After months of speculation, former Florida governor Jeb Bush finally jumped on Mitt Romney’s bandwagon. The son and brother of the 41st and 43rd presidents issued a statement saying “now is the time for Republicans to unite behind Governor Romney and take our message of fiscal conservatism and job creation to all voters this fall.” The endorsement, coming on the day after Romney’s impressive win in Illinois all but made his nomination inevitable, isn’t likely to be of all that much help to the frontrunner in upcoming primaries. But it is a signal that the one family that could be said to embody the Republican establishment if there even is such a thing has formally certified Romney’s nomination.
The endorsement also is welcome since it comes on a day when the Romney campaign is dealing with a gaffe by one of his advisors that has the potential to alienate conservatives just at the moment when they may be coming to terms with the fact that they must make their peace with the inevitable nominee. This morning on CNN, Romney advisor Eric Fehrnstrom said that Romney could tack back to the center after the primaries because:
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.
While it is true that any candidate will sound a bit different in a general election than in a primary, that’s exactly the sort of statement that reminds conservatives of Romney’s record of flip-flopping and why they don’t trust him. He is the last candidate whose staffers should be talking about fall resets. Republicans would like to believe that the Romney who spoke last night after his win about the imperative of economic freedom being the driving force of his campaign was the real candidate. Fehrstrom’s “Etch A Sketch” comment is likely to be catnip for Rick Santorum’s campaign and help ensure that, no matter what follows, Romney will get spanked in Louisiana.
That makes it more than just an ordinary gaffe. If Romney wants to convince conservatives he means it, he’ll have to start by suspending Fehrnstrom. In the meantime, he’ll hope that Jeb Bush’s belated endorsement will take some of the sting out of what may be a bad news cycle for him.
You are right Romney will have to get rid of that so called
campaign manager and repudiate that attitude. It was a truly stupid remark at best or was it sabotage self or otherwise ? You tell me.
Wow. Tobin you're really reading way too much into this. All the networks are focused on Jeb Bush endorsement. No one has even mentioned this clip or "gaffe."
I've seen it other places.
Unfortunately, your article is incorrect. Fehrnstrom did not say, "Romney could tack back to the center after the primaries" Let's put this in context of the question that was asked. n nCNN: "Is there a concern that the pressure from Santorum and Gingrich might force the governor to attach so far to the right it would hurt him with moderate voters in the general election?” n nFehrnstrom 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 we start all over again.” n nIt's pretty clear that he was saying the republican party would STOP talking about super far right issues like birth control &, Pornography and get back on track with talking about the Economy & Obama's failures.
The Etch-A-Sketch is a pretty clean wipe. And "start all over again" means "start all over again." Romney could end up campaigning on a return to the gold standard and bringing back Prohibition.
If Romney hopes to beat Obama he will have to attack Obama's (and Reid's and Pelosi's) policies hard and unrelentingly. He doesn't have to hate on Obama, but he will need to make it so clear the MSM can't bury the message that Obama's policies (like EPA, energy, bankrupting states with programs for public sector unions, Obamacare, his radical anti-equality justice department, and Iran, and terrorist acts he will not acknowledge as such, and the complete loss of respect for Obama and America around the world thanks to his treatment of friends and foes) are, well, insane — and manage to defend Ryan's plans logically and with feeling for the very people Obama wants dead, like death panels and cutting off care at age 70, etc. What he might wish to do once Obama's mess is undone is far less important!
Fehrnstrom’s blunder underscores something that used to be a cardinal rule of campaigns but in recent years has been increasingly honored in the breach: NEVER, EVER talk process in public or on the record.
A corollary of this rule is that campaign functionaries and consultants generally should not be giving TV interviews. That’s what elected officials as surrogates are for.
Jeb who? This old pooch is taking the high road. I'm keeping an open mind on this kerfuffle until Hasbro and Mattel weigh in. At least he didn't say, "It's almost like Twister," or "It's almost like Magic Vomit"
What we all knew and know about Romney, that his hard Right turn would become a fast shift to Center come Fall, is hardly news at all. As a matter of fact, the only thing his campaign adviser is guilty of is speaking openly on a taboo subject.
Post Convention campaigns are always totally different than Primary campaigns.