Romney's mythology

It's rather pathetic to watch Willard trying to obscure his silver spoon upbringing. He's not fooling 73% of the people with this line.

"I'm not anti-immigrant," said Romney. "My father was born in Mexico."

For a change it's perfectly true, but that was in a Mormon colony in the state of Chihuahua, where his grandparents fled because polygamy wasn't all that popular in the US. Willard himself hardly had such humble beginnings. By the time he was born, Daddy Romney was a successful businessman in the good ole USA and was working himself up to the higher eschelons of the poltical world. In fact Romney's childhood looked like this:

Mitt Romney, age 10, smiles behind the wheel of a Nash automobile, manufactured by American Motors Corporation of which his father, George Romney, was president, in this 1957 photo. (Courtesy of Romney family / Associated Press) [More Romney family photos here.]

However, the story apparently works for the intractable 27%ers who believe what they want to hear. Dave Weigel on the campaign trail meets up with a Romney supporter and finds:

It's still awfully resonant. After Romney spoke here, I met Bill Wilton, 64, an exterminator and Vietnam veteran who was squarely for Romney. One reason: "He came up from nothing. His father immigrated here from Mexico."

As Dave notes, that's not exactly what Romney was saying. But Willard is more than happy to let that myth rest uncorrected.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]