But watch yer ass…

With the passing of each and every day we see that Bain Capital Master of the Universe Mitt Romney is in not one to suffer being questioned by his lessers:

A defensive Romney was peppered with questions today on exactly what he meant when he said — most recently on Meet the Press — that he "saw" his father march with Martin Luther King Jr. Recent articles have indicated that his father, the late Michigan Gov. George Romney, didn’t march with the civil-rights leader.

Admitting that he didn’t see the march with his own eyes, he said, "I ‘saw’ him in the figurative sense."

"The reference of seeing my father lead in civil rights," he said, "and seeing my father march with Martin Luther King is in the sense of this figurative awareness of and recognition of his leadership."

"I’ve tried to be as accurate as I can be," he continued, smiling firmly. "If you look at the literature or look at the dictionary, the term ‘saw’ includes being aware of — in the sense I’ve described." The questioning did not relent. "I’m an English literature major," he insisted at one point. "When we say I saw the Patriots win the World Series, it doesn’t necessarily mean you were there." (He meant the Super Bowl, of course.)

We will pause here to interject that Romney once said that his favorite novel was Battlefield Earth, and I’ll go out on a limb and say that he is probably the only English literature major to name that book as his favorite. Ever.

Sorry, Mitt. You were saying?

The back-and-forth continued to go south for Romney, who had intended for the story of the day to be about his slams on Mike Huckabee for easing penalties for meth users. Romney had to correct an earlier statement that he had himself "gotten tough on methamphetamine" (His proposed legislation as governor never made it through the Massachusetts House.)

"I’m making sure that that’s correct as quickly as I possibly can," he said. "If there’s any confusion there I’m sorry for any confusion."

Romney was increasingly exasperated with the questioning, especially when a reporter tied in these instances of word-parsing with the governor’s past missteps on the trail — such as his suggestion that he was endorsed by the NRA.

"Again, you can decide to hyper-analyze a word and try and create an impression that would not be accurate," he responded. "Frankly, I didn’t realize that the NRA had an official endorsement program that was different than them phone-banking for me."

‘I didn’t apply for that, wasn’t aware of it," he added.

Romney added with a weary smile that he knows that his words will be scrutinized, and that he’s "up for it."

"If now and then I miss a word or I get something slightly wrong, I’ll correct it, acknowledge what’s wrong. But the overall thrust, the overall meaning of the story is very accurate."

Except that it isn’t and the condescension act ("I’m an English literature major…") isn’t going to play very well with the press unless he’s got a Karl Rove or Karen Hughes up his sleeve to run interference for him or enforce media discipline. This isn’t the first time that Mitt has gotten snippy with the press:

Romney got aggressive with reporters after a military-focused event early this afternoon. Several times Romney tried to move on from reporters trying to ask follow-ups or not take certain questions in one of the largest and testiest gaggles he’s had on the trail. He was deluged with questions about his speech, and specifically about the line, "freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom."

[...]

Near the end of press conference here after an Ask Mitt Anything town hall, he was asked if he thought a non-spiritual person could be a free person, and he returned with: "Of course not, that’s not what I said." Pressed again about the freedom requiring religion line, he said, "I was talking about the nation."

He was also pressed about the politics of his speech and reiterated, "You know, that’s not what the speech was about," and then again said it was about the role of faith in America. Romney was also grilled on the lawn service company that he used at his home in Belmont and how it had employed illegal immigrants, which he came under fire for about a year ago and the problem has since resurfaced.

Asked if he should take additional precautions, he said, "It’s not something as a homeowner that I’m able to do, and it’s not something which is available under our current system in this country."

After being pressed again, he turned the question back at the reporter and asked if he should ask every waiter in each restaurant he dines in if they are legal. Romney tried instead to tout his own employee verification system to identify illegal immigrants and suggested that the onus should fall on employers, not homeowners.

Romney was then asked about his rhetoric on sacrifices from the American people during war, but a reporter charged that his answer could be expected during peace time and what did he think about war. Romney shot back, "next question."

You know, the press was willing to put up with this kind of crap from Bush because he was reportedly the kind of guy they could have a beer with; but with Mormon boy, that’s not really an option.

The real problem here is that Mitt really believes that he is the answer to all of life’s problems. He has his Stepford family, his big bank account, and his resume and he’s not going to let some ink-stained wretches keep him from his destiny.

Pull up a chair. This ought to be fun.