What’s the opposite of a victory lap?

Why would Mitt Romney think he has any chance of winning Michigan?

It’s hard to remember this now, but Mitt Romney only won the Michigan GOP primary by a margin of 3%. Rick Santorum basically gave Mitt the Michigan primary and the nomination by saying JFK made him “want to puke.”

Mitt, the son of a former governor of Michigan, was born and raised in posh Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, which needs its own Real Housewives franchise. Yet only 38 percent of state residents think he’s the right height to be a Michigander. He’s losing to President Obama by an average of 7.5 percent.

Now his fundraisers have admitted (to themselves at least) that he can’t win the state where he was born. (Hilariously, they also admitted to Mitt’s donors he doesn’t have a real path to 270 electoral votes.)

So why does Romney keep coming here and saying ridiculous things to the reporters in Michigan who best know he’s full of Mitt?

Is it to remind us that if anyone had listened to him in 2008, the American auto industry would not exist anymore? Does he have an unconscious need to pay penance for the misdeeds of his childhood by humiliating himself? Did he forget his comb here?

He has more terrible advice for the state of Michigan, apparently. This time his advice would cost taxpayers $16 billion and do nothing to create jobs or strengthen the economy. Also, amazingly, incredibly, preposterously, Mitt Romney wants credit for the auto rescue.

Mitt Romney taking credit for the auto rescue is like Al Gore taking credit for warmer temperatures or South Carolina taking credit for freeing the slaves. (Maybe even like John McCain taking credit for keeping Sarah Palin out of the White House.)

Mitt was dead wrong. He was the only national figure who opposed the crucial government loans that saved General Motors and Chrysler from crumbing and taking hundreds of suppliers with them. He said if the automakers got these loans from the government, which were simply not available from ANY private source, the big three would be destroyed.

IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.

The exact opposite happened.

If anyone had listened to Mitt, millions of jobs would have been lost. And Michigan will never forget that. So thanks for reminding us.