05\/was-mitt-romney-a-high-school-bully\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/05\/was-mitt-romney-a-high-school-bully\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Was Mitt Romney a high school bully?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/","name":"Cranach","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1","name":"Gene Veith","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gene Veith"},"description":"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}