[Lamplighter]

The flip flop issue has raised it's ugly head:

Washington Post
October 27, 2011
As Romney learned in Ohio, state issues can be tricky to navigate for presidential candidates

As Romney proved this week, such local issues can trip up even the most cautious candidate,
causing headaches for their national campaigns while hurting their standings in important states
for both the primary and general elections.

“Fully support that,” Romney said about the Ohio ballot initiative while visiting a local Republican Party office Wednesday in Fairfax, Va.
A day earlier, the former Massachusetts governor visited a site near Cincinnati where volunteers
were making hundreds of phone calls to help Republicans defeat the Issue Two ballot effort.
The question before voters is whether to repeal Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s restrictions on public sector employee bargaining.
But when pressed, Romney took a pass on supporting the measure —
and just as a Quinnipiac University poll indicated that Ohio voters opposed the GOP-backed restrictions 57 percent to 32 percent.

It turned out that Romney had already weighed in, supporting Kasich’s efforts in a June Facebook post.

Patience is growing thin:

The Atlantic
Mitt Romney Can't Afford Any More Flip-Flops
By Molly Ball
Oct 26 2011, 2:13 PM ET

His shifts on the Ohio unionizing bill have done little to counteract arguments he's a political animal who lacks conviction

In an election where Republican voters want an authentic champion to channel their anger,
Romney hasn't managed to shake the rap that he's the kind of politician
who has to check the record to figure out where he stands on a particular issue.
It was particularly galling to many conservatives that his hesitation came this week on an issue dear to their hearts --
reining in public-sector unions.
<snip>
Romney's slip in Ohio was immediately seized upon by a newly opportunistic Rick Perry campaign.
<snip>
And Perry, appearing on Fox News Tuesday night, twisted the knife: "I think in his own words he says,
'Listen, I need to say whatever I need to say for whatever office I'm running for.'"

And beside all that:
Mitt Romney learned from his father the need to be clear in his statements.
George Romney came under fire for his comments about being "brainwashed" on Vietnam.
"I have learned the lesson as well as I can to be careful in the words I use,"
Romney told the Globe in 2002 after he was elected as governor of Massachusetts.

And Alice responded:

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone,
"it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - - that's all."