How's that shoe leather tasting, Mitt?

"I'm not concerned with the very poor in this country.  We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it."  --Mitt Romney, in an interview with Soledad O'Brien, February 1, 2012

Ouch, Mitt!  Bet you wish you could take that one back.

Here you are, fresh off a big victory in Florida, where you put a foot to Newt Gingrich's ass (and thank you for that), established yourself not just as the front-runner, but as the inevitable nominee, and had things looking nice and rosy... and then you go and do this.

It's like telling an obscene joke at a wedding banquet.  It can really take the air out of the room.

Now, not even two days after your big victory, you've got not only Democrats, but Newt and the Tea Party calling you an out-of-touch, blue-blooded patrician with no understanding of the common man.  (I know, Mitt.  I know.  The very nerve of it!)

I don't think you're a bad guy.  Sure, you threw a little mud down there in Florida, but you weren't eager about it.  And I don't blame you.  Newt Gingrich brings that out in people.

But now you go and say this, and it reinforces everything they've been saying.  Not that what they've been saying is wrong.  Of course you're out-of-touch!  You are a blue-blooded patrician!  But, at least up to now, you'd managed to cast a little doubt on the assumption.

A pity, old chum.  That bit of mummery is at an end.

To add to your misery, Newt exposed some very big weaknesses in your candidacy.  Your role in and ties to Bain Capital, for example.  Even now, no doubt, there are squadrons of snoopy reporters poring over those books.  Who knows what they might turn up?  Who knows what your enemies in the GOP might give them?

But, see, Mitt, here's the thing:  I really don't think you're a bad guy.  I don't think you're indifferent to poor people.  You're a Mormon, and the Mormons I've known are, by and large, first-rate people.

I suspect that you said what you did because you thought it was what Republican primary voters wanted to hear.  It came from your politician brain, not your human heart.  This isn't the first time that you've done it either.  You've changed your positions on so many issues that no one can keep track of them all.

And that's what bothers me most about it.  You'll say anything, but you won't ever say what is important to you.  Why would anyone trust a guy like that to be President?

Not that I was going to vote for you anyway.