Mitt Romney stepped into an unnecessary briar patch on Friday.  During a speech in Michigan, he told the crowd: “I love being home, in this place where Ann [Romney] and I were raised … where both of us were born … No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate.”

Immediately, the Obama propaganda team and the proggies got to work, tying Romney to the Birther movement.  That was to be expected.  He handed that one to them.  A little gift … just one more thing to help paint the picture of Romney as “extreme.”

Make no mistake; Romney has said repeatedly that he believes Obama was born in the United States.  That doesn’t really matter now, because the proggies have the soundbite they need.

So why did Romney joke about it?  I’m no campaign expert, but it didn’t seem like something he needed to do.  Let’s face it, people who subscribe to this fake birth certificate theory (also known as birthers), are very unlikely to vote for Obama as it is.  So Romney didn’t really gain much by pandering to them.  All he did in this case was alienate more of those sought-after undecided voters.  Does an independent voter really want to vote for someone who panders to these mindless birthers?  Even in joking about it, it comes across as amateurish at best. 

Stick to the economy, Romney.  Hammer Obama’s failure as a president.  That, alone, should be enough.