Letters: Romney, then and now

Re “Mitt Romney: The early years,” Opinion, May 13

Michael Kinsley asks if Mitt Romney’s reported high school antic almost 50 years ago of forcibly cutting off another student’s hair should affect our assessment of him as a potential president.

If Romney had told us that yes, he did it, that he should not have done it and that he was sorry, the case would have been closed. But Romney told us that he doesn’t remember the incident.

The things I did in high school still come vividly to mind after more than 60 years. This leads me to believe either that Romney has a terrible memory or that he chooses not to tell the truth.

In my opinion, either reason disqualifies him for the presidency.

Leroy Miller

West Hills

I am appalled that Americans are placing so much emphasis on a prank Romney played in high school. With an 8.1% unemployment rate and a nuclear threat in Iran, I can’t help being upset with how fixated Americans are on a prank pulled almost half a century ago.

In high school, I had pranks pulled on me and I pulled pranks on others. Today, at age 26, those pranks have in no way defined who I am. This episode shows us what we already knew: Politics brings out the worst kind of mudslinging from both the right and the left.

I hope, come November, that candidates and voters will have set aside these pseudo-issues and are focused on what affects the future of our country.

Brett Ressler

La Habra

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