Mitt Romney surrogate Frmr. Sen. Jim Talent (R-MO) defended the governor’s upcoming fundraiser with birther Donald Trump during an appearance on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Tuesday afternoon, insisting that the campaign will use the event to focus on economic issues. Asked if Romney would have criticized President Obama had he appeared alongside a controversial supporter, Talent suggested that it would not and even claimed that Romney avoided weighing in on Hilary Rosen’s claim that Ann Romney “has actually never worked a day in her life“:

MITCHELL: If president Obama were to appear with a prominent fund-raiser who said things as outrageous as what Donald Trump said again today, would you in the Romney campaign let it go?

TALENT: We’d keep focusing on the main subject of the campaign is and we’ve done that. Every time the president trying to get off to something different like the attack of Governor Romney because of his dogs or the attack on Mrs. Romney we keep going back to what’s important… Every time the campaign or something comes up on the other side that does that, we keep going back to the main issues because campaigns shouldn’t be about the horse race. They ought to be about what’s important to the American people and that’s what Governor Romney’s going to stick with.

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The facts tell a different story, however. Within an hour of Rosen’s remarks in April, Romney’s wife Ann joined Twitter and personally condemned Rosen. The following day, the campaign deployed a series of surrogates to slam the pundit in conference calls with reporters and press releases, while Ann appeared on Fox News. The campaign and its conservative allies demanded — and won — public condemnations of Rosen from the Obama campaign, the DNC, prominent Democrats, and even President Obama himself. Ann Romney later described Rosen’s remarks as a political “gift,” noting, “It was my early birthday present for someone to be critical of me as a mother, and that was really a defining moment, and I loved it.”

Rosen, unlike Trump, was never part of the Obama campaign, yet the Romney people insisted that Obama apologize for her comments. They’re now taking a different tact with Trump, proving that Romney is willing to embrace supporters who spew lies and misinformation so he can raise money and appeal to the most conspiracy-minded conservatives.

Mitt Romney refused to directly repudiate Donald Trump’s claims that President Obama was born in Kenya just hours before he is scheduled to appear with the reality T.V. star for a fund raiser in Las Vegas, NV. “A candidate can’t be responsible for everything that their supporters say,” Romney spokesperson Eric Fehrnstrom told CNN on Friday, before insisting that the former Massachusetts governor “accepts the fact that [Obama] was born in Hawaii.”

But Romney has previously demanded that his political opponents publicly rebuke supporters who make false accusations about Mormonism. In October, Romney aggressively confronted evangelical pastor and Rick Perry backer Robert Jeffress, who claimed that Romney is not Christian and is part of a Mormon cult. Romney called on Perry to denounce Jeffress:

“Gov. Perry selected an individual to introduce him who then used religion as a basis for which he said he would endorse Gov. Perry and a reason to not support me. Gov. Perry then said that introduction just hit it out of the park,” Romney said.

“I just don’t believe that that kind of divisiveness based upon religion has a place in this country. I believe in the spirit of the founders, when they suggested in crafting this country that we would be a nation that tolerated other people, different faiths — that we’d be a place of religious diversity,” Romney continued.

He concluded, “I would call upon Gov. Perry to repudiate the sentiment and the remarks made by that pastor.”

Ironically, Perry spokesman Mark Miner responded to Romney’s outrage with the same sentiment that Romney is now expressing towards those who have called on him to directly repudiate Trump. “The governor does not agree with every single issue of people that endorsed him or people that he meets,” Miner said. “This political rhetoric from Gov. Romney isn’t going to create one new job or help the economy. He’s playing a game of deflection and the people of this country know this.”

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) — a Romney surrogate and potential Vice Presidential nominee — also condemned Perry, saying, that any candidate that would associate with such comments “is beneath the office of president of the United States.”

Conservatives are starting to question the Romney campaign’s association with Donald Trump, the reality TV star who in recent days has ramped up his claims that President Obama was born in Kenya. Mitt Romney is holding a fundraiser with Trump later this month, and his advisers have defended the event by insisting that “a candidate can’t be responsible for everything that their supporters say.” They insist that the former Massachusetts governor “accepts the fact that [Obama] was born in Hawaii.”

But the campaign’s wink and nod to the birther crowd is unmistakable and this morning, during an appearance on ABC’s This Week, columnist George Will slammed Romney for sharing a stage with the self-promoting businessman. Describing Trump as a ”bloviating ignoramus,” Will said, “I do not understand the cost benefit here. The costs are clear. The benefit — what voter is gonna vote for him [Romney] because he is seen with Donald Trump? The cost of appearing with this bloviating ignoramus is obvious it seems to me”:

WILL: Donald Trump is redundant evidence that if your net worth is high enough, your IQ can be very low and you can still intrude into American politics. Again, I don’t understand the benefit. What is Romney seeking?

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Trump endorsed Romney at an event in February and has since been used extensively in primary states to bash Romney’s opponents. In March, Ann Romney called him an “honorary Buckeye” after the campaign’s victory in Ohio.

On Friday, Romney adviser Kevin Madden said Romney will “stand up next to Donald Trump and he’ll talk about why he wants to be president.” “Anytime the subject goes off of that, or if something where …Governor Romney would disagree, he’s going to make that very clear,” Madden claimed, but did not say if Romney would rebuke the birther conspiracy in front of Trump. Given his resistance to confronting the right, however, that appears more than a little unlikely.