Update 11:21 a.m.  The Washington Post is reporting that Mitt Romney has apologized for his bullying ways."Back in high school, I did some dumb things and if anybody was hurt by that or offended, obviously I apologize for that," Romney said this morning. Adding, "I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school and some might have gone too far and for that, I apologize."

Original : Look, we aren't proud of our high school ways.  But it turns out back in the day at the Cranbook School, if you were gay, had uncool hair, were a near-sighted teacher, or weren't rich, Mitt Romney would've probably bullied you for he was a feared "Day Student," a menacing "Cranny" if you will. 

The Washington Post's Jason Horowitz has a troublesome profile about the tyranny of a high school-aged Mitt Romney, gleaned from interviews with a bevy of his Cranbrook classmates.  Horowitz examines the logistics and hierarchy of the popular kids at Cranbrook ("day students" were cool because they weren't boarding there, Romney was a day student), but most importantly, since Romney is seeking the Republican nominee for president, the way Romney interacted with gay students (he called one "a girl"), how he treated his elders (he pranked one and slammed or "bidded" the same, vision-impaired teacher into a closed door), and how obsessed he was with wealth (“He wanted to know what my father did for a living ... He wanted to know if my mother worked. He wanted to know what town I lived in").

Of course, if you were so inclined, you could draw parallels between Romney's teenaged Cranbrook self and his current presidential platform. Anti-gay, pro-wealth, anti-old--fits nicely right?  And it's definitely a shock from Romney's effusive and played out "Nice guy" schtick. But it's this one instance, of Romney terror that we just couldn't shake:

He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!” an incensed Romney told Matthew Friedemann, his close friend in the Stevens Hall dorm, according to Friedemann’s recollection. Mitt, the teenaged son of Michigan Gov. George Romney, kept complaining about Lauber’s look, Friedemann recalled.

A few days later, Friedemann entered Stevens Hall off the school’s collegiate quad to find Romney marching out of his own room ahead of a prep school posse shouting about their plan to cut Lauber’s hair. Friedemann followed them to a nearby room where they came upon Lauber, tackled him and pinned him to the ground. As Lauber, his eyes filling with tears, screamed for help, Romney repeatedly clipped his hair with a pair of scissors.

As Horowitz notes, Romney's spokespeople say that the candidate couldn't recall this or any instances mentioned in the report. Funny how that works, since Romney has been really good at remembering things from his past, even if they didn't happen or if they occurred before he was born.

For the full story head on over to The Washington Post.

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Alexander Abad-Santos