Mitt Romney The Etch-A-Sketch Candidate?

[Tarheel]

I don't know if any of you have been following the latest gaffe in the Republican Primary but in an interview with a CNN news reader, Eric Fehrnstrom, Mitt Romney's Communications Director, characterized his boss's campaign as being like an Etch-A-Sketch when it comes to resetting it for the general election in the fall.  The MSM golems and the opposition have trumpeted this gaffe obviously because it plays to the crowd who already think that he's a flip-flopper.

Anyway, I was amused to read this article by Jonah Goldberg at NRO and I thought that I'd share it due, especially, to some humorous comparisons that he makes.

Excerpt from NRO, all emphasis is my own:

A Fawlty Slip of the Tongue
By Jonah Goldberg
March 23, 2012 1:00 A.M.

There’s a great old Fawlty Towers scene in which Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), an innkeeper, welcomes some German patrons. He gives explicit orders to everyone: “Don’t mention the war!” He then proceeds to mention the uncomfortable subject of World War II over and over again.
 
In one scene, after blurting out references to the war a dozen times while seating the Germans at the restaurant, he says to his wife, “Listen, don’t mention the war! I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it all right.” He then returns to the Germans’ table to review their lunch order: “So! It’s all forgotten now, and let’s hear no more about it. So, that’s two egg mayonnaise, a prawn Goebbels, a Hermann Goering, and four Colditz salads.”
 
When one of the patrons begs him to stop talking about the war, Cleese responds, “Me? You started it!”
 
The German retorts, “We did not start it!” Cleese answers, “Yes you did! You invaded Poland.”
 
The scene came to mind Wednesday when I saw an instantly infamous clip of Eric Fehrnstrom, Mitt Romney’s communications director, comparing his candidate to a children’s toy.

Asked by a CNN anchor if the primaries had forced Romney to tack “so far to the right it would hurt him with moderate voters in the general election,” Ferhnstrom responded, “Well, I think you 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.”

Of course, the gaffe was overhyped by the media and by Romney’s GOP rivals. And, yes, there’s a perfectly plausible defense of Fehrnstrom’s statement. Every presidential contest restarts once the nominee has been picked and the general election commences.
 
But Ferhnstrom should know that he shouldn’t say anything — and I mean anything — that reinforces the idea that Romney is a flip-flopper, a people-pleaser, a weather vane or, now, an Etch A Sketch. It’s less than a novel insight to note that Romney’s greatest vulnerability is that he seems insincere and that it appears his commitment to conservatism is entirely tactical. Ferhnstrom should know this.
...
{The} Etch A Sketch gaffe would be akin to Newt Gingrich’s communications director saying, “Who knows what Newt will actually do as president. If you haven’t noticed, he’s sort of crazy.” It would be like Rick Santorum’s spokesman saying, “Well, Rick’s just talking this limited-government stuff until he gets elected. Once he’s sworn in, he’s going to take care of the gays, Day One.” It’s like White House Press Secretary Jay Carney saying, “Well, of course in his second term President Obama won’t feel the need to hide his real socialist agenda — or his relationship with Bill Ayers.”

Every candidate has a weak spot, an inconvenient storyline he doesn’t want magnified. Fehrnstrom’s remark was simply malpractice, and while it would probably be unfair to judge the man by one misstatement, Romney would have been wise to fire him, or at least take him to the woodshed.
 
Barring that, he could have tried to make a joke about it.
 
As NBC’s Chuck Todd suggested, he should have brought out a Magic 8-Ball and made light of the situation. Maybe he could have asked the toy, “Should I fire Eric?” Or he could bring out a Pet Rock and talk about how President Obama is about as useful in getting the economy going.
...

Source:
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/294217/fawlty-slip-tongue-jonah-goldberg

[Townhallsavoy]

Or it could be like Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich all saying in unison - "Fuck it.  Here's to you, Obama.  I hope you enjoy four more years in the White House." 

[Tarheel]

Or it could be like Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich all saying in unison - "fudge it.  Here's to you, Obama.  I hope you enjoy four more years in the White House."

We as a nation are in a helluva lot of trouble if we reelect the Pharaoh; hearing his comment made to outgoing Russky Pres. Medvedev made me cringe yesterday "just wait until after the election, I can be more flexible on missile negotiations then" to paraphrase.

[GH2001]

We as a nation are in a helluva lot of trouble if we reelect the Pharaoh; hearing his comment made to outgoing Russky Pres. Medvedev made me cringe yesterday "just wait until after the election, I can be more flexible on missile negotiations then" to paraphrase.

As much as I don't care for much of what Romney "is", he is 100 times better than the ONE. We can't afford this guy for four more years - literally. It makes sense he is kosher with and bows down to the Russians - after all, they are his own kind (Red).