While on Meet the Press, when Tim Russert wasn't waving flip-flops in his face, Mitt Romney got teary when recalling the time in 1978 when he learned the Mormon church would accept black people. Some news outlets focused on the crying, such as the Boston Herald and Boston Daily. (At least one black Mormon wasn't impressed with the show because Romney didn't apologize for the church's discrimination.)

Bostonist shrugged and figured all politicians have gotta trigger the waterworks at some point. Call us cynical, but the tears tend to fall when the cameras are around--and that goes for all public figures, not just Romney.

But the Boston Phoenix probed why Mitt Romney cried. Romney said several times, including on Meet the Press that his father marched with Martin Luther King, Jr., in Michigan. David Bernstein at the Phoenix decided to find out if that was true. And he didn’t find any evidence. In fact, the Grosse Pointe Historical Society said the elder Romney never appeared at any sort of rally in Grosse Pointe.

The whole article has the details on when Martin Luther King, Jr., was in Grosse Pointe and why it was unlikely the elder Romney wasn't there. The information doesn't suggest that Mitt Romney's father didn't support civil rights or didn't march at some point, but, at the moment, it doesn't look like he marched with Martin Luther King, Jr.

Image of Romney and Russert from Crooks and Liars. You can watch the video there.