By: Sarah JonesAug. 1st, 2012more from Sarah Jones

That sound of Mitt Romney whining is something you better get used to. Now he’s whining about the press. They were apparently duty bound to cover for Mr. Romney and pretend that the job of president has nothing to do with speaking to foreign leaders with a modicum of statesmanship.

But for all of his whining, guess how many actual questions Mitt Romney took from the real press (not including arranged TV interviews)? Just guess. You’d think in this six-day tour that he’d maybe speak to them once a day and take some questions, right? A few questions in each country maybe?

No.

According to the BBC, Mitt Romney took a total of three questions from the American press the entire six-day tour. Three. It’s called unilateral, one-way communication.

And the only reason he took those questions as he left his scolding by British Prime Minister Cameron is that Romney had to publicly walk back his previous Olympic preparedness gaffe with a do-over that would get reported in the press. Those three questions were it for the entire six days according to the BBC:

But US media have been complaining that Mr. Romney only took three press questions – outside Downing Street in London – during the entirety of his six-day trip.

Let us not forget that after his disastrous run in Britain, Romney closed his fundraising event to the press in Israel as if he could hide from the press forever. That decision caused even more of an uproar; after all, our press sent their reporters overseas to cover him. So he changed his mind and let them in.

Mitt Romney is blaming the press for turning his foreign tour gaffes into a controversy. He expected them to ignore his gaffes as they do at home, but the notorious British press really got him. And then the Israeli press. And then the world.

Mitt explained his negative coverage to Fox News, “They are instead trying to find anything else to divert from the fact that these last four years have been tough years for our country.”

So, Mitt Romney thinks the press should focus on other issues when he is making world headlines like “Mitt the Twit”, “Worse than Sarah Palin”, “Racist” and “Kiss my ass”. In Mitt Romney’s mind, he is the victim here – not the British that he insulted, not the Palestinians that he insulted or the Jews that he insulted or the U.S reporters that his press secretary told to “kiss my ass.” Mitt Romney is the victim.

Watch this and see how it’s all the fault of the media:

Romney told Fox News that journalists were just “finding something to write about” rather than reporting on the economy or national security threat. In reality, Romney should be thanking the press, because according to a Pew’s Project For Excellence In Journalism study, Romney gets three times more positive coverage in the press than President Obama does.

But it’s odd that Romney would bring up national security since he refuses to tell us what his plan for Afghanistan is, claiming that “real Americans” don’t care. And it’s possible that the press thought that Mr. Romney bragging like a kid asked to sit at the grown up table about his secret meetings with M16 (Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service) and insults that caused Israel and Palestine to agree on one thing: Mitt Romney said racist things about their culture, were a potential indication that Romney doesn’t grasp even the basics of foreign policy and national security. After all, Romney left a bloody trail of insulted allies in his wake.

Maybe Mr. Romney is going to retroactively retire from his trip and claim he wasn’t responsible for anything that happened during it because he wasn’t really there.

The conservative media has been pushing the meme that the Romney camp was just insisting on respect and that’s why his press secretary told a Politico reporter to “shove it”. Yet, these same media outlets were championing Neil Munro from the Daily Caller, who interrupted the President during an address in the Rose Garden, calling his rudeness an act of patriotism because he was doing his job of questioning the President (even though every one else knew the speech wasn’t over and it wasn’t time yet for questions). And yet, we see how far off the cliff the Republicans have gone with their refusal to acknowledge this administration as legitimate when even Tony Fratto, who served as a spokesman for the George W. Bush administration tweeted:

“Reporters don’t interrupt presidential statements. Period.@NeilMunroDC should be banned from WH. #fb”

During that embarrassing spectacle in which even W administration admonished the conservative media, Tucker Carlson, who runs the Daily Caller, took proud refuge in this, “As a general matter, reporters are there to ask questions.”

Ah. So questions during a Presidential address are doing your job, but asking Mitt Romney a question about his gaffes on day 6 of his Insult the World tour (another British headline) is the press picking on Romney.

It seems as if conservatives expect a Democratic president to be able to manage all kinds of rudeness, from “you lie!” to Munro’s childish outburst, while at the same time, they insulate their candidates and demand “respect” in the form of no questions. All the while, they continue to see themselves as the tough, hard-lined alpha males of the world. But a tough guy would be able to take more than 3 questions during a 6-day tour. A tough guy would not shut the press out of his events out of fear and paranoia.

The last time we heard the “show deference or else” threat was after Sarah Palin’s historical disaster with Katie Couric. In other words, this “offense as defense” play is the sign of a weak candidate who can’t answer the questions and a campaign that will use any excuse to cover for the candidate.

Mitt Romney is running for leader of the free world, but he isn’t strong enough to take more than three questions from the press during an entire 6-day tour. Three questions.

It’s a bit bizarre to watch the anarchists of the right who petulantly celebrate every rude, juvenile insult to President Obama claim the press is being rude when Mitt Romney is asked about his gaffes in Poland. The press is not being rude to Romney yet. Mitt Romney is actually the beneficiary of three times more positive press coverage than President Obama. Why can’t he handle it?

However, were the Press to yell questions during Romney’s speeches and accuse him of being a liar mid speech, then Republicans would only have themselves to blame. After all, they set the precedent and defended their behavior. But so far, no one is doing that to Romney. So far, the press is reporting on his reckless, careless words and the reaction to those words. That reaction matters, because when it comes to issues of foreign policy and national security, were Romney to be President, those words would have long-reaching ramifications.

Three questions, and for that we are getting the whine fest of the year courtesy of Mitt Romney and his defend-the-king-from-you-people-with-moats-of-whine campaign. It is exactly this kind of whining that earned Mitt the Newsweek cover hailing him as a wimp. They ask, “Is he just too insecure to be President?” Mitt responds by blaming the media, which amounts to an answer in the affirmative.

Yes, Mitt Romney is too insecure to be President.