Mitt Romney is Having a Worse Week Than You Are

Yes, he can go cry in his giant piles of money, but it’s not easy being Mitt Romney. The head of Romney’s Idaho campaign, Larry Craig, pleaded guilty to charges he solicited sex in an Minnesota bathroom. Today, the Herald reports that Romney and his staffers love imported cars, even after Romney encouraged support for the American-made brands. D’oh.

The morally impeccable Romney apparently attracts many staffers who don’t seem to meet his high ethical standards. Earlier this summer, Romney staffer Jay Garrity resigned amid charges that he produced fake police badges. With this week’s revelation that his one-time friend from Idaho has an airport solicitation issue, Romney is scrambling to stop the bad press. His campaign took down a YouTube endorsement from Craig, only to find the internet forgets nothing and the video is back up.

John Dickerson at Slate says Romney “shiv[ed] his pal Larry Craig” in a piece that utterly decimates the idea that Romney can campaign on his moral authority when he threw one of his friends under the bus so quickly. Dickerson uses an example from the Goldwater/Johnson campaign to show how politicians should handle unsavory stories about staffers:

In October [1964], the Goldwater campaign learned that Walter Jenkins, LBJ’s closest aide, had been arrested on a “morals charge” in the YMCA bathroom. . . . Goldwater’s aides wanted to use the scandal against Johnson, who was well ahead in the polls. . . . [A]s Goldwater later wrote, “It was a sad time for Jenkins’ wife and children, and I was not about to add to their private sorrow. Winning isn’t everything. Some things, like loyalty to friends or lasting principle, are more important.”

Wait for the zinger:

Mitt, you’re no Barry Goldwater.

Ouch.

We’re not sure how Goldwater felt about American cars, but we sure know how Romney has said he felt about domestic cars:

. . . Romney has touted American-made cars, including during his presidential kickoff speech at the Ford Museum. At the event, he stood in front of a Ford hybrid SUV and a white Nash Rambler as a soundtrack of all-American music played at the event.

“This place is about innovation – innovation and transformation – which have been at the heart of America’s success,” he said.

This is the problem with talking about morallity and ethics in terms of absolutes. Since Mitt’s owned a slew of pricey foreign vehicles in the past, and his sons also all own foreign cars does this mean they are not invested in America’s success?

With this news and the news that Romney owned stock in YES, the sworn enemy of all that is good and true, we expect to hear any day now that Mitt keeps a Big Love DVD in his sock drawer. Who will be our moral paragon now, Mitt? Ted Kennedy?