Do you hear Romney's Etch-a-Sketch shaking?

Shhhhh. If you listen closely, you might hear a shaking etch-a-sketch. Two curious things happened on the day that Romney won five primaries going away, all but hammering the final nail in the coffin of any primary opponent hopes. The first was an announcement that Romney had appointed an openly homosexual (arguably activist) man to his team of advisers on foreign policy issues.

Via Christian Post:

Likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has named an openly gay man to his team of campaign advisers on national security and foreign policy issues in a move that is drawing criticism from some conservatives questioning his Mormon beliefs.

Richard Grenell, 45, is an experienced politician who has served as a spokesman for the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and was also appointed by Ambassador John Danforth in 2004 to serve as an alternative representative of the United States to the U.N. Security Council, SouthFloridaGayNews.com reported.

Grenell has been a prominent voice for gay Republicans and has worked for a number of GOP politicians, including New York Governor George Pataki, former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, and San Diego Mayor Susan Golding.

Just at the time when evangelical voters were beginning to reconcile with their reservations about Romney's Mormon religion, this appointment gives many of those same voters additional pause.

Bryan Fischer, however, host of conservative talk-show Focal Point, expressed that this decision makes it clear that Romney cannot be considered a conservative candidate….

…The Mormon church officially defends the traditional definition of marriage as between one man and one woman and counts homosexual behavior as sinful.

"Now, if you don't agree with your church, then why should the evangelical community – why should the pro-family community – give you any support whatsoever?" Fischer added.

Here is Romney from June of last year talking with Piers Morgan about his views on homosexuality as a Mormon.



The second thing that indicated the etch-a-sketch was shaking came out of the mouth of RINO John McCain, who has endorsed Romney. He already seems to be painting Romney as someone who supports Immigration reform.

Via HuffPo:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Tuesday defended former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as an advocate for immigration reform, despite glossing over the fact that the GOP presidential candidate doesn't support a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, a key piece of comprehensive reform.

"He's already said that immigration reform is something that he's committed to," McCain told reporters, in response to a question about whether Romney should make the issue a bigger focus of his campaign.

McCain, who unsuccessfully tried to advance comprehensive immigration reform legislation in 2007 with Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), demurred when asked about Romney's opposition to creating a pathway to citizenship. That provision was a central piece of the McCain-Kennedy bill, along with a guest worker program and DREAM Act provisions.

"He said that he's committed to immigration reform," McCain said of Romney. "I think that's a pretty good statement."

The Arizona senator became agitated when asked about Romney having said he supports a self-deportation policy, whereby illegal immigrants would voluntarily go back to their country of origin and then apply for U.S. citizenship.

"No he hasn't. He's said that's one of the options he's looked at," McCain said. "So don't put words in his mouth."

Uh, perhaps Mr. McCain should go back and watch some of the debates where Romney absolutely did say he supports self-deportation.



Shake your booty Etch-a-sketch.