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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Yeah, chances of Romney becoming president keep getting slimmer everytime he opens his mouth. The best thing he can do for our country is keep talking.
Just what IS it that Robme stands for.....everytime he opens his mouth, something different comes out....only thing he is constantly saying is that our President has been a failure. President Obama has accomplished many of his campaign promises and made them clear throughout his campaign.....Forward! Obama/Biden 2012
As far as GOP caring.. True .. I have a few in my family that are Repubs.. and they would really rather have an inteionally lying shape-shifting Romney that gets caught in lie after lie after every god damned lie .. day after day .. week after wek and year after year... just an endless strem of flip flops and lies .. and they are all comforatable with it .. because they simply can't stand and intelligent. calm cool rational level headed Black Man ..
One CNN headine said "Romney contradicts aide on health tax".
Hell, it would be more accurate to say "ROMNEY CONTRADICTS SELF ON HEALTH TAX".
Mr. Teeter totter.
What about Obama's flip flops? For gay marriage, then against it, then neutral, then for it? What about his changing stances on executive privilege? Changing positions on GITMO? Changing positions on deficits and debt? Changing positions on US engagement in war? etc.
romney is a fool. he WILL be history
Sounds like an eight year old's argument.
He's so stupid he doesn't see the error in his ways. Even his backers are "miffed" by his stupidity. Sorry, Repubs, he's all you've got!!
The convention is still in the future. They could always jump ship to Ron Paul.
And the lil GOPers at Campaign Mittens think Americans are jealous of a traitor whose foreign bank accounts bet against America. With friends like Murdoch and that pos Welch it lis very positively reinforcing to be in the opposite camp. None of these billionaires will ever understand America . On the Fourth of July the best they can offer is we are all about the money. Now they are caught up in it's a tax, no it's a penalty. I passed it in Ma. but healthcare isn't for everyone. We are for personal responsibility except when it is passed by Dems. The bs never stops.
I don't think his problem is a "deadbeat tax". His problem is all those houses he owns, his car elevators, his $70,000.00 dancing horse he got to right off as a business expense, his Swiss bank accounts and his dealings with the Caymen Islands, his $160,000.00 boat house and all those tax returns he refuses to release. He is either hiding the fact he paid no tax or hiding who he was doing business with.
You mean Mittens going on Fox in 2010 and defending individual mandates isn't an etch a sketch moment? You can watch in on UTube
Why is Rupert Murdoch referring to the American people as "us?" He's not American, he doesn't live here, why does he get to control a major candidate's campaign strategy? Did we learn nothing from the British?
I highly doubt the Brits want him either. Vile old man.
Everyday, Romney is morphing into John Kerry!
I think Romeny is just a foil so Obama gets back in the White House.
Looks like the Republicans and the Democrats are wortking together for the same people that are backing Obama's campaign.
All the Rich Corporate types.
Really sad that the Republicans have no one that is a real person that has the guts to run.
But then again,I'm not rich enough to have a Republican represent me anyway.
The last six elections have all been rigged anyway-why should this one be any different.
Maybe Jeb can help out Romney in Florida this time too.
It's not a lack of guts. The Republican party left all of its sane members behind when the crazies went dashing off towards the far right. They can't field a decent candidate at this point because their charge to the right has eliminated all of them from consideration. Even Reagan would probably be too far towards the center/left to run as a Republican today.
Oh how fun it is to see Romney flailing around like this. All he needs at this point is a clown suit and the circus is complete!
I want to know what was on the 2 pages torn out the mormon book and sold to the guy in Texas?