Over the weekend, Mitt Romney appeared to commit another verbal gaffe, stating that he believes we need less police, firefighters and teachers. The folks in Colorado might disagree with this, given that they are calling in firefighters from Canada to work the High Park blaze.

But the Romney campaign has doubled down on that “gaffe”, stating that the candidate did not misspeak, but that would be policy. Gaffe? Apparently not.

It’s not a gaffe when you actually believe it. Romney picked on firefighters, police and teachers because they belong to unions. And that, to Romney, is a mortal sin. So he believes we have too many cops on the street, too many firefighters saving lives and too many teachers educating our kids.

Romney comes from the conservative mindset that any money that does not flow into corporate coffers – and therefore his pockets and those of his cronies – is wasted money. They claim they want a strong defense. What they really want is lots of money flowing to defense contractors. If they really wanted a strong defense, they’d do more for active-duty military and for veterans. Instead, they make sure contractors in their home states get billions in contracts, fir which they are rewarded by fat contributions to their campaigns. They want to privatize services like law enforcement and firefighting so they can make a profit at your expense. They decry taxes, but by privatizing these services, your direct costs will go up, essentially increasing the burden on you, while allowing a private company to decide just what services you receive.

They want to privatize education, so that only those that can afford it can get a decent education. Too poor to pay for school? Sorry. Work harder.

Make no mistake, this was not a gaffe. This is exactly what Romney would deliver.