Well, I don’t really know if the comment by Romney’s spokesperson Eric Fehrnstrom on CNN a couple of days ago will really change the race. But, in my mind (or perhaps just in my fevered imagination) it raises a couple of very strange questions. 
Fehrnstrom had been asked if he thought Romney was going to have a hard time in the general election because all of the right wing hysteria during the primaries had forced him to say things like “I will kill planned parenthood” and “Maybe a totally unnecessary war with Iran might be fun.” He responded “Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart it all over again.”
It’s pretty easy to interpret that phrase as meaning that he doesn’t really mean all the things he’s saying now. That’s certainly how Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are interpreting it. They’ve been waving around etch a sketches (one of my favorite toys as a child, by the way – hours of fun) at their speeches like Colin Powell’s deadly vial, like Joe McCarthy’s list of communists.
Santorum took it a step farther. He said that Obama getting re-elected would be better than etch a sketch Romney. Wow.
I see 3 possibilities. Either he was just being mouthy and when Romney actually does get the nomination, he will fall into line like a good Republican (most likely), or he thinks that this is the wedge that will push Romney out and let him slide in, or (least likely but most interesting possibility) he is setting the table for a 3rd party run. The Christian Party. They wouldn’t win, but I’m not sure Santorum is convinced of that. Also, there are enough people who vote that way that they could become a permanent force, putting Santo on the gravy train for life. (He’d pick Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential candidate, of course.)
The other interesting possibility is that the whole incident was a cynical bit of manipulation on the part of Rmoney’s campaign. Etch a Sketch is manufactured in China and owned by Ohio Arts, which is in turn owned by Rmoney’s old company, Bain Capital. And the stock in Ohio Arts tripled in the wake of the comment (it’s dropping again).
Could it be that the Rmoney campaign made the comment deliberately in order to turn a quick profit? Well, why not? Certainly, they wouldn’t be prevented by any ethical considerations.
One final point. While Santorum and Gingrich were busily cashing in on the etch a sketch jokes, Ron Paul put out an ad saying they should drop the games, there are serious issues to be discussed. Which adds fuel to the rumor that Paul is actually working together with Romney.
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