Romney Accused By Media Of Gay Bashing The Day After Obama Backs Gay Marriage

Just one of those funny coincidences that the media breaks this non-story right after the President's statement on gay marriage...just had to be, right?

Look at these headlines:

Think Progress: Mitt Romney Outed As Anti-Gay High School Bully

ABC News: Former Romney Classmate Describes ‘Bullying Supreme’ – A ‘Pack of Dogs’ Who Targeted ‘Different’ Boy ( this one uses an 'independent' who votes Democrat and insists this incident, almost half a century ago 'had to have an effect on Romney'.)

New York Times Magazine: The Content of Romney’s Character (Jonathan Chait actually notes the 'horrendous coincidence' with a straight face)

L.A. Times: Mitt Romney Lacks A sensitivity Gene (at least this one used the qualifier 'believed to be gay')

So, let's see what they're actually hyperventilating over.The original 'story' was printed in the WAPO.

Back when he was in a private high school, here's what happened:

Mitt Romney returned from a three-week spring break in 1965 to resume his studies as a high school senior at the prestigious Cranbrook School. Back on the handsome campus, studded with Tudor brick buildings and manicured fields, he spotted something he thought did not belong at a school where the boys wore ties and carried briefcases. John Lauber, a soft-spoken new student one year behind Romney, was perpetually teased for his nonconformity and presumed homosexuality. Now he was walking around the all-boys school with bleached-blond hair that draped over one eye, and Romney wasn’t having it.

“He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!” an incensed Romney told Matthew Friedemann, his close friend in the Stevens Hall dorm, according to Friedemann’s recollection. Mitt, the teenaged son of Michigan Gov. George Romney, kept complaining about Lauber’s look, Friedemann recalled.

A few days later, Friedemann entered Stevens Hall off the school’s collegiate quad to find Romney marching out of his own room ahead of a prep school posse shouting about their plan to cut Lauber’s hair. Friedemann followed them to a nearby room where they came upon Lauber, tackled him and pinned him to the ground. As Lauber, his eyes filling with tears, screamed for help, Romney repeatedly clipped his hair with a pair of scissors.

Did the writer, Jason Horowitz actually ever attend high school as a normal American male? I did, and the part about teasing about 'presumed homosexuality' is an absolute hoot. Guess what, Jason? Teenage boys routinely tease each other about such matters, no matter how macho they appear. The bit with the scissors is a little over the top,maybe would even classify as borderline assault in these politically correct days when metal detectors adorn our public schools. But things went on in my high school that were much worse. I mean, has Horowitz ever actually been in a high school locker room and seen the towels snap, or witnessed a group of testosterone crazed males play tackle in gym class or in the park after school when they were supposed to be playing flag or touch, ? Has he ever seen a couple of high school kids meet someplace quiet after school and settle their differences mano a mano? Even today,it still happens all the time,and certainly back in 1965.

And despite the headlines, there actually is no evidence that Lauber actually was gay, certainly not when he was going to high school. But why let that get in the way of a good piece of politically timed, pro-Obama propaganda?

Are we really going to judge Mitt Romney based on a stupid prank in high school? I can think of much more recent events coming out of the Obama White House that are a lot more worthy of headlines than this story..but funny thing, you never see them covered that way, if at all.

If we're going to start judging the presidential candidates based on their youth, than I suppose President Obama's Muslim background, college transcripts, former drug use, idolizing of Malcom X and bullying of a girl are now also fair game.

What's even more embarrassing from the standpoint of journalism with a semblance of ethics or impartiality are the supposed 'sources' for the story:

“The incident was recalled similarly by five students, who gave their accounts independently of one another. Four of them — Friedemann, now a dentist; Phillip Maxwell, a lawyer; Thomas Buford, a retired prosecutor; and David Seed, a retired principal — spoke on the record. Another former student who witnessed the incident asked not to be named. The men have differing political affiliations, although they mostly lean Democratic. Buford volunteered for Barack Obama’s campaign in 2008.

Aww, another coincidence. Want to bet Buford told the story to higher ups in the campaign, and they held it, releasing it to a friendly 'journalist' at just the right moment and then engineering the subsequent drive by their media lackeys?

The politics of destruction. Expect more of it.