Seems Like The Worst Move In The World, But That's Just Me

Mitt Romney, seeing his personal fortune ground into a second-place finish in Iowa, is going where no Republican has dared to go in this race: he's praising President Bush.

ABC News’ John Berman Reports: Standing on the banks of the chilly Mississippi River in Davenport, Iowa, Mitt Romney gave a great big political bear-hug to President Bush. Praising the president’s foreign policy, Romney said, “I believe that our president has acted in good faith, and in an effort to protect his country, and do everything in his power to keep America safe.”

Bush has been without majority public support for 35 months straight, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released in December, with only 33 percent approving of the president’s job performance. So, why would a candidate show so much love for a president so low in public opinion polls?

Good question. But Romney doesn't have a choice. He's being torched by Huckabee in Iowa, and nobody's talking to the bitter-enders, the Bush=R0XX0R crowd, so he's drawing a distinction with the guy who claimed Bush had an arrogant bunker mentality.

Of course, once the election's over, if Romney winds up with the nomination, he has this recent record of cozying up to the most unpopular President in American history. But changing his position at the drop of a hat has never been a problem for him before.

P.S. How does he wriggle out of claiming his dad marched with MLK even though there's no record of it at all?