Some prominent Mitt Romney supporters are saying the presidential hopeful's campaign should stop sending mixed messages about the Supreme Court's health care ruling.
Romney and his staffers have been going back and forth on whether to call it a tax as an attack on President Obama or not a tax, to preserve the argument that Romney never raised taxes in his state despite having a similar health care law.
Head spinning a bit? We'll backtrack.
On Wednesday, Romney, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, said the federal health care reform mandate constitutes a "tax," contradicting the way his senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom, of the Etch-a-Sketch gaffe fame, characterized his position earlier this week. But the similar individual mandate and fee he signed into law when governor of Massachusetts is not a tax, he said in a separate interview, citing the Supreme Court's decision last Thursday.
In March, Fehrnstrom made headlines for saying in a CNN interview that the transition from the primaries to the general election was "almost like an Etch-a-Sketch. You can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again."
Some people are calling the tax chatter another Romney flip-flop. Others are calling it the Etch-a-Sketch redux. Others, like editor of The Nation Katrina vanden Heuvel, are saying this incident makes the previous gaffe look like solid campaign strategy.
Romney now says health mandate is a tax. Making that Etch a Sketch look downright steady,stable and full of integrity.
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Katrina vandenHeuvel (@KatrinaNation) July 05, 2012And now, plenty of people, including his supporters, are hitting Romney on the issue and letting him know that either he needs to get himself aligned with his staff on these issues, or scrap some of the staff and get a new game plan as they charge into the general election.
Media baron Rupert Murdoch, never shy on his views, tweeted that while he supports the former Massachusetts governor he believes Romney needs to shake up his staff to have a chance to beat Obama's seasoned campaign staff.
Met Romney last week. Tough O Chicago pros will be hard to beat unless he drops old friends from team and hires some real pros. Doubtful.
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Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) July 01, 2012And apparently, that tweet upset the Romney campaign, which prompted Murdoch to follow up with a tweet on Monday. He said he wants Romney to win, but instead of the campaign upset about the criticism they should heed some of the good advice Murdoch feels Romney is getting about trying to get his campaign in order.
Romney people upset at me! Of course I want him to win, save us from socialism, etc but should listen to good advice and get stuck in!
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Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) July 02, 2012
Murdoch's tweets of fury were followed by agreement from Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, and then a blistering editorial from the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal.
Welch tweeted that he hoped Romney's camp would heed Murdoch's advice, noting that the Obama campaign staff is a well-oiled machine at this point.
Hope Mitt Romney is listening to Murdoch advice ont campaign staff..playing in league with Chicago pols..No room for amateurs
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Jack Welch (@jack_welch) July 02, 2012And the Wall Street Journal went further with an elaborate editorial that declared the tax or not a tax issue is indicative of larger campaign problems. The editorial says what could have easily been a choreographed way to attack Obama has essentially turned into a political defeat for Romney.
"Why make such an unforced error? Because it fits with Mr. Romney's fear of being labeled a flip-flopper, as if that is worse than confusing voters about the tax and health-care issues. Mr. Romney favored the individual mandate as part of his reform in Massachusetts, and as we've said from the beginning of his candidacy his failure to admit that mistake makes him less able to carry the anti-ObamaCare case to voters ...
His latest mistake is of a piece with the campaign's insular staff and strategy that are slowly squandering an historic opportunity. Mr. Obama is being hurt by an economic recovery that is weakening for the third time in three years. But Mr. Romney hasn't been able to take advantage, and if anything he is losing ground.
The Romney campaign thinks it can play it safe and coast to the White House by saying the economy stinks and it's Mr. Obama's fault. We're on its email list and the main daily message from the campaign is that "Obama isn't working." Thanks, guys, but Americans already know that. What they want to hear from the challenger is some understanding of why the President's policies aren't working and how Mr. Romney's policies will do better."
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Just as i said in the past Romney is a total flipflopper and im starting to believe he has intermittant alzheimers! Ya know, the kind that comes and goes!
lol...i believe the choice for 2012 is between presidential rock and presidential candidate hard place...
Either that, or multiple personality disorder!
He needs to do what all Gopers do: wait for orders from the head of command before offering an opinion.
it's NOTTAH tax!
it-it S N O T T A H tax!
it-it S N O T tahtax!
I believe the Republican word for this back in the election of 2004 was "VACILLATING"...with an extra dollop of slime on top.
subliminal message of obama's interview regarding hhs mandate:
it's snot....attack!
Is the mandate being paid to the IRS? Yes. Is it based on a percentage of the individual's salary? Yes. – Sounds like a tax to me!
you are absolutely right dee, butcha missin' mie point...
the Justice did not say it was a Tax he said it was handled under the Tax codes. when u fail to pay your taxes u r hit with a penalty not more taxes when u fail to get health care u get hit with a penalty.... Just as mittens describes romneycare...
The Creator of Romneycare should know how his stuff works and not need to pander to Norquist etc....
The problem is Romney speaks out of both sides of his mouth so it is hard to tell where he stands on issues from day to day. It is kind of like trying to nail Jello to the wall. This leads me to believe he has a basic problem with honesty.
Also know as having a forked tongue.
mixed messages? like Obama being anti-gay marriage until 1996, then pro gay marriage, then anti-gay marriage again in 2008, then pro gay marriage in 2012?
yeah mixed messge where he STATES he has changed his mind instead where mittens just says different things and refuses to admit he said something different cuz not even he knows what he said before....
And good thing u brought up gay marriage cuz MITTENS was for it in Mass, and he was pro abortion and all the other things he is now against but he doesnt recall all that.
All politicians change positions on some issues over time. Mittens has changed positions on practically EVERY issue in as short a time period as a few hours.
Even as politicians change positions, they still have a set of core convictions that do not change. With Mittens, there are NO core convictions.
Why bother campaigning? Just run ads saying "Vote for me because I will be whatever you want me to be."
Rumor has it that he's going to pick Jerry Sandusky for his running mate to get the pedophile vote.
Notice how he has the 1%ers behind him all the way? Those 1%ers are the only ones publically supporting him besides a few here who want the US to go to war with Iran.
I am still laughing at Sarah Palin calling Nancy Pelosi a dingbat....really Sarah..? And that would make you what..smart?...ROFLMAO
LOL. Didn't hear that one.
Pychologists could make a career out of studying the depths of conservative delusions.
Wishy-washy wealthy poor excuse for a presidential candidate.
Jeez, this guy needs to grow some guts and stick with a story. Dubya may have been borderline insane but at least he stuck to his guns on issues. Romney is like the wind.
"We're on its email list and the main daily message from the campaign is that "Obama isn't working." Thanks, guys, but Americans already know that. What they want to hear from the challenger is some understanding of why the President's policies aren't working and how Mr. Romney's policies will do better.""
Lols, This would require the Romney camp to actually do something substantive, which actually Romney is ethically opposed to doign for anyone other than his immediate family or friends.
You don't pick ruthless business men to be president of the United States. Intelligent ones, maybe. But ruthless... you get what you give...
It's no surprise since he's a flip flopping hack with no core political beliefs.
6 days? It took 6 days to have a position. Mitt, if you want the Big Chair, you are going to have to move a lot faster than that.
How long will it take him to have a position when the red phone rings in the middle of the night?
There is a red phone, no it's blue, oh I cannot decide. said Mittens.