The “scandal” that’s ridiculous

Mitt Romney has been drawing criticism for saying that he “saw” his father march with Martin Luther King, even though he did not witness the event. This strikes me as a non-story. It seems probable to me that Romney did not mean to say that he literally saw George Romney and Dr. King marching together. In that event, Romney likely would have said that he was with his father when he marched with King, or that he himself marched with King.
For what it’s worth, my father and I marched “with” King in the historic 1963 Washington event. (I can’t prove it though — my father is dead, my mother who “saw” us off that morning is dead, and I might have purchased my commemorative pin on EBay). I never say that I saw my father march with King because that would understate my participation.
In any case, the point Mitt Romney was making is that his father, a Mormon, had a stellar record on civil rights and participated in the civil rights activism of the early 1960s. That claim is incontestable. It’s a pity, moreover, that Romney would even have to address efforts to pin the formerly racist views of his religion on him.
Meanwhile, though, Jennifer Rubin, who criticized Mitt Romney (absurdly, I thought) for being insensitive to Jews when he kicked off his campaign at the Henry Ford museum, reports that Romney told the Boston Herald in 1978 that he and his father marched with Dr. King. The campaign admits that Mitt Romney never marched with King.
Even assuming that this 29 year-old report accurately quoted Romney, I would have thought that the statute of limitations period on misrepresenting one’s self to the press in 1978 has expired.
JOHN adds: The “marched with King” flap was the occasion for a hit piece by Glen Johnson of the Associated Press this morning. The AP story is titled: Romney backpedals on statements