Desperate men say desperate things. In Mitt Romney's case, that often mean reversing positions he held for as long as a lifetime or as little as fifteen minutes. But in attacking Bob Dole on Monday, the former Massachusetts Governor showed he's not only desperate, he's not too bright, either.

Yesterday, the former Kansas Senator and 1996 GOP presidential nominee wrote Rush Limbaugh, asking the radio host to dial back his attacks on John McCain. In response, Romney while appearing on Fox News talked smack about the World War II hero:

"Well, it's probably the last person I would have wanted write a letter for me. I think there are a lot of folks who tend to think that maybe John McCain's race is a bit like Bob Dole's race. That it's the guy who's next in line, the inevitable choice."

Not surprisingly, John McCain let Romney have it and demanded an apology. "This is no way to end up this campaign," McCain said, "by attacking a genuine American war hero."

For his part, Romney then claimed he meant no offense. He then proceeded to attack Dole, as he routinely does McCain, for his lengthy record of public service in Washington:

"I think very highly of Senator Dole," he said, "but I do not think highly of the mental set that says we should choose our nominee based on how many years they've served and how long they've waited in line."

Mitt Romney would have done better to emulate Democrat Al Franken when it comes to Bob Dole. No friend of Dole's policies or his party, Franken at least showed an American legend the respect and honor he deserves.

At the 1996 White House Correspondents Dinner, Franken related an episode from New Hampshire which occurred while he was (briefly) covering the campaign for Newsweek:

So we're standing out there freezing for about two hours. And this Dutch crew that was there decided to interview me, which shows you how little was happening. And this Dutch correspondent says to me, "Which of the Republicans do you like the most?" And I said, "Well, of the Republicans? Dole, I guess." "Oh, but he is so old!" he said. And I said, "Well, he wasn't too old to save your sorry Dutch ass. How long did it take the Germans to roll over Holland? Was that like an hour?" I just hope that was on Dutch TV.

(Insulting the Dutch people was uncalled for and unnecessary, but you get the point.)

In all likelihood, Mitt Romney's campaign will be dealt a death blow today. One reason is that Romney ignored the old rule that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Especially when it comes to war heroes.