Towards the end of an appearance on the Hugh Hewitt show, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney had a few words to say about what a teachers union endorsement means these days:

Hugh Hewitt: [Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton] picked up the endorsement of a teachers’ union today. I’m not sure if it’s the NTEU or the American Federation of Teachers. Your reaction to that, Governor Romney? What’s it tell you about what the teacher unions think about politics at the national level?

Mitt Romney: Well, no surprise, of course, that the teachers unions are going to get behind the Democrats in this regard, and I have no beef with unions generally. But there are good unions and bad unions. And the teachers unions at the national level are so focused on their members that they’re forgetting that the first responsibility of an elected official is to be caring about the kids. And somebody’s got to stand up and represent the kids of this country, not just the teachers unions…

(Footnote: Clinton received the AFT’s endorsement yesterday. “NTEU” is short for National Treasury Employees Union, which has not yet endorsed a candidate and represents no teachers as far as we know.)