Maladroit Mitt

The headline practically wrote itself: "Romney Endorses Hitler's Energy Policy."

At least that's what I told a flack from a rival campaign who was pushing the story of an odd remark the former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney, made yesterday during a speech to the Northern Virginia Technology Council, in McLean, Va.

"I'm afraid building a nuclear power plant in our country today would require us first to hire the French to show us how to do it because they've been building 'em and we haven't," Mr. Romney said in response to a question about energy policy during his talk, as captured on video by the Washington Post's politics Web log.

So far, so good. But he kept going. "Liquefied coal, gosh. Hitler during the Second World War — I guess because he was concerned about losing his oil — liquefied coal. That technology is still there."