Yesterday started out as a banner day for Mitt Romney, but ended up with a “Rick Santorum-like” catastrophe.
Earlier in the day, Romney (finally) received the coveted endorsement of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, which is a sign that the Republican establishment is ready to end the charade of a primary and coalesce around the front runner. But it was Romney’s senior campaign adviser, Eric Fehrnstrom, who stole the thunder of the day.
In an interview on CNN, Fehrnstrom was asked if Romney had been forced to adopt conservative positions in the race that might hurt his standing among moderates in November’s general election.
“I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes,” Fehrnstrom responded. “It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again.” HUH??
So did the Romney campaign just admit that Mitt is merely playing the role of a conservative during the primaries, but will erase all of his “fake-dom” come November and return to his moderate views? You bet they did!
Lol. Well there you have it. Another self-inflicted UNFORCED gaffe. Can't stay *on message* (whatever their message is supposed to be?) even if their lives depended on it…smh.Pitiful.
A few right-wing reax….Daniel Horowitz: "Mitt Romney: The Consummate Etch A Sketch" Look, we understand that the comments emanated from a campaign official and not the candidate himself. But these comments just confirm what we’ve always known about the people surrounding him. They are all purveyors of pale pastel political positions (alliteration intended). From their perspective, this is just a game of electoral politics; an opportunity to assume power for power’s sake.Moreover, Fehrnstrom’s comments have struck such a cord with the base because they sum up Romney’s history in one image. Whenever he needs to win a particular political office, he resets the slate and pollinates it with whatever positions he ascertains to be politically expedient. […]Read: http://www.redstate.com/dhorowitz3/2012/03/21/mit…Redstate Commenter:I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Romney has been winning and is going to win the nomination DESPITE not getting conservatives. Everybody knows that if it comes down to Romney and the President, of course we’re going to vote for Romney.Given all that, why would he give the time of day to us on the right? We obviously are incapable, unwilling, or incompetent to stop him so why should we expect him to even spend a moment’s thought on us? Objectively, he owes us nothing, and I suspect that’s exactly what we will get from him. […]Greg Sargent: "Top Romney adviser: Mitt will erase his conservative positions once he’s the nominee"There you have it. Dems, predictably, are pouncing on the remark, arguing that it validates their message that Romney has no core and will say or do anything to get elected. […]Read: <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2861861/postshttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2861861/… />FreeRepublic Commenter:"There you have it. Dems, predictably, are pouncing on the remark, arguing that it validates their message that Romney has no core and will say or do anything to get elected."FreeRepublic Commenter:"Well of course. And yet some “conservatives” persist in the “anyone but Obama” idiocy. Conservatism is D O N E if Romney is nominated and elected. Done."
A few more right-wing reax….Yuval Levin: "The Etch-A-Sketch" If, say, yesterday, you had asked me what kind of statement by a Romney campaign person would do the most damage to Romney’s support among conservatives, and if I had then strained to imagine the stupidest thing they could possibly say, I might well have come up with something like Eric Fehrnstrom’s comment on CNN that regardless of what Romney says to conservatives during the primaries he can just “hit a reset button for the Fall campaign. Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch-A-Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again.” But then I would have thought that no political professional—indeed, no adult who has ever been around conservative politics or thought about it much—would ever say something so patently foolish, which so thoroughly confirms every worry that every conservative has about the candidate for whom he works. […]Read: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/294109/etch-…NR Commenter:Looking forward to NRs retraction of their endorsement.I'm still unsure who amongst the others that are/have been in the primary would be the best choice against Obama, all have glaring flaws and negligible chance of winning.I've never had any doubt who was the worst possible choice in that candidate pool. Well, OK, 2nd worst possible choice after Huntsman.The thing about the choosing the most conservative candidate that can win, is it only takes into consideration candidates that are conservative. Not those that pay lip service in a primary but have a clear record that proves they're not. […]NR Commenter:"Seems like every time Romney and his team start to believe they have the nomination sewn up. They do or say something to remind conservatives why we don't like the guy."
Lol. …a Quote for the Day….Oh for heaven's sake. THIS is the team we are sending up against Obama, the Democrats, the mainstream media, Hollywood, academia, etc. etc.???We. Are. Doomed. […] ~ NR Commenter
A. Sullivan: "The Gaffe Worth A Thousand Ads"Excerpt:It really is staggering to me that the almost certain Republican nominee has run a campaign so full of cringe-inducing, gob-smacking, eye-ball popping gaffes that he should have been consigned to the Perry folder by now – and yet still manages to stagger forward. The Etch-A-Sketch analogy from his closest and most senior aide is, however, the most devastating so far.It sums up every single worry about Romney in one metaphor: that he is a machine, that he can say or stand for anything, and that, from time to time, depending on which segment of the population he is appealing to, he will simply become something completely different. Which is, of course, per Kinsley, the true definition of a gaffe. Fehrnstrom told the truth. And Etch-A-Sketches, because they can draw anything and remove anything, are also a perfect metaphor for liars, opportunists and soulless re-invention.How, in other words, can such an allegedly professional campaign have larded itself up with statements and misstatements to such a degree you really would need a bungee cord to keep them all strapped to the roof? How did the Romney campaign beat all its rivals in finding ways to make him seem completely insincere, absurdly rich and socially clueless?And boy are they exploiting it. […] Read: http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/03/t…
…more Right-wing reax…Phillip Klein: "Romney advisor says his conservatism can be erased" Excerpt:This is an incredible admission and a window into the way Romney views politics. Romney ran two races in Massachusetts as a moderate and even a self-described "progressive," before changing his positions in the run up to his first campaign for president. Just last month, he described himself as "severely conservative" at the Conservative Political Action Conference. But as Fehrnstrom statement suggests, Romney's appeals to the right are simply a matter of positioning rather than principle, something that can easily be changed once the target audience changes.If Romney's fiercest critics wanted to come up with a way to describe Romney's approach to politics, I don't think they could have come up with a better analogy than Etch A Sketch. The fact that it's coming from one of Romney's long-time aides is stunning. An even scarier thought for conservatives: if the Romney campaign is willing to take them for granted before even clinching the nomination, imagine how quickly Romney would abandon conservatives if he ever made it to the White House. […]Read: http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/…I'm in agreement with those who feel that_over the entire course of the GOP primary competition thus far_Romney AND members of his campaign have actually done more to DESTROY any chance he may have at winning the general election (by EXPOSING who he REALLY is and what he's REALLY about) than ALL of the efforts of his Repub presidential opponents put together.Amazing.