According to a story on the Boston Phoenix's blog, Marine Lance Corporal Nickolas Schiavoni was killed by an IED in Iraq on November 15, 2005.

The family was too upset to return phone calls of the various public officials who called, including Senators Kennedy and Kerry. Those two Senators were sensitive enough to find out when a better time to call might be.

But not our friend Mittens.

Here's what he did, according to The Boston Phoenix's blog:

“I can’t believe you haven’t returned my call,” Romney said on one of the voice mail messages, according to Stephany Kern, speaking at her Westerly, Rhode Island home this past Saturday. “Here I am making a second call; I haven’t heard from you.”

“He was completely unable to understand that a mom was not going to return his phone call, and that it wasn’t a priority for me,” she says. “I wasn’t being disrespectful. I was being a mom who was greeting the casket of her son coming home from war.” She says that Senators Kennedy and Kerry called other family members to ask when it would be appropriate to contact her again. Both sent representatives to the funeral. Kennedy left a follow-up message to say that a mass would be sent for Shiavoni in Hyannisport, with Kennedy family members in attendance.

Steve Kern, who has been married to Stephany Kern since prior to Schiavoni enlisting in 2002, says that he heard Romney’s second and third messages. He recalls Romney saying in one: “I’m a busy man.” He describes Romney’s tone as “disrespectful,” “antagonistic,” and “absolutely inappropriate to use on a Gold Star mother.”

More:But what did they get from Romney?In a Presidential race, much is made of issues around character.

I've seen enough here, haven't you, about Romney's character.

UPDATE: A few folks are commenting below that this doesn't pass the smell test. Please remember this is a blog post, and I don't hide that here. It deserves further investigation.