I don't think Mitt Romney understands the concept of a free and open press.

Below is video from CNN of Romney aides and Secret Service agents keeping the press away from the candidate in  Florida.

Courtesy of the Huffington Post:

Reporters covering Mitt Romney's campaign sent out a volley of tweets on Wednesday, complaining that they had been prevented from asking the presumptive Republican nominee questions at an event in Florida. 

Trouble between the campaign and the press apparently started at the beginning of the day. Sara Murray, a Wall Street Journal reporter, tweeted that journalists had been told they would not be asking any questions of Romney. "Isn't that our decision?" a reporter asked. 

Then, the press corps was told that Romney was having an off the record meeting with "middle class families." Politico's Ginger Gibson noted that they used to be able to see these meetings happen, but were now having their access cut off. 

Things only deteriorated from there. A public event followed the private meeting, and campaign aides tried to physically prevent reporters from asking Romney questions at the rope line where he was greeting voters. The reporters "refused to leave," in New York Times reporter Michael Barbaro's words. 

Video uploaded by CNN showed Romney aide Krista Warren saying, "We're not going to do this," holding her arms out to try preventing the reporters from getting to the rope line.

Does this remind anybody else of how the McCain campaign kept reporters away from Palin after realizing that their VP pick was an imbecile who could not be trusted to answer simple questions without embarrassing the hell out of everybody?

Only THIS time the embarrassment is the actual candidate himself.

Slow motion campaign derailments are SO entertaining to watch.