Romney's Distancing Act

Responding to a question about his Mormon faith at tonight's debate, Mitt Romney gave a brief testimony to his believe in God, his belief that Jesus was his savior, and his belief that individual rights are a gift from God. A nice testimony to Christian belief, but nothing particularly Mormon about that.

There was nothing particularly Mormon about his follow-up either. "There are some pundits out there who are hoping that I'm going to distance myself from my church to help me politically."

Of course, what Romney was doing was distancing himself from Mormonism by refusing to name it while still claiming that he would not "distance myself from my church."

It was a kind of slick manuever that Romney's so good at. But Romney's so transparently dishonest in his slickness that I bet people reach for their wallets when he's around to make sure he doesn't their pockets.

I have to admit that it's working for him though. I saw one poll where Mitt was up to 15% and had replaced McCain in third place.

Obviously, Republicans don't mind getting their pockets picked.