Mitt Romney Is Freaking Me Out I understand from the folks at 02138 that I got some hate mail on my recent profile of Mitt Romney accusing me of bias, Republican-hating, and so on. Which is funny, because I thought the story was considerably more balanced that most of what I've read about Romney. I tried to go beyond all the stuff about flip-flopping—not that you can ignore it entirely, but it's only a part of the story—and consider some other sides of the man.

The other reason I find the criticism that I was too hard on Romney bizarre is that Romney keeps making himself look stupid without any help from the media.

First there was the whole "I'm a hunter, hear me roar" fiasco.

Now Fox News has asked Romney his favorite novel. His reply?

Battlefield Earth, by Scientologist founder L. Ron Hubbard.

“I’m not in favor of his religion by any means,” Mr. Romney, a Mormon, said. “But he wrote a book called ‘Battlefield Earth’ that was a very fun science-fiction book.”

That's just great, Mitt. A third of the country already thinks you're a wack job because you're a Mormon. Now you say that your favorite novel is by a Scientologist. (And apparently a pretty awful book even if read in a vacuum.)

Way to reassure the voters....  ¶ 2:56 PM