The Soon-To-Be-Legendary "Etch-A-Sketch" Gaffe

I think they're gonna be talking about this particular Romney gaffe for a long time:

Now that he’s a few steps closer to winning the nomination, is Mitt Romney about to wipe clean all that he has said during the tough nomination fight?

Comments by his top communication’s adviser, Eric Fehrnstrom, suggest maybe so. And the “Etch A Sketch” gaffe, as it’s already known, has stirred a hornet’s nest on Twitter and a blast of criticism from Mr. Romney’s top rivals.

Speaking on CNN Wednesday morning, Mr. Fehrnstrom was asked if the campaign worried that Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich “might force the governor to tack so far to the right it would hurt him with moderate voters in the general election.”

To which Mr. Ferhnstrom responded: “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 of over again.” * * *

Christ, what is it with these people? Just when they start getting some momentum, something like this happens. I can see Romney making such a gaffe -- he's a walking gaffe machine. But his advisors should know better.

The DNC jumped all over this, and so did the Santorum and Gingrich camps. I'm not sure yet, but I have a feeling this will end up being remembered right up there with Dukakis in a Tank and the Dean Scream.

In fact, it's even worse than Dukakis in a Tank because it's pretty hard to waive around a tank during a campaign speech. But Etch-A-Sketches are easy to waive around, which is exactly what both Santorum and Gingrich did on the campaign trail today.

Then again, Romney didn't commit the gaffe himself, so that might help a bit. But handing your political opponents a prop like an Etch-A-Sketch is inexcusable.