Free advice for candidates: Don’t turn your mom into a human shield. Moms will 1) tell you exactly what’s on their minds if you ask and 2) say out loud what they know their children are thinking. And those aren’t always good things when you’re, uh, running for president:

Via AP, McCain tries to clean up:

John McCain’s 95-year-old mother, in a swipe at her son’s rival Mitt Romney, said Friday that Mormons were to blame for the scandal that rocked the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

During an appearance on MSNBC, Roberta McCain laid out why her son, John, deserves to win the Republican presidential nomination. But in evaluating McCain’s primary rivals, she criticized Romney’s Mormon faith and his time in Salt Lake City.

“As far as the Salt Lake City thing, he’s a Mormon and the Mormons of Salt Lake City had caused that scandal. And to clean that up, again, it’s not a subject,” Roberta McCain said.

John McCain quickly stepped in: “The views of my mothers are not necessarily the views of mine.”

“Well, that’s my view and you asked me,” Roberta answered…

…Roberta McCain immediately apologized to her son.

“I didn’t mean to say it,” she said as they stepped away from the cameras.

Perhaps it’s the son who should apologize for dragging Mom in front of the cameras and subjecting her to Chris Matthews’ unbearable cackle (not to mention the repeated references to Sen. McCain as the elderly Roberta McCain’s “husband”). For what?