Talk about a flat tire.

Presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s latest attempt to re-write his own political history has gone about as smoothly as a cross country trip on a flat tire. Romney’s latest breathtaking shift was his attempt to take credit for the auto bailout that he had opposed in a big, high-media profile way (see the blow up of his New York Times op-ed above) — and that Congressional Republicans continue to criticize as part of their campaign narrative.

It has led to an explosion of stories on Google News — many of them truly dismayed or critical, but there are some GOP defenders (there is always someone on each side to spin something in a partisan way, no matter what). Blogs have had a field day.

There was amazement on MSNBC’s Morning Joe (my favorite political show):



Jon Stewart had a lot of material to work with:



And his comments are generating lots of You Tube postings:



This could be a big problem for Romney, since this latest assertion will not just go away. He’ll have the issue of what he has said come up again and again — and will have to get into that area Republicans have always dissed and dreaded: nuance.

The net result? Many independent voters are going to conclude he is trying to use this:



UPDATE: Team Obama has responded to Romney’s claim with this ad:

