Asked in a public question-and-answer session about his past support for a cap-and-trade-like program limiting carbon emissions, Pawlenty answered: “It was a mistake, it was stupid and I’m sorry.”

And then he kept going.

“I don’t try to defend it. Everybody’s got a couple of clunkers in their record,” Pawlenty continued, repeating: “I don’t try to defend it. It was dumb.”…

Romney spoke later in the program — and sure enough, moderator Tim Phillips of the AFP Foundation asked him whether he had been right to sign the health care law.