“Congressional Republicans are worried Mitt Romney’s propensity for verbal gaffes will hurt him in the fall.

“The former Massachusetts governor has had a series of foot-in-mouth moments that have set off alarm bells for the GOP and brought on gleeful attacks from Democrats…

“‘Mr. Romney, unfortunately and through no fault of his own whatsoever, is almost the ideal caricature for the ‘divide America’ strategy of Barack Obama. It’s going to be important for him to be aware of that,’ [GOP Rep. Trent] Franks said.”

“Last Fall, a Fox News poll found that a Trump endorsement might actually hurt a candidate, rather than help; 31 percent of voters said a Trump endorsement would make them less likely to vote for a candidate, while 62 percent said it would make no difference, and just 6 percent said it would make them more likely to vote for a candidate.

“Nevertheless, there was Romney, with his wife, Ann, standing beside Trump in a brief announcement — no questions allowed — at the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. And just as with the ‘very poor’ remark, Romney found himself the target of derision from all sides. ‘Trump is a tax-hiking, missile-defense-opposing, universal-health-care-advocating, eminent-domain abusing, Dem-donating clown,’ tweeted National Review Online’s Dan Foster. ‘Now that Romney has nailed down the coveted birther/reality-TV-has-been demographic, he truly looks unstoppable,’ tweeted the lefty writer Chris Lehmann.”

“Now, any of Trump’s crazy statements, past or future, can be linked to Romney in a 30-second attack ad by showing footage from today’s circus. The DNC could put out an ad, for instance, of Trump’s birther statements spliced together with clips of Romney and Trump. For Democrats, it’s a gift that will keep giving should Romney become the nominee.

“A number of theories have been floated as to why Romney would want to do this: To thwart Newt Gingrich who had indulged Trump, to prevent a third party run, and perhaps to appeal to a certain subset of the Republican Party. Politico reports that, ‘A Romney adviser said Thursday that Trump continues to have a following among very conservative voters…’ I doubt many conservatives who didn’t support Romney up till now will be swayed by this, that Trump would have presented much of a threat had he endorsed Newt Gingrich, or that he would have actually run as a third party candidate. But even so, this announcement doesn’t prevent Trump from running as a third party candidate if he actually wanted to. And seriously, Romney wants to be president and he’s so afraid of what Trump will do that he goes to his Las Vegas hotel to publicly kiss his ring? As Tony Blair once said, ‘Weak. Weak. Weak.'”

“Later in her appearance, Hannity asked Coulter who she thought Romney should surround himself with as president. She said that she ‘better have his ear’ and recalled an encounter with Romney.

“‘Did I tell you I met him at a fundraiser?’ Coulter said. ‘I went up to him. I was about to leave. But I said — I just wanted to go up to him and tell him, ‘You owe me and you better be as right-wing a president as I’m telling everybody you’re going to be.””

Via Mediaite.

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