You almost have to feel a little bit sorry for Mitt Romney. In the past, he would have been a shoe-in for the Republican presidential nomination; he’s from old money, has a pretty solid record of mainstream conservative positions, and was next in line after John McCain. In the natural order of things, he should have been able to easily dominate the rest of the field’s extremist lunatics.

This year, though, the natural order has broken down; the Tea Party base has shoved the party so far to the right that all bets are off.

And Romney is clearly uncomfortable with what he’s required to do for this brave new right wing mob. Today in the National Review, he desperately tries to boost his anti-abortion credentials by toeing the line on Planned Parenthood and Roe v. Wade (he says he wants to destroy them, like any good teabagger would), hinting that he supports the insane “personhood” bills now all the rage on the religious right, and swearing to appoint only right wing Supreme Court judges.

Romney is groveling to the misogynistic right because he’s in very hot water over his refusal to sign an ugly “pledge” written by an extreme anti-abortion group (the Susan B. Anthony List) that would take away all federal funding for any hospitals that perform abortions, and would require him to refuse to hire or appoint anyone who admitted being pro-choice.

But his bowing and scraping shows no sign of working. You don’t have to wade very far into the right wing websites to see Romney being absolutely savaged for his apology, just as he was when he refused to reject the science of climate change.