Howard Fineman: Romney bullied in order to show he was an ‘alpha male pack leader’

Matt K. Lewis Senior Contributor
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What caused a young Mitt Romney to bully another student fifty years ago? Assuming the event happened (Romney says he doesn’t remember), we will probably never know the full story.

But the Huffington Post’s Howard Fineman is convinced it did happen. And he even has a theory behind it. Appearing on Wednesday’s episode of ESPN’s “The Tony Kornheiser Show” (recently selected as one of my 5 favorite podcasts), Fineman put forth this hypothesis:

I think I know what happened with Mitt Romney in this part of his life. Mitt Romney’s not an athlete. He was the manager of the ice hockey team. He was a cheerleader. And so, I think in that environment … he’s the son of a governor. He’s a big shot. He joins every group. He wants to show that he’s a tough guy.

And how — in those days — did you show that you’re a tough guy? You lead a group against a non-conformist. You show that you’re an alpha male pack leader in that way.

This, of course, is a lot of speculation. But who knows?

Fineman didn’t limit his speculation to Romney. He also presented speculated on why President Obama embraced gay marriage. “I think Barack Obama has always viewed himself as someone who makes history,” he said. “He did it because he wanted to make history. Barack Obama is about making history.”

Matt K. Lewis