CAN'T YOU JUST FEEL THE CENTRISM?

This is pretty much how I thought Mitt Romney would move to the middle -- by not actually doing it: while sending out campaign staff to whisper in the ears of mainstream reporters that he actually is:

Romney cites 'vast left wing conspiracy'

Speaking to a right wing radio host Tuesday, likely GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney repurposed a phrase from Hillary Clinton, citing a "vast left wing conspiracy" brewing in the media and liberal advocacy organizations to derail his campaign.

Romney was making an appearance on Breitbart TV and was asked by host Larry O'Connor whether he was ready to take on "the media and these nonprofits groups that are working together."

"There will be an effort by the quote vast left wing conspiracy to work together to put out their message and to attack me," Romney said in response....

I can't even think of a left-wing media source that's comparable to Breitbart in both venom and reach, but if Barack Obama were merely to give an interview to such a media outlet on the left (which he wouldn't) or denounce the right-wing noise machine (which he might, I suppose, in a speech or an interview with a mainstream journalist), there'd be weeks of hand-wringing op-eds (Bill Keller! David Brooks!) about how the president who promised "hope" and "change" has now made the toxic, poisonous, evil decision to divide us, and what about the middle? America's precious middle? Does he have nothing to say to them? A quick soundbite alone would be enough to set off that reaction.

But Romney will get a pass because Mitt's-moving-to-the-left is a story the media likes, and nothing he can do can prevent that story from being told from now till November.