OT: Mitt Romney and the Ax

4,667 Views | 29 Replies | Last: 13 yr ago by NYCGOBEARS
BearyWhite
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Probably posted before -- the article isn't new -- but in case you missed it, here's Mitt Romney's history vis-a-vis the Big Game. (I think this can be interesting without being political. I hope.)

Quote:

He was mindful of the strict Mormon prohibitions against smoking, drinking, and premarital sex. At Stanford, there were still plenty of clean-cut, traditional kids, and Mitt bonded with a few dorm-mates who shared his world view. That view was immediately challenged by one of their resident assistants, or ''sponsors,'' a charismatic junior by the name of David Harris. A leader in the campus's small antiwar movement, Harris was determined to shake such freshmen as Mitt out of their blazer-and-tie orthodoxy.

Mitt embraced the preppy traditions that Harris saw as inane 1950s residue. Stanford usually played its Big Game against Cal-Berkeley on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and the week leading up to the game was always filled with hijinks.

The winner from the previous year took possession of an ax, which students from the losing side would try to steal. When an upperclassman cheerleader enlisted Mitt in the effort to protect the ax from Berkeley marauders, he pounced. He mapped out a schedule of patrols, cruising the campus perimeter overnight in his Rambler and then loaning his car to other freshmen for their shifts.

When Mitt heard about a rally planned at Berkeley, he figured the ax might be discussed, so he decided to go undercover. He thought his normal attire might make him a target. So he turned to the one radical he knew - Harris - and asked to borrow his clothes. Dressed in Harris's faded Levis jeans, heavy wool work jacket, and well-worn moccasins, Mitt headed over to Berkeley.

His friend Mike Roake accompanied him but opted to hang back as Mitt marched into the rally. ''It sounds silly now,'' says Roake, ''but it was the great crusade in that time of sweet innocence.''

Full story

The article goes on to say that David Harris would later marry Joan Baez.
CalBear68
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I wonder if Mitt thought that the 'furd tree was just the right height (or were they still the Indians at that point?).
Cal_Fan2
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CalBear68;841897632 said:

I wonder if Mitt thought that the 'furd tree was just the right height (or were they still the Indians at that point?).


Indians until '72
okaydo
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Here's Romney (at right) protesting the protesters at Stanford.

FiatSlug
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You are nuts if you think that this can be non-political on this board.
socaliganbear
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What was he doing at Standford?
okaydo
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socaliganbear;841897658 said:

What's was he doing at Standford?


He went to Stanford his freshman year.

Then he went on a 30-month Mormon mission.

Then he went to BYU.
socaliganbear
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That's right.
okaydo
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Why is a story related to the Big Game "OT"?

Yeah, it's mildly political, but still...
mdcspe69
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Just one more reason to vote against Romney.
Son-of-California
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It is the Stanfurd Axe...not Ax.
UrsaMajor
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And it's not "Cal-Berkeley," either.
Phantomfan
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Anyone who knows our little west coast traditions is OK with me...

Funny that his wild time was weaing some other dudes shoes to walk around is wacky Berkeley.
manus
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"...a great crusade in that time of innocence." LOL's.

I wonder if the pundits will treat Romney's dalliance with Harris like they did Obama's with Ayers? LOL's.
Adrian The Cal Bear
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mdcspe69;841897704 said:

Just one more reason to vote against Romney.

+1

Furd education gets you this

okaydo
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Adrian The Cal Bear;841897848 said:

+1

Furd education gets you this





okaydo
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Adrian The Cal Bear;841897848 said:

+1

Furd education gets you this




GB54
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Adrian The Cal Bear;841897848 said:

+1

Furd education gets you this




Mitt will win because he has two Harvard degrees as opposed to one. If only Obama hadn't been stoned all the time....
bearister
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Quote:

"He mapped out a schedule of patrols, cruising the campus perimeter overnight in his Rambler and then loaning his car to other freshmen for their shifts.....Mitt's own draft status was secure for the next few years. .... As a missionary, Mitt was declared ''a minister of religion'' by the church and, under an agreement with the Selective Service, granted an exemption from the draft."


I guess his commando raid at Cal was as close as The Mittster wanted to get to military action during the Vietnam War....which makes his choice of foreign policy advisors all the more interesting.*





[SIZE="1"]*Romney's team of about 40 foreign policy advisers includes many who hail from the neoconservative wing of the party, according to a May analysis conducted by the The Nation. Many were enthusiastic supporters of the Iraq War, and many are proponents of a U.S. or Israeli attack on Iran.[/SIZE]
manus
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bearister;841897907 said:

I guess his commando raid at Cal was as close as The Mittster wanted to get to military action during the Vietnam War....which makes his choice of foreign policy advisors all the more interesting.*





[SIZE="1"]*Romney's team of about 40 foreign policy advisers includes many who hail from the neoconservative wing of the party, according to a May analysis conducted by the The Nation. Many were enthusiastic supporters of the Iraq War, and many are proponents of a U.S. or Israeli attack on Iran.[/SIZE]


As for Mr. Romney, I read where he received four military deferments...

As for his alleged advisors, these views are typical of guys that were never in combat...

Here we go again!

:facepalm
Cal_Fan2
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manus;841898473 said:

As for Mr. Romney, I read where he received four military deferments...

As for his alleged advisors, these views are typical of guys that were never in combat...

Here we go again!

:facepalm


Before we condemn him, we should note that both sides had multiple deferments. Bill Clinton did too along with Joe Biden who had 5 deferments himself to match Cheney.....they guys I can't stand are the neo-conservative warhawks who seem to want solve everything with a war here and there.
okaydo
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The war veteran has lost to the non-war veteran in the last 5 presidential elections.
jyamada
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Cal_Fan2;841898478 said:

Before we condemn him, we should note that both sides had multiple deferments. Bill Clinton did too along with Joe Biden who had 5 deferments himself to match Cheney.....they guys I can't stand are the neo-conservative warhawks who seem to want solve everything with a war here and there.


Isn't Cheney a neocon chickenhawk? I have nothing against anybody who tried to stay out of Vietnam via any means possible. But I can't stand those who supported Vietnam and other wars but somehow went the deferment route.....like Cheney (Mitt might be in this same category).
okaydo
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jyamada;841898486 said:

Isn't Cheney a neocon chickenhawk? I have nothing against anybody who tried to stay out of Vietnam via any means possible. But I can't stand those who supported Vietnam and other wars but somehow went the deferment route.....like Cheney (Mitt might be in this same category).



http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2012/06/05/romneys_non_military_record_faces_new_scrutiny/?page=2
Quote:


As a presidential candidate in 2007, Romney told The Boston Globe he was frustrated, as a Mormon missionary, not to be fighting alongside his countrymen.


"I was supportive of my country," Romney said. "I longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam and be representing our country there, and in some ways it was frustrating not to feel like I was there as part of the troops that were fighting in Vietnam."


Indeed, Romney strongly supported the war at first. As a freshman at Stanford University, he protested anti-war activists. In one photo, he's shown in a small crowd of students, smiling broadly, wearing a sport jacket and holding up a sign that says, "Speak Out, Don't Sit In."



But the frustration he recalled in 2007 does not match a sentiment he shared as a Massachusetts Senate candidate in 1994, when he told The Boston Herald, "I was not planning on signing up for the military."


"It was not my desire to go off and serve in Vietnam, but nor did I take any actions to remove myself from the pool of young men who were eligible for the draft," Romney told the newspaper.


But that's exactly what Romney did, according Selective Service records. He received his first deferment for "activity in study" in October 1965 while at Stanford.


BearyWhite
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okaydo;841898490 said:

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2012/06/05/romneys_non_military_record_faces_new_scrutiny/?page=2

He'll want to refine that a bit. "I would have loved to have fought in Viet Nam, but I was way too busy converting people in France" rings a bit hollow
bearister
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BearyWhite;841898580 said:

He'll want to refine that a bit. "I would have loved to have fought in Viet Nam, but I was way too busy converting people in France" rings a bit hollow


I am sure Cheney wanted to fight too but he got 5 deferments because he had "other priorities." I have no problem with people that dodged service and are not warmongers (see Bill Clinton); I have no problems with combat vets, who for some unknown reason, are still hawks (see Ollie North and John McCain); I have major problems with draft dodgers who are chickenhawks (see Cheney, Romney, Paul Wolfowitz, Coach K, Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, etc.)
jyamada
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bearister;841898623 said:

I am sure Cheney wanted to fight too but he got 5 deferments because he had "other priorities." I have no problem with people that dodged service and are not warmongers (see Bill Clinton); I have no problems with combat vets, who for some unknown reason, are still hawks (see Ollie North and John McCain); I have major problems with draft dodgers who are chickenhawks (see Cheney, Romney, Paul Wolfowitz, Coach K, Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, etc.)


Is Coach K a chickenhawk? I would never have guessed.
bearister
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jyamada;841898628 said:

Is Coach K a chickenhawk? I would never have guessed.


He has done some Right Wing popping off. How many Vietnam Era graduates of West Point (Second Lieutenants) have you heard of other than him that didn't end up as cannon fodder in Vietnam?
NYCGOBEARS
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mdcspe69;841897704 said:

Just one more reason to vote against Romney.


+1
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