Romney refuses to tell supporters to stop being dicks

Tell my supporters to grow up?
Nope, can't do it.
(Larry Downing/Reuters)

If Mitt Romney can't stand up to his own supporters ...

Mitt Romney declined the opportunity to ask his supporters to stop heckling President Barack Obama and his surrogates at campaign events during a radio interview Tuesday, saying his campaign didn't "believe in unilateral disarmament."

Ah, yes, the old "both sides do it" trope. Mitt won't tell his supporters to stop being dicks because President Obama's supporters started being dicks in response, and the Obama team won't tell supporters to stop being dicks, so neither should Mitt.

Except:

Obama adviser David Axelrod condemned the tactic on Twitter Monday, urging the president's supporters to back down.

"I strongly condemn heckling along Mitt's route. Shouting folks down is their tactic, not ours," Axelrod tweeted. "Let voters hear both candidates and decide."

So, yeah. Other than the Obama campaign explicitly telling supporters to cut it out, both sides are exactly the same! But at least Mitt's willing to engage in "bilateral disarmament":

The former governor did acknowledge that it would be "a nice thing" if both sides backed down.

"I know America has a long history of heckling, of free speech, but it would be very nice if we could reach that kind of conclusion," Romney said.

Right. It would be "a nice thing" if the Obama campaign did what it has already done by telling supporters to not behave like, well, Romney supporters. So your move, Mitt.