Romney Says He's No Etch A Sketch
Kamis, 22 Maret 2012 by Android Blackberry
Romney Says He's No Etch A Sketch, Is Conservative
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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney attempted Wednesday to shake accusations that he's an inconsistent conservative after a top adviser compared the campaign's shift from main fight to common election to an Etch A Sketch.
When Romney should happen to be enjoying the spoils of his convincing win in the Illinois main and a coveted endorsement from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the off-handed comment about the draw, shake and draw again toy place him on the defensive as an alternative.
His Republican rivals and Democrats had been positively giddy more than the remark, which gave them an opening to resurrect a familiar story line that the former Massachusetts governor will take any position on an problem to acquire elected.
The episode, most likely to dog Romney in the coming days, began when adviser Eric Fehrnstrom was asked on CNN if the extended main fight may force Romney so far for the right that it would hurt him with moderate voters in the fall.
Fehrnstrom responded: "I believe you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything adjustments. It's nearly like an Etch A Sketch. You'll be able to type of shake it up and we start all more than once again."
Fehrnstrom did not attempt to take back his words when he was asked to clarify them. He said only that the common election is "a distinct race, with different candidates, as well as the main problem now becomes" exclusively President Barack Obama.
Romney has long battled the perception of being a flip-flopper, and to hear one particular of his most trusted advisers compare the campaign's shift from primary fight to general election to a toy that, when shaken, clears its screen for a different image was too fantastic for his critics to pass up.
"My youngsters had Etch A Sketches, they were great for vehicle rides," rival Newt Gingrich, badly trailing Romney in the polls, said in Lake Charles, La. "But you'll discover that their pictures are not permanent, their pictures are not locked down. You could redo it any time you wish. That's the issue."
"Here's Gov. Romney's staff, they don't even have the decency to wait until they get the nomination to clarify to us how they'll sell us out," Gingrich added. "And I consider getting an Etch A Sketch as your campaign model raises every doubt about exactly where we're going."
Rick Santorum, too, tried to turn Fehrnstrom's comment into an attack line. The former Pennsylvania senator stopped at a toy retailer in Louisiana to get one particular and brought it to a campaign occasion.
"Gov. Romney's campaign had a genuine moment of truth nowadays," he told reporters in Kenner, La., after touring a fish processing plant.
"It in fact revealed what everyone knew or suspected but now know: Gov. Romney is considering saying whatever is vital to win the election and when the game changes, he'll change," Santorum mentioned.
He urged voters in Louisiana, which holds its principal Saturday, to pick a candidate who stands "firmly on the rocks of freedom, not on the sands of an Etch A Sketch toy."
Democrats released a internet video mocking Fehrnstrom.
Meanwhile, at a town hall-style meeting at an American Legion post near Baltimore, Romney stated nothing regarding the dustup. But he changed his mind and, immediately after the event, attempted to place to rest queries about his altered positions on such matters as abortion and gay rights. He opposes both, following having supported them previously.
"The problems I'm operating on will probably be exactly precisely the same," Romney mentioned. "I'm running as a conservative Republican. I was a conservative governor. I will be running as a conservative Republican nominee - hopefully, nominee at that point. The policies and the positions are the same."
As reporters arrived for the event, Santorum's national press secretary, Alice Stewart, handed them miniature Etch A Sketches - a sign that the toy will likely remain element in the campaign longer than any doodle sketched on its screen.
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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney attempted Wednesday to shake accusations that he's an inconsistent conservative after a top adviser compared the campaign's shift from main fight to common election to an Etch A Sketch.
When Romney should happen to be enjoying the spoils of his convincing win in the Illinois main and a coveted endorsement from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the off-handed comment about the draw, shake and draw again toy place him on the defensive as an alternative.
His Republican rivals and Democrats had been positively giddy more than the remark, which gave them an opening to resurrect a familiar story line that the former Massachusetts governor will take any position on an problem to acquire elected.
The episode, most likely to dog Romney in the coming days, began when adviser Eric Fehrnstrom was asked on CNN if the extended main fight may force Romney so far for the right that it would hurt him with moderate voters in the fall.
Fehrnstrom responded: "I believe you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything adjustments. It's nearly like an Etch A Sketch. You'll be able to type of shake it up and we start all more than once again."
Fehrnstrom did not attempt to take back his words when he was asked to clarify them. He said only that the common election is "a distinct race, with different candidates, as well as the main problem now becomes" exclusively President Barack Obama.
Romney has long battled the perception of being a flip-flopper, and to hear one particular of his most trusted advisers compare the campaign's shift from primary fight to general election to a toy that, when shaken, clears its screen for a different image was too fantastic for his critics to pass up.
"My youngsters had Etch A Sketches, they were great for vehicle rides," rival Newt Gingrich, badly trailing Romney in the polls, said in Lake Charles, La. "But you'll discover that their pictures are not permanent, their pictures are not locked down. You could redo it any time you wish. That's the issue."
"Here's Gov. Romney's staff, they don't even have the decency to wait until they get the nomination to clarify to us how they'll sell us out," Gingrich added. "And I consider getting an Etch A Sketch as your campaign model raises every doubt about exactly where we're going."
Rick Santorum, too, tried to turn Fehrnstrom's comment into an attack line. The former Pennsylvania senator stopped at a toy retailer in Louisiana to get one particular and brought it to a campaign occasion.
"Gov. Romney's campaign had a genuine moment of truth nowadays," he told reporters in Kenner, La., after touring a fish processing plant.
"It in fact revealed what everyone knew or suspected but now know: Gov. Romney is considering saying whatever is vital to win the election and when the game changes, he'll change," Santorum mentioned.
He urged voters in Louisiana, which holds its principal Saturday, to pick a candidate who stands "firmly on the rocks of freedom, not on the sands of an Etch A Sketch toy."
Democrats released a internet video mocking Fehrnstrom.
Meanwhile, at a town hall-style meeting at an American Legion post near Baltimore, Romney stated nothing regarding the dustup. But he changed his mind and, immediately after the event, attempted to place to rest queries about his altered positions on such matters as abortion and gay rights. He opposes both, following having supported them previously.
"The problems I'm operating on will probably be exactly precisely the same," Romney mentioned. "I'm running as a conservative Republican. I was a conservative governor. I will be running as a conservative Republican nominee - hopefully, nominee at that point. The policies and the positions are the same."
As reporters arrived for the event, Santorum's national press secretary, Alice Stewart, handed them miniature Etch A Sketches - a sign that the toy will likely remain element in the campaign longer than any doodle sketched on its screen.
Reporting from Washington-
Mitt Romney had hoped to prevent dealing with the "Etch-A-Sketch" question at his only public event Wednesday afternoon, a town hall meeting in Maryland.
But, about a half hour following Romney pointedly told a reporter along the ropeline that he wouldn't be taking queries, reporters had been summoned for a speedy gaggle in which the candidate would do a speedy "Q&A."
There was only one "Q," and the candidate knew what it would be.
"First, I just want to tell you, what a great night last night," Romney said as soon after reemerging in a now-largely empty American Legion Hall. He was referring to his double-digit victory in Illinois, a win that, coupled using the morning endorsement from Jeb Bush, should have driven the campaign narrative for the week.
"You don't need to cover any of this," he continued. "But boy was that fun."
It was a sheepish acknowledgement that, indeed, "Etch-A- Sketch" had taken hold.
In the short term, though, Romney's rivals will likely continue to revel in the gaffe of a campaign aide, Eric Fehrnstrom. If you're Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, there's not much more to say, given math that shows Romney with twice as many delegates.
But the real potential damage is beyond the primary fight. Democrats have long been working to paint Romney as a candidate without a core, hammering every perceived inconsistency and working to ensure that every position he took in the primary fight to endear himself with conservatives would be held against him in the general election.
The concern is that soon after clinching the nomination, Romney would begin to nuance some of those positions -- on women's health, on illegal immigration, among others -- to appeal to more moderate, swing voters in the fall.
So the real damage done by Fehrnstrom's comment could be that it forced Romney at this relatively late stage in the nomination fight to state before the cameras that he would not seek the "reset" his campaign suggested.
"The issues I'm running on will be exactly the same. I'm running as a conservative Republican," Romney said.
At any point in the fall, if the Obama campaign senses any massaging of his earlier positions, they now have a the perfect image to respond to. What windsurfing was to John Kerry, Etch-A-Sketch could be to Romney in a 30-second TV ad.
Using the candidate having addressed it, Romney's campaign is already trying to turn the page. They've launched a new television advertisement this morning called "Conservative Record." Airing in Wisconsin, which votes April 3, it touts his record as Massachusetts governor in "wiping out a $3 billion deficit."
Romney is spending today in Louisiana, which votes Saturday, and where Santorum is a favorite
Mitt Romney had hoped to prevent dealing with the "Etch-A-Sketch" question at his only public event Wednesday afternoon, a town hall meeting in Maryland.
But, about a half hour following Romney pointedly told a reporter along the ropeline that he wouldn't be taking queries, reporters had been summoned for a speedy gaggle in which the candidate would do a speedy "Q&A."
There was only one "Q," and the candidate knew what it would be.
"First, I just want to tell you, what a great night last night," Romney said as soon after reemerging in a now-largely empty American Legion Hall. He was referring to his double-digit victory in Illinois, a win that, coupled using the morning endorsement from Jeb Bush, should have driven the campaign narrative for the week.
"You don't need to cover any of this," he continued. "But boy was that fun."
It was a sheepish acknowledgement that, indeed, "Etch-A- Sketch" had taken hold.
In the short term, though, Romney's rivals will likely continue to revel in the gaffe of a campaign aide, Eric Fehrnstrom. If you're Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, there's not much more to say, given math that shows Romney with twice as many delegates.
But the real potential damage is beyond the primary fight. Democrats have long been working to paint Romney as a candidate without a core, hammering every perceived inconsistency and working to ensure that every position he took in the primary fight to endear himself with conservatives would be held against him in the general election.
The concern is that soon after clinching the nomination, Romney would begin to nuance some of those positions -- on women's health, on illegal immigration, among others -- to appeal to more moderate, swing voters in the fall.
So the real damage done by Fehrnstrom's comment could be that it forced Romney at this relatively late stage in the nomination fight to state before the cameras that he would not seek the "reset" his campaign suggested.
"The issues I'm running on will be exactly the same. I'm running as a conservative Republican," Romney said.
At any point in the fall, if the Obama campaign senses any massaging of his earlier positions, they now have a the perfect image to respond to. What windsurfing was to John Kerry, Etch-A-Sketch could be to Romney in a 30-second TV ad.
Using the candidate having addressed it, Romney's campaign is already trying to turn the page. They've launched a new television advertisement this morning called "Conservative Record." Airing in Wisconsin, which votes April 3, it touts his record as Massachusetts governor in "wiping out a $3 billion deficit."
Romney is spending today in Louisiana, which votes Saturday, and where Santorum is a favorite
