Mitt Romney's Security (Operations) Staff

DC's George Washington Memorial Parkway is an excellent place to "race" a civilian car against the black sedans traveling back and forth between the Pentagon and Langley.

Just because it's a hell of a lot of fun.

And while we have the utmost respect for law enforcement at all levels (no Snark), at the end of the day it is important to remember that law enforcement works for us - the taxpayer.

"Private security personnel" working inside the continental United States also have our respect. It's a (sometimes) dangerous world out there and (some) people need a bit more protection than their local police department.

We understand.

What we don't understand are "private security personnel" who, while protecting an individual who holds no tittle or rank other than "candidate", pull over a car that is traveling on a public roadway and tell the (U.S. citizen) driver of the stopped car "No one is permitted to follow Romney's vehicle".

This actually happened in New Hampshire. As related by Mark Leibovich of The New York Times:

Mr. Romney does not like to digress. He talks fast, walks fast through a crowd and moves fast from one question to another. He is loath to get off point or behind schedule. There is a definite “master of the universe” flavor to his campaign.

He travels with an entourage that includes two or three “operations” guys who serve as advance men and a security detail. (Between stops in New Hampshire, this reporter found himself trailing the former governor’s S.U.V. on a back road, only to be led to the shoulder and instructed to “veer off” by a man wearing an earpiece who emerged from Mr. Romney’s car. “We ran your license plate,” he told the reporter, and explained that no one was permitted to follow Mr. Romney’s vehicle.

That, dear friends, is bullsh*t.

What sort of privilege does candidate Mitt Romney think he enjoys?

And while a license plate check is probably technically legal, we cannot imagine that New Hampshire's law enforcement community is going to be thrilled at the idea of Romney's private staff making unauthorized security stops on NH's public roadways.

The taxpayers aren't going to be thrilled either.

We're just saying.