They say every picture tells a story - ROMNEY 1966

[kpete]

Preppy protester: The moment a 19-year-old Mitt Romney demonstrated in favour of Vietnam War draft
Teenage Romney takes unpopular stance in favour of south-east Asian war
But his status as 'Mormon missionary' exempted him from the draft
Future GOP presidential candidate dressed in smart, preppy clothes
Romney's father George was the Governor of Michigan at the time
By GRAHAM SMITH


They say every picture tells a story.

A newly-unearthed photograph showing Mitt Romney demonstrating in favour of the Vietnam War draft might leave the presidential candidate feeling somewhat embarrassed.

Taken at the height of the swinging Sixties, Mr Romney holds a sign declaring 'Speak Out, Don't Sit In' as, alongside like-minded individuals, he proclaims his support for Lyndon Johnson's ever-expanding draft.

But, in a marked contrast to the relaxed dress sense associated with that decade's youth movement, he is wearing smart white slacks, a white buttoned-up shirt and a dark blazer.

A newspaper clipping headlined 'Governor's son pickets the pickets' states: 'Mitt Romney, son of Michigan Gov. George Romney, was one of the pickets who supported the Stanford University administration in opposition to sit-in demonstrators.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2083002/Mitt-Romney-19-demonstrated-favour-Vietnam-War-draft.html#ixzz1rSMBojqW

[KG]

1. another repub chicken-hawk. who'da thunk it?

there's never any shortage of repooks ready to give some other americans' life for their country...

[Scuba]

4. +1 ....

... and don't forget that Santorum called the President an "anti-war, goverment nig". All the focus was on the racial slur; what's so wrong with being anti-war?

[warrior1]

2. then he fled to France for two years

fucking chicken.

[earthside]

9. Draft dodger.

He should be called what he was: a draft dodger.

Let the Teabag-Repugligans deal with it, like you said, Rmoney left the country for France rather than go fight in the war he supported with his words.

[bart95]

10. no he firmly believed in anti-communism

he just thought saving the french from the evils of wine and coffee was higher priority

(plus, you know, viet nam was kind of dangerous!)

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Bluto could've taken him out.

[Botany]

5. E.Z. to cheer for a war when you don't have to go.

Mitt did his "Mormon Mission" work by going to France and living in an
old castle instead of going to Vietnam. This picture is not going to sit well
w/ Vets.

[Kahuna]

6. per mittens: "I was a missionary for Pete's sake!"

[WCGreen]

17. I have heard from a few Mormons that I met that these years are

equivalent to the wilding years of the Quakers.

Don't know it it's true, but the two I knew spoke fondly of those days.

[treestar]

7. Cue conservatives denying that Mitt is the one in the photo

They are so predictable.

[Danascot]

21. He's wearing a f**king jacket

case closed.

[Kaleva]

8. I think he's protesting the tactics of the anti-war demonstraters...

and not showing support for the war itself.

From the article:

"Mr Romney was one of approximately 150 conservative students who counter-picketed the sit-in.

Carey Coulter was one of the demonstrators alongside Mr Romney that day. He told BuzzFeed.com: 'We were there to get an education and these people holding the administration hostage was antithetical to that."

[bart95]

12. the admin were doing some kind of work on the draft

back then, if you were going to have a counter demonstration, you needed to make it REAL CLEAR that you werent FOR the war, and romney didnt do that

he looked like what he was. a future deferee supporting the draft of those more ordinary-born

[Kaleva]

18. Maybe but it appears he's protesting the protesters.

Otherwise, what is on the sign he's carrying doesn't make any sense.

We don't know if Romney made it really clear to others there that he was protesting their actions and not showing support for the war. I can't tell simply by looking at that one picture.

[bart95]

19. he DIDN'T make it clear, or there'd be a way to cite those 'clear intentions'

this was no naive kid, he was the son of a governor and 1968 presidential candidate

he was back then, the son of what he is now

he knew exactly what he was doing, he was sucking up to the war machine, and trying to intimidate those who stood up to it

[coalition_unwilling]

23. Like Cheney, Romney simply had "other priorities". What total and utter

shit heels (both Cheney and Romney).

They were all for the war, as long as it was only sp*cs, n**gers and poor white trash doing the fighting.

[pinboy3niner]

24. Fortunate Son...

&feature=related

Fortunate Son
Recorded by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Written by John Fogerty

Some folks are born made to wave the flag
Ooh, they're red, white and blue
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief"
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son, son
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no

Yeah!
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord, don't they help themselves, oh
But when the taxman comes to the door
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no

Some folks inherit star spangled eyes
Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord
And when you ask them, "How much should we give?"
Ooh, they only answer More! more! more! yoh

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no military son, son
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, one

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no no no
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate son, no no no

[coalition_unwilling]

26. Thank you for the lyrics and video. Brought tears to my eyes this

morning. And reinforced for me my belief that a terrible fiery vengeance awaits this country for what we perpetrated in southeast Asia then and Central Asia (Afghanistan) more recently. Not to mention, Iraq and Central America.

[pinboy3niner]

30. You're welcome...and a postscript:

Believe it or not, RMoney actually used THAT SONG to play him onstage at a Bachmann campaign rally in 2010. I was watching the livestream and just about fell off my chair when I saw and heard it!

[coalition_unwilling]

32. OMFG, that is just too friggin' much. File under the category of "Truth

is stranger than fiction" perhaps or, better yet, "You just can't make this shit up."

Sidenote: have you read any of Tim O'Brien's work? Think you would enjoy 'Going After Cacciato'. May be the best Vietnam War novel thus far.

[pinboy3niner]

33. I LOVE Tim O'Brien!

But I consider his The Things They Carried the best novel to come out of the Vietnam War (despite some stiff competition from both American and Vietnamese authors).

I read Cacciato first, probably not long after it was published. The platoon's odyssey stuck me as pretty weird--until I reached that delicious moment in the book when the protagonist is sitting in a guard tower on the beach and it becomes clear what is REALLY going on. For me, that one moment resonated and made the book worthwhile.

This is the season when I speak about the war in local schools. The history prof at the local JC uses The Things They Carried as required reading for his class (possibly Cacciato too, but I'm not sure about that). I'll speak to his class in about 2 weeks, then to a series of HS classes (and I think they also are required to read O'Brien).

PS--I've been hoping to meet you and A. at an OLA action. So far I've met Fire, Lefty, ellisonz and Zhade there, some on multiple occasions. I usually can't stay for the GA, though, as I have to catch a Metrolink train back to Lancaster. One of these days...

[Warren Stupidity]

20. YAF.

I'll bet a dollar that those shitheads in that picture are a YAF organized response to the anti war protests. You can pretend all you want that these people were not supporting the war, I can assure you that, as a participant in those times, the rightwing shitheads in that picture were in favor of the war, opposed to commie bastard dirty hippy things in general, and were the Biggest Douchebags on Campus.

Niedermeyers. Every one of them.

[coalition_unwilling]

27. They were in favor the war as long as they didn't have to dirty their

hands with any of the fighting and dieing and getting wounded and winding up paraplegic and all that messy stuff.

[madokie]

11. And the story being told here is he is a douche

[bart95]

13. he was hitting on that blonde chick on the bike

but she was in love with davy jones

[Pirate Smile]

14. He was for the draft for other people. As for him, he's going to France. How brave to be for sending

other kids his age to war.

[trumad]

15. This is why there was a sit in...

from the article linked:

They were protesting at the introduction of a test designed to help the authorities decide who was eligible for the draft.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2083002/Mitt-Romney-19-demonstrated-favour-Vietnam-War-draft.html#ixzz1rSU7a7Ma

So Romney was protesting against the sit in --- a sit in about the draft---whcih makes him pro-draft.

Fucking chickenhawk coward.

[spanone]

16. romney was born a one-percenter...

he knew he'd never see a day in vietnam

[MormonReform]

22. His kids won't serve either

Any Romneys ever serve?

[SoCalDem]

25. Young man headed for THREE YEARS in France thinks the draft is peachy-keen..(film-at-11)

Our son has many Mormon friends and they all went on a ONE year mission.

It's odd indeed to think that France "needed" a 3 year mission from young Mitt.

But then there is Nice... and Chamonix..and Paris..and so much to see and do in Europe for a young man on a mission.

Who wouldn't choose this:



over this:

[coalition_unwilling]

28. I guess Mitt, like Cheney, had 'other priorities.' Tell me again

why I should be feeling such total, utter rage this beautiful Easter monring.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

29. So Romney is a war veteran

as much as the draft-dodging Chimp was...the Chimp who was quoted as saying he'd learned some important lessons in Vietnam. I wonder if Republicans will bray about this incident as an example of Romney's courage under fire, the way they trumpeted the Chimp's National Guard dental records as medals akin to the Congressional Medal of Honor.

[Tabasco_Dave]

31. Someone please Photoshop those signs

Last edited Mon Apr 9, 2012, 02:32 AM - Edit history (1)

it would be really funny.