Mitt Romney, high school bully?

[Former Moderate]

One of the most valuable skills you'll ever learn in politics is knowing when to cut your losses. Politico: It may be very instructive for you to just cut and run from this thread -- it's getting worse for you here, not better.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

In other news, I'd just like to specify that it was a rather pretty bow.

[Torie]

One of the most valuable skills you'll ever learn in politics is knowing when to cut your losses. Politico: It may be very instructive for you to just cut and run from this thread -- it's getting worse for you here, not better.

As an addendum to the above, Politico, you know I have no animus for you personally, but you are just wrong on this gay sicks stuff - both current and for that matter past. You just are. Go research first next time. The winning argument here is that Mittens was in F'ing High School, and we all did stuff there to one degree or another, and folks grow up. After you "win," you let go. It's really easy. Why you then go on to lacerate yourself over irrelevancies, is just well - puzzling.

Anyway, you might ponder what I am saying here some. Sleep on it.

[Secretary Polnut]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/10/us-usa-campaign-romney-idUSBRE8491B220120510

It's a non-story, he's apologised for being a tosser... let's move on.

[The Head Beagle]

This thread defies any existing mine and belongs in the Atlas Geological Laboratory of the Totally Unclassifiable.

[The Mikado]

It's a bad thing, of course, but there's plenty of stuff to attack Mittens about far fresher than 1965. 

[Bandit3 the Worker]

BTW, anybody remember the fake Bush AWOL letter?

No, but I remember the REAL Bush AWOL letter.

[white trash heroes]

Whether it was from horrible Gay AIDS I don't know.

the correct term is 'grids.'

[afleitch]

Politico's '50% of sexually active gays died of AIDS' claim is quite fun.

There were 76,546,000 people born between 1940 and 1962 (18 years before 1980), of which 39,038,000 were men and approx 35,000,000 survived to 1980. At least 7% of men have sex with men (MSM) which gives us 2,450,000 sexually active gay men (and regardless of what shams some of them were living in, you can be damned sure they were having sex)

So we are looking, if Politico isn't talking out of his ass (which of course he is) at some 1.225million gay deaths from AIDS; that's excluding those born before 1940 and after 1962.

A total of 600,000 people in the USA have died from HIV/AIDS related complications, of which 300,000 involved MSM. Based on figures from 2007, that includes those born as late as say 1989. So if we add all them into the mix we have a potential adult population of 20.1 million MSM of all ages, all born before, during and after HIV/AIDS was first identified set against deaths of 600,000.

Deaths from HIV/AIDS related complications - 0.29%. Even if you take just 1% rather than 7% of the population, you still have deaths at about 2%.

[Keystone Phil]

I know it was horrible but Politico's Liberace post had me cracking up.

[Progressive Realist]

Michael Barone was a classmate of Romney's at the same elite private high school (Cranbrook), and said at that time Mittens was an insufferable brat. Some folks take awhile to grow up. Look at Dubya, who had to struggle for about 15 years to get into a neighborhood adjacent to being a responsible adult. But unlike some, both did in fact grow up.

I am not sure that I can make that claim.

The end.

Yes, Dubya was also a spoiled rich kid who bullied others at prep school.

[patrick1]

This thread is delicious and effervescent.

[crypto-fascist superhero]

Politico's '50% of sexually active gays died of AIDS' claim is quite fun.

There were 76,546,000 people born between 1940 and 1962 (18 years before 1980), of which 39,038,000 were men and approx 35,000,000 survived to 1980. At least 7% of men have sex with men (MSM) which gives us 2,450,000 sexually active gay men (and regardless of what shams some of them were living in, you can be damned sure they were having sex)

So we are looking, if Politico isn't talking out of his ass (which of course he is) at some 1.225million gay deaths from AIDS; that's excluding those born before 1940 and after 1962.

A total of 600,000 people in the USA have died from HIV/AIDS related complications, of which 300,000 involved MSM. Based on figures from 2007, that includes those born as late as say 1989. So if we add all them into the mix we have a potential adult population of 20.1 million MSM of all ages, all born before, during and after HIV/AIDS was first identified set against deaths of 600,000.

Deaths from HIV/AIDS related complications - 0.29%. Even if you take just 1% rather than 7% of the population, you still have deaths at about 2%.

That's actually more dubious than Politico's claim, since he is correct that HIV deaths were highly concentrated among men born between those years, and also in the period when the disease was most deadly (late 70s to late 80s) cause of death was very frequently misdiagnosed.  AIDS did kill a *massive* amount of gay men, although claiming a figure as high as 50 or 60% is pretty unlikely.

[crypto-fascist superhero]

I'll add that AIDS did probably kill most *openly* gay men - the reason being is that getting AIDS was essentially a forced outing...

[milhouse24]

at least romney didn't do cocaine, unlike the last 2 presidents.

[Grad Students are the Worst]

I'm also not clear on why irregular recreational cocaine use, which might be dumb but is unlikely to directly affect others, is being treated as worse than severe bullying here.

[Senator Napoleon]

at least romney didn't do cocaine, unlike the last 2 presidents.

I wouldn't say that with so much certainty, Young Mitt is starting to sound more and more like Patrick Bateman.

[crypto-fascist superhero]

at least romney didn't do cocaine, unlike the last 2 presidents.

I wouldn't say that with so much certainty, Young Mitt is starting to sound more and more like Patrick Batman.

[Senator Sbane]

I'm also not clear on why irregular recreational cocaine use, which might be dumb but is unlikely to directly affect others, is being treated as worse than severe bullying here.

^^This.

[Politico]

At least 7% of men have sex with men (MSM) which gives us 2,450,000 sexually active gay men

Here's your failed assumption. The real figure before 1980 was probably 1-3% (e.g., even Elton John wasn't having sex with men before 1980). One just needs to look at the levels of gay bars and bathhouses in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City to realize the figure was nowhere near 7%. Those joints were large and profitable, but not THAT large and profitable.

[Politico]

I'm also not clear on why irregular recreational cocaine use, which might be dumb but is unlikely to directly affect others, is being treated as worse than severe bullying here.

Go tell the families of victims of the Mexican drug cartels that the cocaine market does not directly affect others. It's ignorant to believe the current cocaine market, or the one back when Obama was doing cocaine, does not impact anybody other than consumers/producers.

FYI: I believe all drugs should be legalized in order to curb the gangsters.

[Progressive Realist]

I'm also not clear on why irregular recreational cocaine use, which might be dumb but is unlikely to directly affect others, is being treated as worse than severe bullying here.

Go tell the families of victims of the Mexican drug cartels that the cocaine market does not directly affect others. It's ignorant to believe the current cocaine market, or the one back when Obama was doing cocaine, does not impact anybody other than consumers/producers.

FYI: I believe all drugs should be legalized in order to curb the gangsters.

Shouldn't you be a Gary Johnson supporter?

[Grad Students are the Worst]

I'm also not clear on why irregular recreational cocaine use, which might be dumb but is unlikely to directly affect others, is being treated as worse than severe bullying here.

Go tell the families of victims of the Mexican drug cartels that the cocaine market does not directly affect others. It's ignorant to believe the current cocaine market, or the one back when Obama was doing cocaine, does not impact anybody other than consumers/producers.

FYI: I believe all drugs should be legalized in order to curb the gangsters.

"Does not directly affect others" is NOT what I said.  I know of the Mexican drug cartels and have researched this issue.  I said it is "unlikely" to directly affect someone else, which is absolutely true, unless you mean that in the marginal sense.  However, I still think it is ridiculous to claim that the marginal effect of purchasing a small amount of cocaine is "obviously" worse than the effect of directly bullying someone.

Please do not extend your inattentiveness to analysis to reading my posts.  Thanks.

[Politico]

I'm also not clear on why irregular recreational cocaine use, which might be dumb but is unlikely to directly affect others, is being treated as worse than severe bullying here.

Go tell the families of victims of the Mexican drug cartels that the cocaine market does not directly affect others. It's ignorant to believe the current cocaine market, or the one back when Obama was doing cocaine, does not impact anybody other than consumers/producers.

FYI: I believe all drugs should be legalized in order to curb the gangsters.

Shouldn't you be a Gary Johnson supporter?

My stance is no different from Milton Friedman's, who supported Ronald Reagan in the same fashion that I am supporting Mitt Romney.

I do not need to agree with my candidate of choice on every issue. In fact, I never have with anybody.

[Politico]

I'm also not clear on why irregular recreational cocaine use, which might be dumb but is unlikely to directly affect others, is being treated as worse than severe bullying here.

Go tell the families of victims of the Mexican drug cartels that the cocaine market does not directly affect others. It's ignorant to believe the current cocaine market, or the one back when Obama was doing cocaine, does not impact anybody other than consumers/producers.

FYI: I believe all drugs should be legalized in order to curb the gangsters.

"Does not directly affect others" is NOT what I said.  I know of the Mexican drug cartels and have researched this issue.  I said it is "unlikely" to directly affect someone else, which is absolutely true, unless you mean that in the marginal sense.  However, I still think it is ridiculous to claim that the marginal effect of purchasing a small amount of cocaine is "obviously" worse than the effect of directly bullying someone.

Please do not extend your inattentiveness to analysis to reading my posts.  Thanks.

I apologize for any misunderstanding, but you said that "recreational cocaine use" is "unlikely to directly affect others." I am sorry, but you do realize how cocaine is bought and sold, right (i.e., how the market currently works)? Every time someone buys cocaine, the cost of the cocaine they bought reflects the costs involved in getting the cocaine to them (along with a profit margin, of course). Part of those costs include extreme violence among warring drug producers (e.g., gangsters like Pablo Escobar in Obama's era, and the Mexican drug cartels today). There are few cocaine producers who are NOT involved in violence, and there are few recreational cocaine users who did not pay for their cocaine. In other words, recreational cocaine use is LIKELY to directly affect others in a violent, harmful way. Of course, the only remedy to ending the violence is by ending the black market via legalization. But that will not happen anytime soon.