Mitt Romney has refused to sign a “pro-life” pledge. Mitt insists he is “pro life,” mind you, but he thinks this particular pledge contains provisions that would restrict possible nominations to his cabinet and the courts and would block funding to some hospitals.

Give Mitt some credit for integrity here. Anyone who agrees to all the pledges generated by the various whackjob factions of the Whackjob Right would (if he were elected) enter the White House wearing such an inflexible ideological strait jacket he couldn’t so much as cough without breaking a pledge. So, although the CW on Mitt is that he’s a shameless flip-flopper, it appears in this case he is trying to be honest about what he might really do in office. This is unlike the shameless panderers who did sign the pledge — Bachmann, Gringrich, Paul, Pawlenty, and Santorum.

Mitt also has broken with right-wing ideology by admitting the earth is round getting warmer, and that humankind likely is contributing to that.

And this points up the GOP dilemma, which is that a candidate nutty enough to get the nomination is likely to be too radical to win the general election. The American public may be a bit confused about some aspects of climate science, but polls taken after last months tornadoes showed that a significant majority blamed global climate change rather than a wrathful God for the storms.

Before we go any further anointing Romney as the “reasonable” alternative to Right-wing insanity, however, let us point out that Romney can dish out teh crazy, too, when called upon to do so. And while Mitt may be the most viable general election candidate of the crew, many on the Right remember that’s what was said about John Kerry in 2004.

Meanwhile, Michele Bachmann doesn’t shy away from teh crazy — she’s telling cheering crowds of consrvatives that President Obama wants Medicare to go bankrupt so he can force senior citizens into “Obamacare.” This is his “secret” Medicare plan, she says.

The irony is, of course, that Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan actually would do something sorta like that. See “The GOP Proposes ‘Obamacare’ For Seniors.”

Bachmann also wants schools to teach “intelligent design.”

There’s some noise in the news that Moosewoman will announce her presidential intentions soon. Don’t hold your breath. I don’t think she wants to run; I think she wants the attention a candidate gets without actually having to jump through the same hoops as the rest of them and risk being a loser.

And, anyway, current CW on the Right is that Bachmann makes a better Palin than Palin.