We're still monitoring Mitt Romney for the moment in which his bottled-up frustrations rise to an unsustainable level and he explodes, in triumphant fashion. But what would it look like? Well, there'd be body parts to go along with the machine parts laying all over the place, of course, since it would be an explosion. But stories of his previous outbursts offer some clues for what the build-up to the final blast might look like.

The New Republic has a story up about "the peculiar anger of Mitt Romney." As others have noted, it doesn't build a strong case that Romney is a regularly angry person—it only dredges up a handful of stories of him losing his temper over the last thirty years. But that's why it's Romney-peculiar! Everyone gets angry in one way or another, and Romney tends to lose it during hilarious flash points after putting on displays of forced affability for years at a time.

Anyway, here's a funny story of Romney getting mad, and instantly trying to bottle it back up:

Two decades later, at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, Romney found himself stuck in a huge traffic backup on the road to the men's downhill ski area, because some buses had not received the proper security-clearance placards and were being prevented from proceeding. Romney, who had organized the Salt Lake Olympics, jumped out to take charge. He started directing traffic, over the objections of a sheriff's deputy, Kodi Taggart; she later filed a report on Romney's interference. And he lit into an 18-year-old volunteering as a security officer, Shaun Knopp. Knopp told reporters that Romney had asked "who the fuck" he was and "what the fuck" he was doing and had then told him, "We got the Olympics going on, and we don't need this shit going on." Romney denied this at the time, saying he had not used such language since high school. "I would not, have not, and never would use the f-word," he said. The worst word he used with Knopp, he said, was "H-E double hockey sticks."

What does that spell? Let's consult an intern... HELL, he's saying? That's even worse! And it's exactly where he's going now — the Mormon version, that is — for this admission of cursing as well as his history of smoking a cigarette and having a beer that one time.

[Image via AP]