Mitt Romney’s Book Club

I know people are freaking out about Romney saying that his favorite book, other than the Bible naturally, is Battlefield Earth. But I really think Slate’s John Dickerson misread his motivation. He spends a third of the article dissing even the concept of reporters asking presidential candidates their favorite book, and then thinks that Romney was being serious in his embrace of the question.

Is Romney being ironic, then, like those people who buy clown art? Unlikely. There's not a big irony bloc in the GOP and Battlefield Earth is a thousand-page book. No one can sustain irony for that long….

But I think [the media] should stop covering up for the governor. Let him embrace his choice. There is no obvious stratagem behind it, which means Romney, the most meticulously arrayed and perhaps the most careful of the candidates may be giving us a peek at a robust inner goofball.

Actually isn’t there a better answer than irony for explaining his choice? Dickerson himself almost suggests it. I think Romney was poking fun at the question himself by picking a perfect example of a book with too many associations to be a “clean” choice for someone’s favorite book. I think Romney was pulling a joke on the media.

It’s a nose tweak to anyone who is trying to figure out Romney by the ritualistic “book choice” question. I almost like him better if that’s really what he was saying because it’s a perfect way to freak out the media, and clearly it worked.

I bet the other choice he was thinking of saying was The DaVinci Code but probably decided everyone would have thought he was being sincere.