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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: I Think You Meant “Prick”, Mrs. Romney

Open Thread: I Think You Meant “Prick”, Mrs. Romney

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All I can say in the poor woman’s defense is that she was essentially kidnapped by the Willardbot when she was 16, and kept sequestered inside various One-Percenter compounds ever since, so maybe it’s Stockholm Syndrome:

Tell me more about the private Mitt Romney.
__
People see him as a business guy, but he has a silly side. He loves to roll on the floor with our grandkids. And he’s a prankster…
__
Tell me about a prank he’s pulled on someone else.
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As governor, he had a security detail. One of the troopers short-sheeted Mitt’s bed at a hotel—that’s the kind of relationship they had—and he expected a funny response. Instead, Mitt wrote a letter to the hotel telling them he was upset with the staff, and then he faked a reply saying, “We’re so sorry. We fired that person.” The trooper thought he was responsible for someone being fired. Everyone else was in on the gag. That’s how Mitt got him.

What sanctimonious “pranksters” are irking the Reality-Based Community this evening?

Reader Interactions

65Comments

  1. 1.

    EvolutionaryDesign

    I’m glad Willard thinks that a blue collar worker getting fired is hilarious. For short-sheeting nonetheless.

  2. 2.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Amazing. The private OvenMitt is as much of an asshole as the public one.

    His mom just got herself a reservation for a tumbrel. Where did George go wrong?

  3. 3.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Amazing. The private OvenMitt is as much of an asshole as the public one.

    His mom just got herself a reservation for a tumbrel. Where did George go wrong?

  4. 4.

    Warren Terra

    Another “prank” he pulled as governor was to spend at least a hundred thousand dollars of taxpayers’ money replacing the computers in the governor’s office (halfway through the existing lease on the equipment, and with the new contract coming an at twice the price of the old one) and an untold sum printing out millions of pages, all so that there would be no electronic records of his conduct in office. He shredded an unknown quantity of the records he didn’t otherwise destroy, and he’s trying to prevent access not only to the remaining paper documents but also to records of just what records were destroyed.

    That Mitt, such a kidder.

  5. 5.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Ack sorry about the double post.

    Given that his wife didn’t raise so much as an eyebrow, it seems, at the entire dog on a roof incident, why the hell should anyone be surprised?

  6. 6.

    amk

    what, no kids parade on teevee a la the other mormon in the field ? only wifey to do the fluffy, willard ?

  7. 7.

    Betsy

    And that’s the BEST example of his “humor” she presumably saw fit to provide.

    Disturbing pattern emerges when you think about the other behavior: strapping the poor dog to the roof of the car, firing thousands via Bain Capital, repeatedly faking that he gets a “goose” when he is in a photo-op with women. The guy is creepy.

  8. 8.

    jl

    @EvolutionaryDesign:

    I’m not sure that the gag shows that Jitt thought a blue collar worker getting fired was funny, but it’s a definite possibility.

    But, it does show a weird ‘sense of humor’ So weird, I put the phrase in quotes.

    Any interviews of the dog that was ‘roofed’? I would bet interested in its perspective.

  9. 9.

    Waldo

    Hmm… and here I was thinking the whole tight-ass douchebag thing was just a facade. I stand corrected.

  11. 11.

    Martin

    The trooper thought he was responsible for someone being fired.

    Wait, security detail for a Republican governor feeling bad for someone getting fired? Is there a glitch in the matrix?

  14. 14.

    EvolutionaryDesign

    @jl: I stand corrected. Actually, now that I think of it, it seems Willard’s prank was predicated on the security officer possessing empathy. I wonder how he figured that out.

  15. 15.

    Niques

    My initial reaction was that Mitt actually did get a staff member fired . . . then claimed it not his fault, as “it was just a joke.”

    Isn’t that how these guys roll?

  17. 17.

    Anne Laurie

    @Martin:

    Wait, security detail for a Republican governor feeling bad for someone getting fired?

    Mass(hole) state trooper. By the middle of Romney’s first-and-only term, it was obvious that the more time humans spent around Romney, the less they liked him. Troopers on security detail are used to seeing, shall we say, the less admirable facets of alpha human behavior, but Romney was such a… prankster… he exceeded even their cynical standards, apparently.

  18. 18.

    bemused

    I had read this yesterday. Short sheeting and tricking someone into thinking he got an innocent person fired. Not only not funny but pretty pathetic prankster skills. The Romney family gatherings must be a laugh riot a minute.

  19. 19.

    singfoom

    I actually think that’s kind of funny. I don’t like Mitt, but evidence of a sense of humor, even one based on making someone else think they cost someone his job is refreshing in a candidate who otherwise seems like a robot.

    YMMV

  21. 21.

    WereBear (itouch)

    Troopers on security detail are used to seeing, shall we say, the less admirable facets of alpha human behavior, but Romney was such a… prankster… he exceeded even their cynical standards, apparently., apparently.

    the TerLminators do not fool the humans; yet.

    The dogs, of course, will never be fooled!

  22. 22.

    Rihilism

    Note to Mrs. Romney: the only way the “joke” works is if the trooper believes Romney is capable of being a such an asshole in the first place…

  23. 23.

    danimal

    @singfoom: Agreed. Not the funniest prank in the world, but not a big deal. There are plenty of policy and political reasons to not like Mitt, this is a nothingburger.

    ETA: For example, corporate raiding, sucking out the firm’s equity and laying off innocent, hard-working Americans for real. There’s a reason to not like the man.

  24. 24.

    lamh35

    @trollhattan:

    speaking of Obama’s Kansas speech today, just saw this video and had to share it.

    Oldest Woman in Osawatomie: Obama Visit Fulfilled Dream

    Ruth Wench was 2 when Teddy Roosevelt rolled into this rural prairie town in 1910, and she hadn’t seen a president in the flesh in the 100 years since. But today, with President Obama’s visit here, the oldest woman in Osawatomie had her dream fulfilled.

    “It was very important and exciting to me of course to see one alive,” said Wench, a retired African-American school teacher who has spent the past two decades volunteering as a foster grandparent for elementary school children in Osawatomie. (Her great-granddaughter says she’s the oldest foster grandparent in the United States)

    “I’ve seen pictures and TV of course, but to see one who has much interest in middle-class people in little Osawatomie. That God impressed on him to come to Osawatomie and encourage us –” She was speechless.

  26. 26.

    Warren Terra

    With Prick Erry cratering, Romney is buffing up his Prick credentials. Always agile, that Romney.

  27. 27.

    Catsy

    @lamh35: To which I say “good”. Anything that helps counter the illusion that Huntsman is anything other than a garden-variety wingnut who manages only to not be a complete lunatic like the rest.

  29. 29.

    West of the Cascades

    @Catsy: Meh, Huntsman’s doing that to get elected, but it’s pretty certain he doesn’t really believe his “new” position. He governed Utah as a genuine moderate just five years ago (or else he’d never gotten the ambassadorship). There was no need for him to take the moderate positions he did while he was governor of the wingnuttiest state besides Wyoming, yet he did so anyway – probably a more accurate indicator of Huntsman’s true beliefs that any position Mitt Romney has ever taken.

  31. 31.

    Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn

    I don’t know if this story humanizes the Romnster, or just makes it look like he has a programming glitch.

  33. 33.

    shortstop

    @bemused: It’s sort of Hardy Boys meet the kid who tortures small animals.

    ETA: I’m changin’ that to: Hardy Boys meet Allen West.

  35. 35.

    Eric k

    So maybe this makes me a jerk, but I think that is actually kind of clever and funny.

    It works as a joke because the trooper would think Romney is so serious that he didn’t get that the trooper pulled the joke on him and then would complain to the hotel. It shows that Romney is self aware enough to get that people would think of him that way.

  36. 36.

    Brachiator

    Dammit. Goddammit.

    Texas woman denied food stamps shoots children, kills self
    __
    A woman who barricaded herself in a Texas welfare office before shooting her two children and killing herself had been denied food stamps months earlier, state officials said Tuesday.
    __
    The children, a 10-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl, were in critical condition at a San Antonio hospital Tuesday, said Joe Baeza, a Laredo Police Department investigator.
    __
    On Monday evening, the 38-year-old woman entered a state welfare office in Laredo and, while speaking with two employees, pulled out a handgun and demanded to see a supervisor, Baeza said….
    __
    The woman, who recently moved to the area from Zanesville, Ohio, had applied for food stamps from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission in July, but her request was denied because she did not provide sufficient information on the application, said Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the agency.

    I’m sure there may be more to this story, more details to fill in.

    But still….

  38. 38.

    bemused

    @shortstop:

    Mitt did put the family dog in a crate on top of the car for a long trip which doesn’t sound very small animal friendly.

    Mitt’s sense of humor is so lame (even worse than George Bush) and his personality is totally uninteresting, not even a spark of pizzazz whatsoever. I’d bet that he didn’t have a chance of being re-elected governor in large part because he probably bored everyone to sleep.

  40. 40.

    beltane

    How does Mitt do it? He almost, almost, makes George W. Bush seem warm and charming in comparison. That magic underwear must be very powerful.

  43. 43.

    harlana

    personally, i think you would have to be mentally ill to be able to Mitt’s wife, or any of these bastards’ wives

  45. 45.

    harlana

    i have my problems, no question about it, but at least i’m not crazy or craven enough to be chained to some evil fuckwad just for some money and prestige or because i think God will punish me, these women are major sellouts who sell out and degrade their own sex

  46. 46.

    trollhattan

    @Brachiator:

    Ugh. I hope those kids make it, but lord knows what sort of life awaits them.

    My brain is already working on likely wingnut responses to this tale. Gotta stop and go do anything else.

  48. 48.

    harlana

    @beltane:

    How does Mitt do it? He almost, almost, makes George W. Bush seem warm and charming in comparison.

    isn’t it just absolutely cold-sweat terrifying that it has come to this? i mean, Newt makes Cheney look warm and charming!

  50. 50.

    lamh35

    Ugh dumb freakin’ mofo:

    Rick Perry Issues Nasty Statement Condemning Obama’s Push To Protect LGBT Human Rights

    …This is just the most recent example of an administration at war with people of faith in this country. Investing tax dollars promoting a lifestyle many Americas of faith find so deeply objectionable is wrong.
    “President Obama has again mistaken America’s tolerance for different lifestyles with an endorsement of those lifestyles. I will not make that mistake.”

  54. 54.

    Stillwater

    I just read this at ESPN:

    [The Penn State President] said the leadership of a committee checking into the allegations should lend confidence “that there will be no whitewash … no sweeping under the rug.”
    __
    Still, many faculty members voiced skepticism about the intentions of the investigators and trustees.
    __
    Trustees have appointed former FBI director Louis Freeh to lead the probe…

    Heh.

  55. 55.

    harlana

    ugh, the specter of Gingrich and Trump together, could they be the two ugliest human beings on earth? they almost make Ron Paul look devilishly handsome.

  58. 58.

    Mike in NC

    The Daily Show covered the Romneys-on-the-cover-of-Parade-magazine absurdity last night. Good stuff.

  59. 59.

    4jkb4ia

    At the opposite pole of the musical universe, I am watching my great guilty pleasure, Michael Buble, and both he and “The Sing-Off” opened the show with “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”. I suppose no one could get sick of that.

    Not that I am not the perfect Michael Buble demographic…

  60. 60.

    JoeShabadoo

    I don’t see this as bad. It just isn’t what you tell the news when your husband had a job where his he was paid to essentially put people out of work.

    The guard plays a joke on him by shortsheeting his bed and Mitt cleverly gets him back by making him think his joke backfired.From the type of joke it is obvious that these kind of things weren’t uncommon so I dont’ get the big deal.

    Not a single person was hurt and Mitt turned the tables on the prankster. A classic way of turning the tables on any prankster is by making them think their harmless joke somehow had real life consequences.

    If the guy put peanut butter in Mitt’s magic underwear and after Mitt put it on he fibbed and said he was allergic to peanuts making the guard freak out and look for something to help everyone would see it as funny. The only bad part of the joke Mitt’s wife mentions is the optics for a man in Mitt’s position.

  62. 62.

    PurpleGirl

    @trollhattan: No, you don’t want to envision winger comments. I, unfortunately read some of the comments at Reuters and then I needed to play a jigsaw game for a while. I think it’s a sad story; Texas should have given her temporary food help while she got together all the documentation they wanted. It’s possible that some papers got lost or misplaced in her move.

  63. 63.

    PurpleGirl

    @WereBear (itouch): I voted for Rev Al in a Democratic primary some years ago. On one of the Sunday morning talk shows he was the only person making sense and talking about ISSUES. The other two Democrats were picking at each other, acting like little children.

  65. 65.

    bob h

    Young Mitt evidently left Stanford after freshman year to be closer to this woman at Brigham Young. That is really a bit immature.

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