Mitt Romney offers evidence he's popular: 40 years ago, he was booster club president

People like me! Just don't ask them about it! Listen, people. Mitt Romney knows you don't like him, and he's sick of it. In an interview with Politico, "Romney made plain he is tired of the criticism that he is stiff, distant or not broadly liked by voters." Not only that, he offered proof that he's a likable guy:

'I was voted the president of my fraternity,' he said. 'They don't call them fraternities at Brigham Young University. They're called Service Clubs. It was the Cougar Club. But you don't get voted to be head of your group if you don't get along with people, if you don't connect with people.'

There's evidence of broad-based social appeal: More than 40 years ago, a group of voters as diverse as Romney's Brigham Young frat brothers considered him electable. Clearly, he's got what it takes to win the affections of a majority of American voters. (Why, by 2011, BYU's student population was, gosh, getting close to 12 percent non-white.)

Except that the Cougar Club isn't really a fraternity, it's a booster club. But regardless of why Romney chose to mischaracterize it, in 1971, when he became the Cougar Club's president and vowed to dramatically increase fundraising for BYU athletics, other universities were severing athletic relations with BYU over the Mormon church's racist policies, and BYU had yet to have any black football or basketball players.

Message to Mitt: That might not be the history you want to remind people about. And if you have to go back 40-plus years to a group of overwhelmingly white men of your religion and age and education level to prove that people like you, people don't like you. Also, let's not forget what happened last time Romney turned to his past classmates to testify to what a great guy he is, and none of his supposed high school friends would go on the record defending his bullying, while another former classmate described Romney's bullying as "evil" and "like Lord of the Flies."

Mitt Romney: popular among people just like him, trust him. Those people are his friends, no need to ask them to verify.