On last Sunday’s talk shows, Ed Gillespie claimed that Mitt Romney had retired “retroactively” from Bain Capital. In response, Dana Milbank wrote in the Washington Post:

Retroactive retirement! It was a brilliant formulation, perhaps the greatest addition to the political lexicon since “no controlling legal authority.” And it raised tantalizing possibilities: If Romney can do it, perhaps others can go back in time to rearrange events.

George W. Bush could retroactively end his presidency on Sept. 1, 2008, before the financial collapse.

Donald Rumsfeld could retroactively pull out of Iraq before the insurgency. President Obama could retroactively deny government funding for Solyndra.

Romney was a very successful businessman. I have no doubt that he is a fine husband and father. But it really is remarkable that, as a politician, he has gotten this far. In his quest for the presidency he — or his surrogates — keep putting their collective feet in their collective mouths.

Romney may complain bitterly about President Obama’ s attacks. But his Republican opponents fired at Romney with the same ammunition. Romney’s solution was to carpet bomb them with political ads. And that, unfortunately, will probably be what this campaign is all about — carpet bombing the country with ads.