Romney the Violent Bully Boy

This story from the Washington Post doesn't surprise me. It's very well reported, thoroughly documented and sourced. It paints an unattractive picture of Mitt Romney, the child of privilege who enjoyed using his advantaged position to humiliate others.

Romney's manner is quiet, gentle, modest (except when he takes credit for the successful auto industry bailout that he vehemantly opposed) but once you know about the companies he's broken up for scrap, the thousands he's fired after taking their pension funds, the dog on the roof, you begin to wonder if the Romney you see is a fake.

These disturbing accounts of his bullying behavior in high school add another layer to our understanding. And Mitt wasn't just a rowdy follower in this behavior. He was the leader. He was the one bent on violently humiliating the non-conformist, the less popular, the vulnerable. Romney, the governor's son, sought out and went after the vulnerable individual with a gang of his bully boy friends. For those who were there the memory is very fresh, very disturbing.

It begins to form a pattern. Romney adjusted the manner of how he did it, but his venture capital career worked to the same model: find the vulnerable and take advantage. Seek out weakness and exploit it without mercy or consideration. It's called predatory behavior.

The boy is father to the man.