Romney Vindicated? Maybe Not

Update 2: Some writer here takes great umbrage at the memory of this woman. It seems entirely possible that she herself confused the memory, and possibly saw GR walking with someone else.

The vitriol in this writer's comments are almost unaccountable. It would be one thing if Romney were claiming an heritage that is substantively untrue. But he could have made the same statement with slightly changes in language to make precisely the same point -- I have an honorable and treasured family history on civil rights, one that we take great pride in. Instead, this incontestable point gets lost in the shouting, and many an inattentive voter will falsely conclude that Romney substantive claim was inaccurate.

The damnably frustrating thing about all of this is how unnecessary it is. On the one hand it is petty to parse a man's words so anally that a memory that was emphatic but perhaps faulty in detail become an excuse to challenge his integrity. On the other hand, it is inexcusable for the Romney camp to not have anticipated that this would be the case, and fact check his language on that speech in excruciating detail. As I outline below, even if it is a conflation of childhood and family memories, it is still defensible. And yet, how can you not know that thousands of people who are desperate to kill your campaign are going to twist everything you say. How can you afford to be sloppy as to give them the opening, and so unnecessarily?

I've argued below that the whole whoop dedo about Romney's recollection of his father marching with MLK is a tempest in a teapot, because the memory -- though it may be been an understandable conflation of childhood memories -- was absolutely true to the essence of Romney's father's courageous behavior in 1963, when precious few white politicians were on board with the movement.

Politico is reporting a witness who claims to have seen Romney and MLK marching hand in hand at Grosse Point, Michigan in 1963. Her memory is so distinctive, it is hard to imagine it being a case of false memory:

Shirley Basore, 72, says she was sitting in the hairdresser's chair in wealthy Grosse Pointe, Mich., back in 1963 when a rumpus started and she discovered that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and her governor, George Romney, were marching for civil rights - right past the window.

With the cape still around her neck, Basore went outside and joined the parade.

"They were hand in hand," recalled Basore, a former high-school English teacher. "They led the march. We all swung our hands, and they held their hands up above everybody else's."

She remembered the late governor as "extremely handsome."

Until this week, that was just a vivid memory for a sweet retiree who now lives in Pompano Beach, Fla.

This may explain why Romney didn't bother to run a fact check on his own personal memory and familial mythology. Maybe the mythology stuck so deep because it actually happened?

UPDATE: David Knowles below asks whether Mitt's recollection that the event occurred in Detroit undermines the vindication of this woman's distinct recollection. Not in the least. Imagine this: Let's say we weren't playing gotcha in politics or the courtroom -- we were just having a polite conversation at a party, and someone recalled that their dad had marched with MLK in the streets of Detroit 45 years ago, when he was 16. Then let's imagine that someone else in the conversation says, no, I think that was actually at Grosse Point. Would anyone in the conversation think anything of it? Not in any company I keep.