Why Etch-a-Sketch Matters

[Landslide Lyndon]

http://swampland.time.com/2012/03/22/etch-a-disaster/

I’ve been thinking about this all night: Eric Fehrnstrom’s etch-a-sketch gaffe yesterday may go well beyond a momentary embarrassment and become a campaign-defining disaster, much as John Kerry’s “I voted for it before I voted against it” gaffe–which came at almost exactly the same point in that campaign, as Kerry locked down the nomination–was in 2004. This is true for several reasons:

1. Most obviously, this was a classic Kinsleyan gaffe–an inadvertent blurting of the truth–that goes to the very heart of the character problems that have bedeviled Romney throughout this campaign. It provides a handy prop for Romney’s opponents and an obvious template for future TV ads.

2. It makes it much harder, perhaps impossible, for Romney to begin to tack back to the center to appeal to the centrist voters, an absolute necessity for the fall campaign after the free-range extremism of the Republican primary. Every time Romney makes a move, or even a head-fake, it becomes an Etch-a-Sketch moment.

...

[memphis]

It's also a nice metaphor that almost everybody can relate to. Who hasn't played with one at some point? Now I wish I had thought of it. But it sounds better from an insider anyway.

[Likely Voter]

If Romney said it himself it could have been a gamechanger for the primaries. I dont think it hurts him much though, especially in the general. I think your average independent already assumes Romney is lying his ass off to appeal to crazy republicans. In a way one has to admire how he is getting away with it.

[fezzyfestoon]

I was actually thinking along the same lines. This has the potential to be race-defining because it does cut right to the core of Romney's overarching character issue and simplify it perfectly.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Someone has hit the reset button on the Mittbot several times now over his political career.

[angus]

If I google "etch a sketch" the first few hits, after the obligatory sponsored links, are all about Romney.  Google video search turns up only Romney-related stuff, some of which is Santorum capitalizing on it in a low-budget way.  I think this would make for a good 30-second TV spot.  

In related news, Etch-a-Sketch stock soars, according to the WSJ.  Actually, it's the Ohio Art Company (OART).  Price per share increased from $4 to $12.50 in just one hour today, before settling at $9.65.  

Who let the dogs out?!

[All Along The Watchtower]

[homelycooking]

Rick Santorum would be well advised to carry an Etch-a-Sketch with him to every campaign stop, every stump speech and every TV interview between now and June.

[King]

Yeah, Romney will have a difficult time shaking this one off.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I disagree for a few reasons.

1. Romney didn't say it - an advisor did.  That's the big reason I think this'll blow over.
2. Obama is gonna win anyway - 2004 was close; I don't think Romney would've won even if this hadn't happened.

[ajb]

As much as anything, it reminds us that, while Romney's campaign team is smoother than those of his Republican rivals, they're going to have to work a lot harder against the demonstrably excellent Obama campaign team.
Moments like this, as well as weak grassroots fundrasing and anemic primary turnout numbers, are not encouraging signs that Romney's team is up to the challenge.

[Fritz]

Come on, Pubs!  Go rally around Rick Santorum!  It's not too late to dump this loser!

[You kip if you want to...]

Yeah, Romney will have a difficult time shaking this one off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avYnhH95u_0

[TheGlobalizer]

Romney is a well-known fake f**k.  This changes nothing.

[Politico]

One word: TRIANGULATION!

It won Clinton re-election. It will win Romney the presidency. It will enable Romney to reunite the nation and restore respectability to Republicanism.

Much like Clinton co-opted deregulation and balanced budgets on the economic front, Romney will co-opt Obama's strengths on the social front: A moderate temperament and empathy for struggling moms. Don't worry, though: Romney is iron clad on the economic front. And he's still a social conservative, too (Just not one who is going to say ridiculous things that turn off female voters and setback the Republicans by four years like Santorum and Co. did in 2006)

[ajb]

Romney will co-opt Obama's strengths on the social front: A moderate temperament and empathy for struggling moms.

I'd love to watch Romney try to perform that.

[Lincoln Republican]

The definitive and only true explanation:

“As we move from the primary to the general election, the campaign changes,” spokeswoman Andrea Saul said. “It’s a different race, with different candidates, and the main issue now becomes President Obama’s failure to create jobs and get this economy moving.”

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

One word: TRIANGULATION!

It won Clinton re-election. It will win Romney the presidency. It will enable Romney to reunite the nation and restore respectability to Republicanism.

Much like Clinton co-opted deregulation and balanced budgets on the economic front, Romney will co-opt Obama's strengths on the social front: A moderate temperament and empathy for struggling moms. Don't worry, though: Romney is iron clad on the economic front. And he's still a social conservative, too (Just not one who is going to say ridiculous things that turn off female voters and setback the Republicans by four years like Santorum and Co. did in 2006)

Triangulation doesn't involve completely erasing all your previously held political positions and adopting a new, manufactured persona.  Flip-flopping has never, in the history of American politics, proven to have helped candidates running in general elections. 

[RI]

There's a difference between flipping on issues and shifting focus and emphasis to highlight less extreme elements of your positions.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Much like the company that made Etch-a-Sketch, Romney has outsourced jobs to China.

[Tender Branson]

What exactly is this "Etch-a-Sketch" thing ?

Is it a drawing board for children, on which you can erase the stuff they have drawn by pulling something over on the back of the thing ?

[Yeahsayyeah]

It seems to be something similar to the thing I know from Germany as "Magna-Doodle".

[homelycooking]

What exactly is this "Etch-a-Sketch" thing ?

Is it a drawing board for children, on which you can erase the stuff they have drawn by pulling something over on the back of the thing ?

Yes, except that it is erased by shaking the screen. When you twist the knobs (one for left-right, one for up-down), a stylus displaces the aluminum powder distributed behind the screen, so when you shake it, the aluminum powder becomes distributed evenly and erases the lines that were drawn through it.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Who said what and who to?