Politics | Mitt Romney Romney's 'Etch-a-Sketch' Rep: Mandate Is No Tax Mitt has skirted the issue By Matt Cantor Posted Jul 2, 2012 12:26 PM CDT Copied Eric Fehrnstrom, adviser to Mitt Romney, speaks after a Republican presidential debate at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, Monday, Jan. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) While Republicans have been busily attacking ObamaCare as a tax hike following the Supreme Court ruling, Mitt Romney has stayed quiet; after all, to call it a tax hike would be to acknowledge he raised taxes in Massachusetts. Today, however, spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom—he of "Etch-a-Sketch" fame—stated flat-out that Romney sees the mandate as "a penalty" and "disagrees with the Court’s ruling that the mandate was a tax," the Washington Post reports, thus putting Romney at odds with his party. Republicans justify the dissonance: They see the mandate as an unconstitutional penalty, but since the Court called it a tax, it's fair game to attack it on those grounds. Meanwhile, the Romney campaign tried to set a semantic trap for Obama today. "The federal individual mandate in ObamaCare is either a constitutional tax or an unconstitutional penalty," said another rep. "Governor Romney thinks it is an unconstitutional penalty. What is President Obama’s position: Is his federal mandate unconstitutional or is it a tax?" Read These Next New Fox star, 23, misses first day after car troubles. Iran's supreme leader makes first public comments since ceasefire. Man accused of killing his daughters might be dead. Her blood isn't compatible with anyone else's. Report an error