LOS ANGELES, - Mitt Romney is going for laughs next week -- intentional laughs, this time.
The former Massachusetts governor and current GOP presidential candidate will appear on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" next week as the lead guest on Tuesday's episode, NBC said Thursday.
The announcement comes on the heels of a major gaffe on the part of Romney senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom, who told CNN that Romney's campaign would "hit a reset button" in the general election against President Barack Obama should Romney win the GOP nomination, comparing the proposed campaign tactic to a popular children's toy.
"It's almost like an Etch A Sketch -- you can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again," Fehrnstrom said.
Since then, Romney has become the butt of many jokes in the public, not least of all from his rivals in the campaign, who've used the gaffe to paint Romney as a flip-flopper a la John Kerry.
Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum brandished an Etch a Sketch during a campaign event in Texas on Thursday, hinting that America might be better off re-electing Obama if Romney wins the nomination.
Fehrnstrom has accidentally stumbled on something profound. He may not have much experience with Etch A Sketch technology. With all due respect to that iconic American toy, its legendary reset abilities have never been quite up to scratch. Dark smudges tend to mar the perimeter of its silvery slate, and no matter how vigorously you shake the thing, you can never quite obliterate the residue. Even so, the real-life Etch A Sketch in all its splotchy glory actually offers a better metaphor for American politics than the fantasy of a clean post-primary slate.
It's not that Fehrnstrom's contempt for the cognitive capabilities of the voters is entirely off the mark. The collective memory of the American electorate is notoriously short.
Think you're smarter than the average voter? Identify the authors of these political promises:
• "He won't streamline the federal government and change the way it works, cut 100,000 bureaucrats and put 100,000 new police officers on the streets of American cities, but I will."
• "And after we fund important priorities in the ongoing operations of our government, I believe we ought to pay down national debt. And so my budget pays down a record $2 trillion in debt over the next 10 years."
• "My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors and stay within the public financing system for the general election."
The former Massachusetts governor and current GOP presidential candidate will appear on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" next week as the lead guest on Tuesday's episode, NBC said Thursday.
The announcement comes on the heels of a major gaffe on the part of Romney senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom, who told CNN that Romney's campaign would "hit a reset button" in the general election against President Barack Obama should Romney win the GOP nomination, comparing the proposed campaign tactic to a popular children's toy.
"It's almost like an Etch A Sketch -- you can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again," Fehrnstrom said.
Since then, Romney has become the butt of many jokes in the public, not least of all from his rivals in the campaign, who've used the gaffe to paint Romney as a flip-flopper a la John Kerry.
Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum brandished an Etch a Sketch during a campaign event in Texas on Thursday, hinting that America might be better off re-electing Obama if Romney wins the nomination.
Fehrnstrom has accidentally stumbled on something profound. He may not have much experience with Etch A Sketch technology. With all due respect to that iconic American toy, its legendary reset abilities have never been quite up to scratch. Dark smudges tend to mar the perimeter of its silvery slate, and no matter how vigorously you shake the thing, you can never quite obliterate the residue. Even so, the real-life Etch A Sketch in all its splotchy glory actually offers a better metaphor for American politics than the fantasy of a clean post-primary slate.
It's not that Fehrnstrom's contempt for the cognitive capabilities of the voters is entirely off the mark. The collective memory of the American electorate is notoriously short.
Think you're smarter than the average voter? Identify the authors of these political promises:
• "He won't streamline the federal government and change the way it works, cut 100,000 bureaucrats and put 100,000 new police officers on the streets of American cities, but I will."
• "And after we fund important priorities in the ongoing operations of our government, I believe we ought to pay down national debt. And so my budget pays down a record $2 trillion in debt over the next 10 years."
• "My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors and stay within the public financing system for the general election."
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