No wonder Mitt Romney seemed like a data-driven robot when he praised Michigan for its trees Thursday -- "I love this state. It seems right here. Trees are the right height." He didn't always feel that way. Far from a treehugger, his own mother once revealed him to be a treepuncher.

Here's Romney talking about his dendrophilia in Michigan on Thursday:

But his mom, Lenore Romney, told a different tale to the Boston Herald's Andrew Miga in 1994:

Romney's mother Lenore, 85, recalled toting her teen-age son along during her raucuous 1970 Senate campaign. 'He wanted to punch anyone who didn't like his dad,' she recalled. 'I told him if he did that he was through. I told him to go over and punch a tree if he was that mad - and he did.'

He punched a tree. Not just any tree, a Michigan tree. Was this tree not the right height, Mr. Romney? Which side of the tree-love issue are you really on?

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Elspeth Reeve