Jabber, I don't know what to think of the reports about Romney dressing up as a fireman, a policeman, etc. when he was a kid. Probably the incidents are just childhood pranks being "spun" into something more by some bloggers.

When you Google on "Romney and fireman costume" you'll see that most of the articles listed are written by media sources for which I have no knowledge of their personal agendas -- and I've never heard of before.

The only source I'd give credence to is The Atlantic Wire which I believe is the online version of The Atlantic magazine.

I do suspect the stories are true, however, since some Romney spokesperson has actually spoken up to correct -- not deny -- the stories.

For example, in the fireman costume story, the Romney staffer says Romney was holding a fire hose when he ran through the store -- not an axe, as the original blog post reports.

I'm guessing that in Romney's youth these incidents were simply considered to have been fun and elaborate pranks.

I believe it's a "guy thing:" I know both my brother and my son have told me of pranks they and their friends played on each other. And in MY high school class some unknown pranksters somehow managed to get a car on the roof of the three story high school. No one knows who did it -- but whoever they are, they repeated the prank during the time of our 25th high school reunion. (I heard a rumor that it was a lot harder to do at 40 than it was at 18.)