Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made an appearance on CNN this morning on behalf of his former rival, Sen. John McCain. The ex-Massachusetts governor added his voice to the echo chamber by repeating the GOP talking point that Sen. Obama blundered in announcing he would meet with America’s enemies:

CNN’S JOHN ROBERTS: "So, [Obama's] saying that this is not a frivolous meeting. This would only be done if he felt he could advance American interests."


GOV. ROMNEY: "You know, he’s going to do his very best to try to walk back from what he said at the Democratic debate; and, in the Democratic debates the other candidates made it very clear they would not sit down with Ahmadinejad, himself, or with Assad, or Kim Jung-Il, or Castro, without condition. And, Barack Obama said he would sit down with them in his first year. He would meet with them without condition. A statement like that shows a naive lack of experience that I think is going to haunt him throughout this campaign…That’s simply the wrong course for American foreign policy. You only meet with those people when there have been conditions met and when there’s been progress. Of course, you talk diplomatically. Diplomatic channels are always open between nations of the world. But the President doesn’t grace the world’s worst tyrants with a propaganda bonanza."

Romney was one of the three potential veep candidates who reportedly visited McCain’s Sedona, Ariz. ranch a couple weeks ago. It seems an unlikely choice on paper, given Romney’s primary troubles in reconciling some of his recent conservative positions as a presidential candidate with his liberal positions as governor. Another possible issue is his Mormonism, which at least in theory could turn off some Christian conservatives McCain needs to court.

 

But it’s possible Romney could help deliver his home state of Michigan, a key battleground that the Democrats carried in 2000 and 2004, where Romney’s father was governor. Recent polling shows Obama and McCain are running neck-and-neck in the Wolverine State. McCain has also been adopting Romney’s more compassionate tone in addressing the economic woes of midwestern states, like Michigan and Ohio, that have been hit hard by the loss of manufacturing jobs that have moved overseas. And at a young-looking 61-years-old, Romney could help assuage voter concerns about McCain’s age.

 

Yes, Romney as McCain’s running mate may be unlikely, but it might not be crazy.