This story broke today about Mitt Romney’s youth.
An in-depth examination of Mitt Romney’s teenage years at a prestigious private prep school describes an episode in which he bullied a fellow student and portrays Mr. Romney as a prankster who pushed boundaries. After the report came out, Mr. Romney on Thursday apologized for behavior that might have hurt anyone.
Here’s the fourth paragraph of the story. Remember, I mentioned in speed-reading to read the first five paragraphs. This is also good news writing.
The account is likely to revive questions about how much of a candidate’s background is fair game in an election, given Mr. Romney’s age at the time. The episode in question happened almost 50 years ago, and there have been no recent accounts about bullying behavior by Mr. Romney.
The Informed Not Inflamed Take:
- Romney apologized even though he didn’t remember it. Sure, he might be avoiding something he doesn’t want to recall. But he’s doing the right thing to possibly end the controversy.
- He was a teenager at the time.
- There are no other reports of Romney being a bully. If anything, he’s a geek.
Overall, look for patterns in a personality. For instance, stories about George Allen being intolerant became relevant when he called a photographer/opposition worker Makaka.
I’d ignore this issue.
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