Mitt Romney can’t help himself, can he? Last week, he was repeatedly mocked for his ham-handed attempts to connect with Southerners by telling them he’s one of them, because he likes grits. This week, apparently, it’s catfish. On Monday, he told a small crowd at an Alabama diner, “I had catfish for the second time. It was delicious, just like the first time.”

There are a couple problems with this (and, admittedly, there are bigger problems in the world, but still). First, voters and reporters are inclined to view such comments, when they come from Romney, as obvious, shameless pandering. Second, there’s evidence that it was obvious, shameless pandering: it was just a couple of months ago, after all, that Romney, in South Carolina, which is inclined more toward barbecue, said that he prefers pulled pork and pulled chicken, and that he’s not “a catfish man, or not a fish man so much.”

This is part of a pattern in which Romney makes himself look ever more desperate, and sillier, as he attempts to win over Southern voters ahead of tomorrow’s primaries in Alabama and Mississippi. In one campaign stop last week, Romney said he’s turning into “an unofficial Southerner.” He explained, “I’m learning to say y’all, I like grits—strange things are happening to me.”

At another appearance, Romney began his remarks by saying, “Morning, y’all.” When this got a round of applause, he continued, “I got started right this morning with a biscuit and some cheesy grits.” (As several people— including, for some reason, former Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee—pointed out, no one in the South would refer to “cheesy grits.” It’s cheese grits. As an authentic eater of grits, both with cheese and without, I am embarrassed to have repeated Romney’s mistake.)

All this has been further evidence for Jonathan Chait’s argument that Romney not so secretly thinks voters are basically fairly stupid, or at least that they can be won over with stupidity and superficial appeals like “I like grits.” I basically agree with Chait’s theory, but I do wonder: Is Romney being treated unfairly here? Are these the sorts of things that we seize on in his case because they fit a narrative, when we’d ignore them if it were another candidate?

But then I watch something like the video below, a clip from a radio interview Romney did in 2007 that was brought back up again on Friday by CBN’s David Brody. In it, Romney goes back and forth with a talk-radio host, both on and off air, over his religion. Brody was interested in it for what it says about Romney’s religious beliefs, but I think it’s worth watching for a different reason. When he’s not on the air, Romney’s a completely different person. He’s passionate, engaged, emotional—he lets his guard down. The Mitt Romney in this video seems, in contrast to the one talking about grits, like a real person. As a result, he’s suddenly much more likeable. At this point in the campaign, Romney’s people would never let him get this real in public (and the candidate himself seems to have an aversion to that sort of thing, anyway), but if he really wants to get in touch with voters, it might not be such a bad thing to try.

Photograph by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images.