Mitt Romney: Just Like Bozo, but Without the Clown Nose

You know, I’ve come around on the Romney campaign. I’m a guy who likes a good laugh, and he’s certainly provided more than a few since getting into the race. Let’s see, there was his botched use of “Cuba Libre.” There was that time he told the story about strapping his dog to the roof for a 12-hour car ride, sans bathroom breaks. There was the recent break-in at his campaign headquarters in the North End and his staff’s nothing-to-see-here response. And then there was the aide who made up fake law enforcement badges so that Ol’ Mitt could rush here and there without being hindered. That last one is my favorite.

Actually, correction, that one was my favorite. I have a new favorite now, and, as always, it’s equal parts ridiculous, juvenile and comical.

The latest yuk? This bit about Romney’s people not-so-surreptitiously creating a website called—wait for its simple genius—www.phonyfred.org. Among other things, the site (which has since been taken down) called Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson: Phony Fred, Fancy Fred, Five O’Clock Fred, Moron Fred, Playboy Fred, Pro-Choice Fred and, irony of ironies, Flip-Flop Fred.

Apparently, the site was created by a guy named Wes Donahue, a vice president for a firm called Tompkins, Thompson and Sullivan. One of the partners at said firm, Warren Tompkins, is an advisor to the Romney campaign. (Sweet Lord, that’s only two degrees of separation. The Republicans are getting sloppy. Back when CREEP corned the market on dirty tricks, at least they tried to insulate Nixon.)

Not surprisingly, Fred Thompson’s people weren’t overly thrilled by the half-assed (though humorous) attempt to take shots at their guy. They issued a statement yesterday that fired back at Romney for the stunt and for paying Tompkins “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to engineer the debacle. The best part, though, was that all this went down on Sept. 11. And we all know that politicians can’t get out of their own way on Sept. 11. Here’s what Romney spokesperson Kevin Madden had to say about Thompson’s people daring to defend their candidate on such an important day.

“Today is a day of remembrance, and should be a day without political statements or attacks on opposing campaigns,” Madden said. “Our campaign is focused on running a campaign about issues that are important to the American people.”

It’s so good, it’s nearly impossible to believe. God Bless America.