Etch A Sketch Quotes
It has been a common tactic to appeal to the extreme base of a party to win the primary election and tack back to the center for the general election. And this statement in most elections would not have been important or noteworthy. However, in 2012 the Republican party had become very extreme and ideologically conservative whereas when it was founded it was a liberal—even radical party. Romney, in his second try for the nomination, had changed almost all of his previously moderate positions and flip flopped many positions to assure the party base that he was very conservative. But many conservatives were not sure of Romney’s sincerity and suspected that he was just pandering to the base of the party and would reverse himself in the general election. As a result, Fehrnstrom’s statement set off a firestorm among the base and forced Romney into assuring them that he would not again flip flop back. This had the effect of denying Romney a traditional strategy to appeal to the middle in the general election as most of the undecided voters were in the middle. At the same time, the Democratic opponents used this quotation to accuse Romney of being deceptive and pandering to anywhere he could obtain votes. The political comedians all appeared on TV with Etch A Sketch devices. So the quotation had a major effect on the tactics and direction of the campaign.
