Gaffe: noun, a slip of the truth. – Ken Rynne
News: Yesterday, a senior Romney adviser went on CNN and seemed to suggest that Mr. Romney’s conservative positions in the primary season could change like an Etch A Sketch drawing.
“I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign,” Eric Fehrnstrom, a longtime adviser to Mr. Romney, said in response to a question about pivoting to a matchup with Mr. Obama and appealing to moderate swing voters. “Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again.”
The reference to a children’s drawing toy that erases the last image with a simple shake immediately fed attacks from Mr. Romney’s rivals that he was an untrustworthy standard-bearer for the conservative cause.
We Fix It: If it has the ring of truth – it may be a lasting image through November. Meanwhile sales of Etch A Sketch and the stock price of its manufacturer Ohio Art have soared. Frankly, we think more toy-related gaffes are just what this campaign needs — bring on other clasics like “Operation” (health care), “Battleship” (defense), and for the big match up in November 2012, “Rock Em Sock ‘Em Robots.”
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