In South Carolina, just over a week ago, Mitt Romney declared, “I don’t have lobbyists running my campaign.”

It is a statement that is true, only if carefully parsed.

Here is the video of Romney being confronted by AP reporter Glen Johnson.

Coming out of his primary victory in Michigan, Romney has begun positioning himself as the Washington Outsider, railing against the failed policies of Washington DC Politics-as-usual. A populist of sorts, vowing to fight for every single good job, although his past business record suggests something quite different.

A quick check of the number of his K Street endorsements (more than any other Republican) shows the “Washington Outsider” role to be only a matter of creative casting:

Phil Anderson (Navigators)
Alexander Annett (Patton Boggs)
Elliott Berke (Barbour, Griffith & Rogers)
Henry Bonilla (The Normandy Group)
Michael Bromberg (Capitol Health Group)
Cesar Conda (Navigators)
John Feore (Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal)
Amy Flachbart (K&L Gates)
Ben Ginsberg (Patton Boggs)
Nate Gatten (American Capitol Group)
Gregg Hartley (Cassidy & Associates)
Ron Kaufman (Dutko Worldwide)
Ed Kutler (Clark & Weinstock)
Drew Maloney (Ogilvy Government Relations)
Fred McClure (Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal)
Phil Musser (New Frontier Strategy)
Darryl Nirenberg (Patton Boggs)
David Norcross (Blank Rome)
Jason Roe (Federal Strategy Group)
Bill Simmons (Dutko Worldwide)
David Tamasi (Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide)
Robb Watters (The Madison Group)
Vin Weber (Clark & Weinstock)
Tom Worrall (Whitmer & Worrall)
Bill Wichterman* (Covington & Burling)

Mitt Romney: say anything, promise everything, accomplish nothing.

Mitt Romney: If you don’t like his positions, just stick around a few months. He’ll change.

From Washington Times:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, has written a book about the Boy Scouts, and he includes a less-than-flattering story about Mitt Romney, suggesting that the Republican presidential hopeful bowed to the homosexual rights lobby during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Here is a portion of what Mr. Perry had to say about Mr. Romney in the new book, “On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For,” due out in February from Stroud & Hall Publishers:

“The ACLU’s ‘fingerprints’ aren’t on every effort to deny the Boy Scouts access to public facilities and events, though chances are they cheer when kindred groups initiate such efforts. Take the case of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. In the planning stages, when it was faltering financially, Mitt Romney stepped in as president and chief executive officer. He soon straightened things out and set plans in motion to make it a success.

“In 2000 he put out a published call for volunteers … The Great Salt Lake Council of the BSA, the largest in the nation, with some 80,000 Scouts and 35,000 adult leaders, answered Romney’s call for volunteers.”

“Some time that fall, however, the Scouts were advised that they were no longer welcome to participate. Chief Scout Executive for the Council, Marty Latimer said, ‘We don’t understand what’s wrong. They just don’t want us and won’t talk to us.’ He said that Romney had not returned calls from several Scout executives seeking an explanation. The Council’s President R. Lawry Hunsaker expressed surprise that Romney had ignored Scout leaders for he had once been a Scout and a Scout leader himself. ‘We can’t get him to return our calls.’ ”

This is the best idea of Campaign 2008, from either party.

Go Mike!

From the Associated Press:

A teenage passenger from California was arrested in Nashville for plotting to hijack a plane from Los Angeles to Nashville, the FBI said Friday.

FBI spokesman George Bolds told The Associated Press the 16-year-old boy was removed from Southwest Airlines Flight 284 Tuesday night by authorities at Nashville International Airport and found with “suspicious” items.

Bolds said the teen had handcuffs, rope and duct tape in his bag and was believed to be traveling alone. The juvenile’s name has not been released.

“His plan had a low probability of success,” Bolds said. …

Bolds dismissed earlier broadcast reports that the teen was planning to crash the plane into a “Hannah Montana” concert in Lafayette, La.

Bolds said it has not been determined if the boy was trying to crash the plane. He said authorities searched the teen’s home in California and found a mock cockpit.

The teen is believed to be suicidal, Bolds said. Bolds said he could not comment further on the teen’s mental condition because he is a minor.

This is just bizarre.