TPM Reader RB:

Since Romney’s justification for his sons’ seeming lack of enthusiasm for military service was the fact that they were “serving their country” by helping him get elected, and since him getting elected just isn’t in the cards, will the Romney boys be on their way to the recruiting office?

TPM Reader JB …

I agree that Romney’s reasoning for leaving the race is transparently phony, and I hope you keep harping on its absurdity. He is now of course obligated to campaign with all his heart for McCain, and as you mentioned, his sons should enlist.

But today Romney was, as Stephanie Miller likes to say, “on fire.” He left his dullness and “Ken doll” image behind and really gave a dynamic speech. Totally flawed, but dynamic. I wonder if he’d let that style emerge more when he was still running, he might not have had to quit. Just a thought…

I basically agree. He had none of Mitt’s trademark animatronic qualities. But I think this is something you often see when a candidate packs it in. They suddenly get at least somewhat phony and stilted. Ironically in Mitt’s case he was able to finally break free of his staged mannerisms and cut loose his inner phony conservative.

As we reported earlier, in an apparent attempt at payback for our aggressive reporting on the US Attorney firing scandal, the DOJ Public Affairs Office removed TPMmuckraker from its press list and has followed up with a series of comical rationales for the banning — the best of which is that DOJ budget cuts make it impossible for the DOJ to afford the emails.

Since we spoke to you last, we submitted a FOIA request asking for records relevant to our banning or discussion of TPM or its lead reporters. We asked for an expedited process on the basis that not being discriminated against by the DOJ is a timely and pressing issue for our continuing reportage. We got the rejection on that front yesterday.

Today before the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) asked Attorney General Mukasey about why TPM had been banned. And his basic answer was: tough luck. You can see the details and video here.

Now, as we explained earlier, there are certainly more onerous forms of government harassment than getting kicked off a press list. But this almost comically juvenile stunt is a very telling example that the kind of rank politicization of the department — our reporting of which seems to have gotten us into this position — is alive and well at DOJ. And it does hamper our ability to inform you about what is happening at DOJ as Attorney General Mukasey takes over from the disgraced tenure of his predecessor.

The moment had to come — Mitt packs it in. But, as he explains in today’s episode of TPMtv, he’s doing it so America can win the War on Terror. Special added bonus video — Laura Ingraham goes apes–t on John McCain …

Watch this episode on YouTube.

Remember, tomorrow is the deadline for our TPM Spring Internship. If you’re planning on applying, see the details here.

Meanwhile, Greg Sargent digs into the mystery of that disappearing sentence in Maureen Dowd’s Obama column.

And Jared Bernstein has the latest on the economic stimulus package that just passed.

Just got a report in from Jonathan Kaplan of the Portland Press Herald. Apparently Bill got heckled at a Hillary event and, well …

A lone heckler calling on Sen. Clinton to “end the war” in Iraq interrupted the beginning of Clinton’s speech.

“Would you like to make this speech?” Clinton said. “Sir, this is not your event, this is for Hillary.”

When he said that, “the war is still going on,” Clinton responded, “That is because George Bush is still fighting it.”

The crowd erupted in cheers and shouted down the heckler, who was escorted out of the building by a single police officer.

I’ll get the link when it goes online.

TPM Reader DD checks in …

I am a little depressed tonight. Rudy’s gone. Mitt’s gone. Is it just me, or is McCain the least funny of all the republicans? I mean, he says crazy things like “100 more years in Iraq”, but I never laugh. Is it his timing? Or his material? I guess with Rudy and Mitt you could tell that even they didn’t believe half of their own Shinola. But McCain? He seems like he does. Maybe its something else. Anyway, I shouldn’t complain. The republicans have provided an abundance of comedy during this campaign. And its been a load of fun. But, I fear that the salad days are over.

Here’s a Jonathan Kaplan’s write-up of Bill Clinton’s visit to Maine yesterday, with that tussle he had with the anti-war protestor.

Bill Clinton was in Maine yesterday for Hillary. And in an interview with a local reporter he discussed mistakes he thought he’d made in aggressively defending his wife in the weeks between New Hampshire and South Carolina …

Don’t be fooled. When the CIA chief says “it’s not certain” that waterboarding is legal any longer, he’s not really saying it’s illegal.

He just means he hasn’t asked the Justice Department and White House to sign off on it–yet.