Mitt Romney was a bad Republican last week. We'll tell you what he did, but first, send your children into the other room. Ready? He gave a big old bear hug to Science, by casually acknowledging that climate change may exist and humans may play some role in that. This is a calamitous "gaffe," and now everyone else in the GOP is trying to destroy him anew.

Here's how Mittens defended climate science, while bravely standing athwart specifics:

"I don't speak for the scientific community, of course, but I believe the world is getting warmer, and I believe that humans have contributed to that," Romney said. "I can't prove that, but I believe based on what I read that the world is getting warmer.

"No. 2, I believe that humans contribute to that," he continued. "I don't know how much our contribution is to that, because I know there's been periods of greater heat and warmth than in the past, but I believe we contribute to that. And so I think it's important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants, of greenhouse gases, that may well be significant contributors to the climate change and global warming that you're seeing."

Of course, he has no interest in adopting any of the common policies for combatting climate change, like a cap-and-trade system or carbon tax. He'll just throw a line in the State of the Union each year, like George W. Bush did.

But it looks like Romney is using this issue, for which he's held a similar position in the past, as a go-to canned example of how he doesn't flip-flop, since he's already flip-flopped on every other issue. We know this because it's exactly how a Romney aide spun it in today's Washington Post. Did you know that that newspaper will grant you anonymity now just to spew the usual lying press aide talking points? Good grief:

"The fact that he doesn't change his position . . . that's the upside for us," said one Romney adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the campaign. "He's not going to change his mind on these issues to put his finger in the wind for what scores points with these parts of the party."

Nice try, flack. We all know that Romney is on the front lawn of Mittens Manor right now literally holding his finger in the wind to determine his next political move.

[Image via AP]