How long do you give these "Ask Mitt Anything" forums before his campaign nixes them altogether? After today's doozy, Mitt's probably thinking Bush is onto something limiting audiences to friendlys.

Today at a forum in Iowa when asked by Rachel Griffiths (read her dailykos diary about the event HERE) whether any of his 5 sons is serving in the military and if not, how they intend to, Mitt said the following:

"The good news is that we have a volunteer Army and that's the way we're going to keep it," Romney told some 200 people gathered in an abbey near the Mississippi River that had been converted into a hotel. "My sons are all adults and they've made decisions about their careers and they've chosen not to serve in the military and active duty and I respect their decision in that regard."

He added: "One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I'd be a great president."

Now Mitt is complaining the AP took his real comments out of context and the campaign released a YouTube video (h/t TPM) with the actual audio of the exchange to back that up. After listening to it (including a whole tangent about landscaping,) I suppose it's not quite as bad as equating fighting in the military with helping him run for president but check out the last paragraph of his response:

"It's remarkable how we can show our support for our nation and one of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping to get me elected, because they think I'd be a great president. My son, Josh, bought the family Winnebago and has visited 99 counties, most of them with his three kids and his wife. And I respect that and respect all of those in the way they serve this great country."

The poor guy's attempt to convince us that working on his campaign is somehow even in the ballpark of national service is the sort of lack of understanding of what it means to sacrifice for ones country that is typical of all his fellow chickenhawks and at best betrays a ridiculous level of narcissism.