How else to explain the ludicrous story at Breitbart claiming the entire story of Romney's high school gay-bashing has "imploded." The reason for this assertion is that the Post did indeed get something wrong – one of the sources had not "long been bothered" by an incident he didn't witness. He found out about it when the Post called. And the Post should have added a formal correction than just fixing a sentence. [Update: they are now adding an Editors' Note.] But this information changes nothing about the core of the story, still testified to by others and not denied by Romney.
One of John Lauber's sisters, quoted in the story, says she did not know of the incident at the time. But a kid who, after the assault and battery, cut his hair short to conform to Romney's strictures, was not likely to tell others of what happened. The victims of bullies often feel shame and keep quiet. So no logic there either. The Breitbart piece also claims other factual inaccuracies but without citing any specifics, it's impossible to judge.
But the weirdest point is that somehow the fact that John Lauber went on to live a full life disproves he was traumatized. How? Plenty of bullied gay kids go on to recover and live full lives. It gets better, remember? I'm with Joe Klein (as always) on this:
I’m still waiting for the moment when Romney actually tells the truth about something difficult.
He could have said, “You know, I’ve been troubled by the Cranbrook episode for most of my life, and I feel relieved, in a way, that it’s come out now. I did a really stupid and terrible thing. Teenage boys sometimes do such things, and deserve to be punished for them. What I most regret is that I never apologized to John, and won’t be able to now that he’s gone, but let me apologize to his family and friends. Bullying is unacceptable under any circumstances. It is especially unacceptable when prejudice–against race, ethnicity or sexual orientation–is involved. If elected President, I will try to atone for my teenage behavior by campaigning against bullying all across this country. What I did back then should be an example of how not to behave. I hope we can all learn from this. I know that I have.”
Instead, Romney has a near-perfect record of cowardice, obfuscation and downright lies. It shows enormous disrespect for the intelligence of the public.
The Dish 