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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I do not understand all of the conservatives here getting upset – I thought they hated the liberal, lame-stream media.
Romney is a populist follower, not a leader. How can anyone not see that now? What ever is popular is his position at any given time... which means he has not set ccore values or beliefs. He has always been this way.
If being a bigot was popular, he'd be one. If claiming or believing smoking increased children's IQs drive, despite the health risks, he'd be for that too. Whatever it takes to be popular and get elected, that is all he cares about. No one knows what he REALLY believes.
Would you really want someone like that in charge? Let alone in charge when the threats are real and the populist view and opinion are divided.... a man like this cannot make a sound decision in crisis.
I'm sure if Mittens is elected, the GOP will make sure he has a good minder to tell him what to do when it hits the fan
The Obamacare penalty is NOT a tax. No, wait, it IS a tax – and corporations ARE people.
I think we got it Mitt. The GOP has it's hand up your behind and what you believe is whatever they TELL you to believe.
Is the Presidency really worth your personal integrity – or is THAT.- missing as well?
Correction: Romney has ONE message. Defeat Obama. Other than that, no real solutions have been presented yet.
Mitt Romneys campaign is pathetically organized
i like the guy...but if he cant even get his own message straight theres no way he is beating obama
i dont think i want a second obama term
but im starting to be just as afraid of a romney term...just pathetic
"Mitt Romneys campaign is pathetically organized" –
He can't organize a campaign, and many are willing to let him run the country....
Great Idea!
Listen people. Mitt Romney, I think, has a good heart and good intentions. He's just CONFUSED!! That's his biggest problem.
Just what we need to be the leader of the free world.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. He's running for President of the United States of America. Confused is not an option for him. Period. He needs to get it together and do so fast. The problem is, Mitt Romney is really a moderate. So the things he has said and done in office and positions of power in the past come back to haunt him now as he tries to run for a very ultra Conservative crowd. Which means, one in office and he goes back to being regular old Mitt, his own party is going to hate him.
"He's just CONFUSED!! That's his biggest problem"
Do we want to make it our problem also by electing him ?
Chief Justice Roberts send his love from Malta.
Obama 2012
When Dem's get caught in a lie, they apologize to the people and try to move on....When Repubes get caught, they tell more lies and accuse the Dems. (Distort and confuse) Can those that try to hide behind the Bible, please, look at commandment number 9? I guess God only meant that for the rest of his people. We can only hope there are warmer caverns in Hell for these religious phonies.
And the best training for Hell of these "God-loving" rejects from other states is Phx, Maricopa AZ.
Maricopa, AZ was conservative, but was not as crazy.
Hispanic Immigrants left AZ, long time before SB1070 was signed, with the bad env. and economy in bad shape.
Blame some weak minority for the problems we have and feel great about yourself.
That is what GOP message is: full of "tough love" in all issues. ( I call it hate. )
He either says he raised taxes in his own state or says that Obama's plan isn't a tax hike. Anyone else think its bizarre that Romney got the nomination? He's the only one who could have possibly fallen into this dilemma. Obviously, everyone wants a healthcare plan. Anyway, people will hear what they want to hear and believe what they want so a mixed message isn't that awful an idea. He's no longer playing to a party, he's trying to get as many votes as he can. This is politics.
Has Romney EVER been straight on ANYTHING. I think its either is "sociopathic" nature OR his "Lying for the Lord" training in the Mormon Church.
The best example of who is behind GOP and all the propaganda Fox-New spreads .
If he is not able to say "no" now, what it will happen later.
His campaign flip/flop multiple times on the tax vs penalty. And the latest , it is a tax on Fed level, but penalty on state level. (such bull????) . At the end of the day it is money of peoples pockets.
And we are talking about 1%, high risk takers that can prevent the penalty/tax by buying "emergency room" insurance only. And the fed government (originally in the bil) was planning to offer such insurance, but that was cut (de-funded) from the budget from 2012,13, and probably in the future with GOP house. Great strategy : make the government dysfunctional and reduce gvmt power and give it to the cartels in private sector.
The big tax increase will be on people with $250K and more and their employer, MC/MA tax goes up from 1.65 to 2.54% of income for anything above $250K. (Above is the important part)
And some of us will get hit by it, but that is life ...
Everyone seems to be putting Romney's faith on the back burner.
What you don't realize is that this man is an elder in a cult that basically runs and controls his life.
Their ways and ideals are not going to be in the best interest of the whole country.
This is a mistake and it shows how out of touch the GOP is when it comes to the religion they like to flaunt and hide behind.
I got a good laugh at this latest party flip flop. Tthe day when Fehrnstrom contradicted Romney saying it wasn't a tax, somebody on this forum said he would vote for Romney because he admired his "courage" to finally admit it wasn't a tax and move on to other issues like a real leader. A day later Romney cements his position and calls it is a tax. I wonder what that person thinks of his hero now.... the leader who can't even get his own party to get their lies straight.
Oddly enough, the only person in the entire GOP campaign to tell the truth, or at least accidentally/subconsciously blurt out the truth, is Fehrnstrom. He'd have a better chance running for president, not the flopper.
Mitt Mitt Mitt just a pretty face with lots of money and no core! Wake up other 1/2 of America! A vote for him is voting for No Hope for the future of most Americans. Our family's health insurance is now as much as our mortgage! It cost us $19,000 last year! We can't move to another policy because of pre exicting conditions. We are self employed so 100% is out of our pockets. Our rates go up twice a year because of the Free Loaders!
Thank god and bless the POTUS!
@Kate-Effective June 21, 2010 Adults with existing conditions became eligible to join a high risk pool, which will be superseded b the health care exchange in 2014. To qualify for coverage , applicants must have a pre-existing health conditio and have been uninsred for at least the past 6 months. You may want to look into this. I know you have insurance but you may want to look at it for 2014, as the limit for out of pocket is $5,950. for individuals and $11,900. for families.
Looks like the Dems have had their say today. lol Not a Republican on the board. I do not think even the republicans are voting for Money bag MIttens.
@Historian – If you put a U in front and use the R, you have UR Money, which is what he will use to fund the wealthy.