Why does Mitt Romney feel he needs to keep as many of his contacts away from the public?
Is it because he's afraid that the American people are going to catch up with his constant fits of mendacity?
Is it because he's afraid that if the American people heard what he was saying during these closed-door meetings, it would prove that he is so badly out of touch that he doesn't deserve anyone's vote?
These are questions that should have been asked of the Romney spokesman who is quoted in this Yahoo! account.
More below.
Here's part of the Yahoo! account:
A senior Romney strategist offered no apologies this morning on behalf of the candidate who often holds closed-to-press meetings with voters as well as meetings with congressional leaders with which the traveling press is unaware until their conclusion.
Asked why the roundtable conversations Romney has prior to most of his public events with middle-class families or business owners are not open to the media, senior strategist Russ Schriefer responded bluntly, "Because they're private."
"I beg my forgiveness but having the media there doesn't really make it an open and honest conversation," said Schriefer, who held a briefing for the press at the campaign's Boston headquarters before the launch of a five-day, six-state bus tour across the battleground states.
So what is the Romney campaign afraid of? Is it afraid that their candidate is going to have another of his out-of-touch Thurston Howell moments by insulting a local pastry, for example?
Is he afraid that some enterprising reporter is actually going to call Romney out on his lies?
It's time the news media stops treating Romney like a rock star and treats him instead as a presidential candidate whose views and record must be subjected to deep scrutiny.
Anything else is dereliction of duty on the media's part. If the Romney campaign can't be trusted to be open now, why should they be trusted to be open once in the White House?