Fox News “political analyst” Dick Morris admitted today that he's stopped criticizing Mitt Romney because the former Massachusetts governor might be the Republican nominee for president and “I don't want to make my own task [of defeating Obama] harder.” Listen:

MIKE GALLAGHER (HOST): I found myself sort of -- and you're in a different capacity. I mean, you're paid to look at the pros and cons of everybody. I want anybody but Obama. I just want Obama defeated in November. I just want him gone. And so my position as a talk show host is whoever the Republicans prop up, that's who I'm going to enthusiastically support.

MORRIS: I agree so much with that, Mike. I decided a couple of -- a month or two ago to stop dumping on Mitt Romney, for example --

GALLAGHER: Yeah, me too, me too.

MORRIS: Not because I approve of Romneycare, not because I approve of his flip-flops, flip on abortion, but because I may have to be one of those who carries this guy for a couple of months when he's running against Obama and I don't want to make my own task harder. [Salem Radio, The Mike Gallagher Show, 6/13/11]

Morris has previously been very critical of Romney, explaining to Sean Hannity on February 28: “I do not like Romney. It's the only one that I really attack ... I want to be sure that the new president will repeal Obamacare. And since he enacted the equivalent of Obamacare in Massachusetts, they call it Romneycare, and I talk about how disastrous it's been, I can't trust him on that.”

On March 2, Morris told Bill O'Reilly that Romney couldn't win the nomination because of “Romneycare”: “In terms of Romney, it's not an Achilles heel, it's an Achilles body. There is no way this guy is going to get nominated with him having passed the equivalent of Obamacare.”

And in October 2010, Morris said at a tea party gathering that he was “opposed to Mitt Romney” after “I got educated on health care, and I saw how horrible that bill that he signed is working in Massachusetts, [inaudible] is doubled, and now it's like a four month wait to see an internist in Boston. It used to be six days.”

More recently, Morris -- as promised -- appears to have dialed down his criticism. On June 8, Morris told O'Reilly: “I was at the Faith and Freedom Coalition last week. I have a video on my Web site about it and I heard them all speak. Romney is Reaganesque, absolutely incredible.”

Earlier that day, Morris appeared on Fox & Friends and said that Romney was “very, very impressive at this convention. He was presidential. He reminded me a little bit of Reagan.” Morris added he didn't like Romney's “position on healthcare in Massachusetts” and his “flip-flopping over abortion but boy, he sure put that away with a fantastic speech at this convention.” Morris concluded that “I was kind of saying, 'This is a guy that could take Obama.' ... I came away very impressed with Romney.”

The topper came when Gretchen Carlson asked Morris if any of the candidates had contacted him to seek his help.

“A few have, but I'm not doing that this year because I want to be impartial in my commentary,” Morris said.