So, Romney's kind of a funny guy, huh? Seems a hat tip is due to The Atlantic's Molly Ball, who called it perfectly... in March.

For all the hype about his woodenness, Romney, I submit, actually has the most sophisticated -- and underappreciated -- sense of humor of any presidential candidate. It is dry, self-deprecating and a bit dark, a far cry from the safely hokey laugh lines of most politicians on the stump. And it bespeaks a confidence and flair not often attributed to the much-maligned candidate.

This is the man who famously went to Michigan, the state he grew up in and then left for good, and praised it thus: "The trees are the right height." You pretty much can't get a better absurdist parody of politicians' vapid sure-is-nice-to-be-here patter than that.