In an interview on CNN, Romney told Soledad O’Brien: “I’m not concerned about the very poor.” Quote, unquote. What a disaster. What was he thinking?

Now, to be fair, in context, Romney was trying to say: I don’t care about the very poor, or the very rich, I’m concerned about all Americans – and, especially, middle-class Americans.

But that’s not what he said. Again, what he said was: “I’m not concerned about the very poor.” And that was a huge gaffe.

In itself, it might not be so serious. But, for Romney, it ranks right up there with other monumental gaffes, like: “I like firing people.” And: “Wanna bet $10,000.” And “I made a little bit of money giving speeches, not so much.” Which turned out to be $375,00. And “the banks aren’t bad people.”

Taken together, they portray Romney just as he is: a man hopelessly out of touch with average Americans. A man who has no idea what it’s like, after busting your butt, to struggle to pay your bills at the end of the month.

But, at least, Romney is speaking the truth. He, in fact, does not care about the very poor. Or the middle class.

That’s my parting shot for today.

You must admit, it’s had its memorable moments. Like Donald Trump, making a big issue out of President Obama’s birth certificate – and then getting destroyed at the White House Correspondents Association.

Or, like Michele Bachmann, saying how happy she was to be in the state that gave us Lexington and Concord – even though she was standing in New Hampshire, not Massachusetts.

But, by far, the best moment happened this weekend: when Herman Cain endorsed Newt Gingrich for president.

Now, first of all, this is Cain’s second endorsement. I was there, in Charleston, South Carolina, when – on stage with Stephen Colbert – he endorsed “we, the people” for president. Why did he throw us overboard? What are we? Chicken soup?

But, the more I think about it, the more I realize this makes sense. Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich? The serial sexual harasser joins forces with the serial adulterer. What a perfect team!

Do you think Newt gave Herman some tips on how to succeed in marriage? Or was it the other way around?

One thing for sure: With these two cats, you can no longer call the Republican Party the party of family values.

That’s my parting shot for today.

Tribune Media Services

Political junkies like me have never seen anything like it: Running 20 points behind, just a week before the South Carolina primary, Newt Gingrich catapulted to the top of the pile and ended up defeating Mitt Romney by 12 points. It’s almost enough to make a believer out of you.

Indeed, his 32-point tour-de-force in just seven days is stunning, given that Gingrich, whose entire campaign staff walked out on him last summer, ran an embarrassing fourth in Iowa and New Hampshire. It’s all the more remarkable when you realize that his entire campaign is based on three big lies: he’s a Washington outsider; he’s not a lobbyist; and he’s a small-government conservative. Liar, liar, pants on fire!

Only if you define “outsider” as someone born outside of Washington could Gingrich be considered not part of the Washington establishment. He was elected to Congress in 1979, and hasn’t left Washington since. He served in Congress for 20 years, four of them as speaker of the House, just two heartbeats away from the presidency. Since resigning in disgrace from Congress, he’s operated inside the Beltway while serving on several boards and commissions, advising Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, founding and leading several for-profit consulting companies, and appearing as a paid commentator on Fox News. He and his third wife Callista live in McLean, Va., one of Washington’s most elite, and most expensive, suburbs.

Newt Gingrich, in other words, is exactly what Washington is full of. You see them every day at The Palm, the Capitol Grille, or the Four Seasons Hotel: old, white men who used to be somebody. They came to Washington as a young man, held an important job until they quit or were fired, and never went home. They hang out here, in all the favorite watering holes, hoping somebody will recognize them. If Newt’s not part of the Washington establishment, there is no Washington establishment.

And if Newt’s no lobbyist, there are no lobbyists in Washington, either. It doesn’t matter whether he actually went up to Capitol Hill and “registered” as a lobbyist. He has an office on K Street. He meets with members of Congress and state legislators about legislation impacting companies who pay him handsomely — including $25,000 a month from the chief lobbyist of Freddie Mac — to represent them. In other words, he does what Bob Livingston, Larry Craig, Dick Gephardt, and Trent Lott do. He opens doors and peddles his influence all over town. Enough with silly word games. He’s a lobbyist.

Newt also tries to appeal to tea partiers by painting himself as an authentic Ron Paul, Ronald Reagan-like, small-government conservative — which, if claimed by anybody else, would be condemned by Newt as “pious baloney.” Throughout his career, Gingrich has always promoted big ideas for big government. He voted for creation of the Department of Education and supported Medicare Part D. He championed universal health care, with an individual mandate. Together with Nancy Pelosi, he called on Congress to take action against global warming. He’s advocated a new federal initiative on brain research. He calls himself a “Theodore Roosevelt Republican.”

Just this week, Newt told Florida voters that, if elected president, he would establish an American colony on the moon — and begin regular shuttle service to and from Mars — by 2020. At the same time, he says he’s prepared to declare war on Iran and Cuba. He’s offered no evidence of how much these new initiatives would cost, nor where the money would come from. Although, as a member of Congress, he did author the “Northwest Ordinance for Space,” allowing moon residents, once they numbered 13,000, to petition Congress to become our 51st state.

As for President Reagan, although Newt invokes Reagan often, he wasn’t always so full of praise. In Congress, he accused Reagan of “impotence and incompetence.” And he blasted Reagan’s summit meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as “the most dangerous summit for the West since Adolf Hitler met with Neville Chamberlain in 1938 in Munich.” For his part, President Reagan refers to Gingrich only once in his diaries, saying Newt’s ideas on a budget freeze would “cripple our defense program.”

As speaker, in fact, Gingrich received so much criticism from fellow Republicans that he once asked Senate Leader Bob Dole “Why do people take such an instant dislike to me?” Dole reportedly explained: “Because it saves time.” True then; true today.

© 2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

And Newt’s sudden rise in the polls is all the more astounding because it’s based on three big lies.

One, he’s an outsider. Talk about pious baloney. He came to Washington in 1979 as a newly-elected Congressman, served in Congress for 20 years, and he’s never gone home. If he’s not part of the Washington establishment, there is no Washington establishment.

Two, he’s not a lobbyist. More baloney. True, he may not have actually “registered” as a lobbyist. But he has an office on K St. He meets with members of Congress and state legislators about legislation impacting companies who pay him to represent them – pocketing $25,000 a month, for example, from Freddie Mac’s top lobbyist. That’s influence-peddling. That’s lobbying.

Three, he’s a limited-government conservative. Nonsense. He’s advocated colonies on Mars, full-scale federal initiative on brain research, an individual mandate on health care, and federal action against global warming. And he calls himself a “Teddy Roosevelt Republican.”

If conservatives knew the truth about Newt, they wouldn’t support him.

That’s my parting shot for today.

Around Washington, you see it all the time: Politicians who can park anywhere, without getting a ticket; who cut to the head of the line at ballgames; who sit in first class while the rest of us fly coach; who get the best tables and never have to wait at restaurants.

Now add Rand Paul to the list: He thinks he should be able to get on a plane without going through TSA.

Yesterday, Senator Paul, on his way back to Washington, set off a metal detector at the Nashville airport – and was asked by TSA to step aside, as anybody else would be, for a pat-down. He refused. TSA agents called local police, who escorted the Senator away from the area. And soon Paul and his father put out statements denouncing America’s “police state.”

Poor baby! And he expects us to feel sorry for him.

Look, TSA is there for a good reason. Remember September 11? I don’t care WHO he is. If he can’t pass security and won’t cooperate with TSA, he shouldn’t be allowed on a plane. No exceptions.

If Senator Paul doesn’t like it, he can drive to Washington. Or walk.

That’s my parting shot for today.

But that’s what happened with Newt Gingrich, who crushed Mitt Romney in South Carolina with a double-digit win. And, suddenly, Mitt’s winning the nomination doesn’t look so inevitable, after all.

To me, it proves three things. One, no matter how well he did in Iowa and New Hampshire, most Republicans still don’t like or trust Mitt Romney.

Two, Republicans really, really hate the media. They fall madly in love with anybody who beats up on the media. And nobody does it better than Newt.

Three, Republicans hate Barack Obama so much they’d nominate a serial adulterer and champion of “open marriage” if they think that candidate could beat Obama in November.

And that’s how Newton Leroy Gingrich, who has more baggage than a Fed-Ex cargo jet, won the South Carolina primary. Which is great news – for Democrats!

When he announced his own retirement from Congress, Barney Frank said: “I never thought I’d live such a good life that I would see Newt Gingrich be the nominee of the Republican Party.”

Looks like Barney – might get his wish.

That’s my parting shot for today.

Tribune Media Services

CHARLESTON, South Carolina. —You have to see it on the ground to believe what a mess Republicans have made of this election. It’s the worst way to run a primary campaign — unless your goal was to lose the election, in the first place.

The Republican Party started out with one big advantage: Despite getting off to a gangbuster start in 2009, just one year later President Obama looked like he’d run out of gas. His popularity plummeted. Democrats got shellacked in the mid-term elections. Obama’s legislative agenda never got off the ground. Even liberals — no, especially liberals — were disappointed with his failure to fight for or deliver on several key issues. Consensus among many political observers: Obama was a weak president whom Republicans could easily deny a second term.

Given such a golden opportunity, how did Republicans blow it? Let me count the ways. Six of them. First, they took too much for granted. They convinced themselves that Obama was so unpopular that all they needed to win was to stand as “the non-Obama.” After three years, they had nothing to offer. They never came up with any agenda of their own except voting “no.” That’s never enough to win, especially when you’re up against such a crafty opponent.

Second, they left most of their best players on the bench. Seriously, nobody can argue with a straight face that this year’s posse of nine candidates was the best the Republican Party had to offer. Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels, Jeb Bush, Haley Barbour. Any one of them would have provided Republicans a stronger horse to ride in 2012.

Instead, third, they fielded a bunch of clowns. Any self-respecting Republican must be embarrassed to call Donald Trump, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, or Ron Paul a candidate for president of the United States. The very fact that any member of the public or media would take them seriously shows how low politics has sunk in this country. And yet every one of them had a turn, however briefly, on top of the pile.

The worst of them, by far, is Newt Gingrich, who reinvents himself faster than Mitt Romney. And that’s no mean trick. Newt appeared in a national TV spot with Nancy Pelosi warning about global warming; now he doesn’t believe in it. He advocated an individual mandate for buying health insurance; now he opposes it. He warned that passage of President Clinton’s economic plan would cause a recession; now he takes credit for all the jobs created during the Clinton administration. He sucked all the money he could out of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac; now he wants to shut them down. He was a serial adulterer; now he campaigns as a Christian conservative.

No matter what happens in South Carolina, there is no way Newt Gingrich will be the party’s nominee. Republicans should have laughed him off the stage long ago.

Meanwhile, fourth, Republicans rejected and tossed overboard the strongest candidate of them all. Jon Huntsman looks presidential. He’s smart, articulate, and good on his feet. He has the best resume, as businessman, governor and ambassador. He was the one candidate who stood a good chance of beating President Obama, and the one candidate Obama feared most. Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for Democrats, Huntsman had everything it takes to win — except the support of his own party. Which Republicans will soon regret.

As a result of all of the above, their fifth mistake was to settle for Mitt Romney, who may be the strongest one left standing, but is still a very weak campaigner and the worst possible nominee for 2012. When the number one issue is jobs, the last thing Republicans need on top of the ticket is a man who spent 15 years destroying jobs, who admits he only pays 15 percent in taxes, and who considers the $375,000 he made last year in speaking fees “not very much” money. You could not be more out of touch with middle-class Americans.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Republicans couldn’t resist a sixth and final mistake: mercilessly beating up on Mitt Romney over his record at Bain Capital to the extent that he will be known, from now to November, as a “corporate raider,” “job destroyer,” and “vulture capitalist.”

All in all, it’s a heck of a way to run a primary — and lose an election.

© 2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

“Scott Walker sat on a wall. Scott Walker had a big fall. But not all of the Koch Brothers millions could not put Scott Walker back together again.”

How sweet it is! For America’s working families, it’s two big wins in a row.

First, John Kasich tried to destroy collective bargaining in Ohio. And the people of Ohio rose up in anger and rejected his plan.

Then, Scott Walker tried to gut workers rights in Wisconsin. The people of Wisconsin waited patiently for a year – until it was legal to do so – and then they rose up in righteous outrage, too – one million strong! – and demanded Walker’s recall.

One million signatures! What a glorious day for all working families in Wisconsin. And what a powerful message to Republican politicians everywhere.

First in Ohio, now in Wisconsin, the American people have spoken: We believe in the rights of workers, union and non-union. We believe in the right of collective bargaining. We believe that workers deserve the wages and benefits they fought so hard to win for their families.

And any politician who tries to destroy the middle class does so at his own peril.

That’s my parting shot for today.

In fact, he was the only one of nine candidates – unlike Donald Trump, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, or Mitt Romney – who was never, not even briefly, at the top of the pack.

And Republicans should be asking themselves: Why not?

That’s what’s significant about Huntsman’s departure from the race. Not his endorsement of Mitt Romney. But his party’s rejection of their best candidate.

I disagree with Jon Huntsman on many issues. But he’s got an impressive record as businessman and political leader. He’s smart, he’s photogenic, he’s articulate, he’s a strong campaigner. There’s no doubt that he would have been the strongest candidate against President Obama.

But there’s no room for that kind of thoughtful, reasonable, moderate person in the Republican Party anymore.

Today, Barack Obama is breathing a sigh of relief because Jon Huntsman is no longer in the race.

And, some day soon, Republicans will regret it.

That’s my parting shot for today.

So, I’m just going to come right out and say it: I don’t think the whole gimmick about Stephen Colbert’s running for president is funny – and I think the media should just stop talking about it.

I mean, seriously. Why was he on ABC’s “This Week” yesterday? Why’s he been on “Meet the Press.”

Come on! He’s a comedian. He’s not a candidate, and he never will be. He’s not running for president. He’s just trying to make fun of the political process – and that’s fine. It deserves poking fun at. But for political reporters to treat it as any more than a sort-of funny joke is ridiculous.

And, besides, in this political year, if you want political humor – you don’t have to tune in to stand-up comics. In fact, no matter who they are – Jay Leno, Jon Stewart, or Stephen Colbert – they can’t compete with the real thing.

Donald Trump, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum: they are funnier than any comedian.

But how sad – for American politics.

That’s my parting shot for today.