HIDING HIS LIGHT UNDER A BUSHEL: Mitt Romney, a ‘private man in a public world,’ is silent on tales of altruism.

By now, many voters have heard that Mitt Romney once put the family dog, Seamus, in a crate and strapped him to the roof of a station wagon. But far fewer have heard that Romney and his sons once raced across a dark, placid lake on Jet Skis, “Baywatch”-style, to rescue strangers and their dog, McKenzie, after their boat capsized.

Or that Romney once temporarily closed the Boston headquarters of his private-equity firm to round up his co-workers, accountants and lawyers and fan out across Manhattan to search for Melissa Gay, his Bain Capital partner’s missing 14-year-old daughter.

Or that as a volunteer lay pastor of his Mormon congregation, Romney spent years counseling neighbors on their marriages and adoptions, helping the unemployed feed their families, and ministering to the sick and the addicted.

The lesser-known stories have surfaced occasionally in profiles of the former Massachusetts governor. But they have not blossomed into any kind of gentler portrait of Romney, who emerged as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Tuesday after challenger Rick Santorum suspended his bid.

Gee, I wonder why they haven’t gotten more press?

UPDATE: Reader Glen Jones emails:

I saw the blurb about Mitt Romney and his altruistic efforts in the past and I am going to make a prediction on this.

Pretty soon the MSM will start telling us about all of the many charitable/altruistic things that the Obama’s do (I’m sure there are some, at least), with a little bit of effort in paragraph 9 or so to what Mitt has done in the past along these same lines, knowing that most people have quit reading by about paragraph 5 or so. That way they can consider this subject to be something that Obama at least matches Romney on (no advantage to Romney!) and this subject covered.

People are so cynical about the media these days. But to be fair, the Washington Post story quoted above didn’t do that. But we’ll see. Readers are encouraged to email me if they note an instance of the “Glen Jones rule” in actual coverage. . . .

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader emails:

How could a discussion of Romney and Obama’s altruism go without any mention of the country’s most pathetic benefactor: Joe Biden? Here’s a little something from the Instapundit archives.

Meanwhile, the Governor of Missouri, Jay Nixon, is showering donors with tax-payer subsidized “altruisism” while pissing in the Romney punch bowl.

Yeah, Joe Biden’s charitable contributions are pathetic. And Jay Nixon is just pathetic, period.