In an interview with Breitbart.com’s Larry O’Connor, presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney adopted a proven strategy to appeal to a conservative audience: He attacked the mainstream media.

It didn’t sound like a gimmick, though. It sounded as though a single week with the media in general election mode has sobered Mitt Romney into the recognition that the MSM really will do what it can to forward Barack Obama’s reelection effort and thwart Romney’s effort to unseat him.

It wasn’t so long ago that Mitt Romney was implying it is somehow intellectually lazy to attack the MSM — but this is what he had to say in the interview with O’Connor:

“There will be an effort by the quote vast left-wing conspiracy to work together to put out their message and to attack me,” Romney said in an interview with Breitbart.com. “They’re going to do everything they can to divert from the issue people care about, which is a growing economy that creates more jobs and rising incomes. That’s what people care about.” …

“If people are bending or breaking the law then we’re going to have to focus on that and do something about that,” Romney responded. “I don’t know how much is related to that, or how much is just that many in the media are inclined to do the president’s bidding, and I know that’s an uphill battle we fight generally.”

If the recent uproar over whether Romney or Obama treats dogs better is any indication, Romney is absolutely right. No issue will be dismissed as too small to serve as a worthy distraction — and, while I stand by what I wrote yesterday, which is that even the distractions teach us something about the candidates and ourselves, I also think Romney is right to remain focused on the economy. It’s largely why Republicans ultimately nominated him and also the issue most likely to sway independents.