The beating of Romney's heart of pure silver

Poor Mitt, Born with a silver foot in his mouth.

This week, he got into trouble during an interview with Soledad O'Brien when he said this:

This is a time people are worried. They're frightened. They want someone who they have confidence in. And I believe I will be able to instill that confidence in the American people. And, by the way, I'm in this race because I care about Americans. I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it. I'm not concerned about the very rich, they're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart of America -- the 90-95% of Americans who right now are struggling.

In his ham-handed way, Mitt was actually sounding compassionate, even if he was wrong. The rich, with their wealth and connections, are fine. The poor, with their safety net (however threadbare and inadequate) are also fine. He wants to focus on the middle class, which has enough money to pay its own way, but not enough to move ahead or up.

Though I am far from being a Mitt supporter, I can almost see where he is coming from.

To me, the fire should be directed, not at Mitt, but at the rest of the field, which does not see the need for a social safety net at all. Mitt may be a bumbler, but the rest -- with their insincere talk of replacing the safety net with a trampoline -- are positively poison for the poor. Not that the poor shouldn't have the chance to bounce out of poverty. Other than by metaphorically, none of the Reps have proposed any means -- except to lower taxes on millionaires-- that could bounce the poor anywhere but down the rocky slope of destitution.

So give Mitt a break -- he grossly overestimates the value of the safety net, but at least he says he believes in it and has pledged to patch it. But I am a realist: Let's see how long it takes for him to walk back this little sliver of compassion!