Eric Fehrnstrom Quotes
Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again.
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.
Eric Fehrnstrom, Presidential Campaign Advisor & Spokesman (Mitt Romney), Response to some reporters who asked him if Romney, fighting to win the Republican Presidential Primary, had gone too far to the right and turned off moderates and independent voters, 2012
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This brilliant statement to lift morale was skillfully designed not to make the polulation too optimistic because there was much bad news ahead. And the Battle of Egypt did not tip the balance of military power. But it was a win for the allies, and the first significant one.
5th Earl of Rosebery. This seems to be the origin of the phrase “clean slate” and “wipe the slate clean”. Slate was a black flat stone that was used as a blackboard by writing on the black stone with white chalk.
Eric Fehrnstrom is a former journalist and political consultant who was a top aide to 2012 U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. He is a founder and principal of the Shawmut Group, a Boston-based communications consulting firm.
