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Debra Saunders, a conservative columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, on Sunday said Mitt Romney's decision to flip flop on his call to "absolutely" abolish federal disaster aid after Hurricane Sandy struck the east coast was an example of the "the Etch-A-Sketch Romney."

Speaking to CNN's Howard Kurtz on Sunday, Saunders pointed out that Romney's flip flop was what senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom was talking about when he said that Romney could shake up his campaign “like an Etch A Sketch” and “start over again” after spending the primary season pandering to conservative voters.

"It is fair game for the press," Saunders admitted. "He did say that he wanted to move this federal agency -- for states to run things. And I'm sure a lot of people don't think that's a good idea. You don't see him talking about that a lot this week, do you?"

During a Republican primary debate earlier this year, the former Massachusetts governor had said that abolishing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was “the right direction” and eliminating all federal disaster relief was important because “we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids.”

“It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we’ll all be dead and gone before it’s paid off. It makes no sense at all.”

But after repeatedly ignoring reporters’ questions about that topic in the wake of this week’s super storm, Romney reversed course in a statement on Wednesday.

“I believe that FEMA plays a key role in working with states and localities to prepare for and respond to natural disasters,” the candidate said. “As president, I will ensure FEMA has the funding it needs to fulfill its mission, while directing maximum resources to the first responders who work tirelessly to help those in need, because states and localities are in the best position to get aid to the individuals and communities affected by natural disasters.”

"I think we've seen the Etch-A-Sketch Romney," Saunders told Kurtz on Sunday. "He moved to the right in order to win the primary and now he's moving toward the center. And we're seeing, I think, the real Romney, they guy who's a technocrat, the guy who would come in with his pencil and move money around for FEMA to try to make FEMA be more effective and more cost effective."

"So, I think it's fair for people to point it out and ask which one is the real one."

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You know the Romney campaign is worried about whether they're going to be able to break out the Etch A Sketch successfully and erase everything Mitt Romney was saying about immigration policy during the Republican primary when they're bringing out the likes of Bay Buchanan to scream to the hills that Romney's not a flip flopper.

Buchanan appeared on Wednesday evening's Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN to tout the current campaign talking point that Mitt Romney really does not believe that Arizona's SB 1070 should be a model for the country. She and the campaign are claiming that what Romney was really talking about during the Republican debate last February, was E-Verify..

Never mind that Russell Pearce said this-- Man Behind Arizona Immigration Law: Romney ‘Absolutely’ Called SB-1070 A National ‘Model’:

Mitt Romney had the most conservative immigration policy of any Republican presidential candidate during most of the primary, but now that’s he trying to appeal to Hispanic voters as he pivots to general election, the presumed GOP nominee has been shifting back towards the center. Yesterday, he opened to door to a Republican alternative to the DREAM Act — a law he vowed to veto during the primary — and earlier, he said that he never called for making Arizona’s harsh immigration law a “model” for the nation.

But that’s not how one of the key people behind that law, former Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, sees it. The former Republican lawmaker, who was ousted in a recall election, was the key force behind turning SB-1070, authored by Romney adviser Kris Kobach, into law. He told reporters today that he “absolutely” believed Mitt Romney had endorsed the law as a model for the country. [...]

Previously, Pearce has said that Romney’s “immigration policy is identical to mine.”

Romney has tried to distance himself from Kobach, who also helped author the controversial immigration crackdowns in Alabama, South Carolina, and other states. But Kobach quickly contradicted him, saying he regularly advises senior members of Romney’s staff.

Here's what Mitt Romney actually said during that debate on CNN in February:

KING: Governor Romney, the border security is part of the equation, what to do about whether it's 8 million or 11 million illegal immigrants in the country now is another part of the equation. And Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who's with us tonight from Maricopa County -- he's in the audience -- he told me -- he told me this week here in Mesa -- these are his words -- "it's called political garbage, if you will, to not arrest illegals already in this country."

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Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Sunday continued to blast rival Mitt Romney over his campaign's assertion that their candidate could change positions "like an Etch A Sketch" during the general election.

"We're not an Etch a Sketch party," Gingrich told Fox News host Brit Hume. "It was an unfortunate comment by Romney's communication director. We are a broadly conservative party. We don't have to be severely conservative as Romney said at CPAC."

The former House Speaker added that he suspected Romney would "accept a solid conservative platform" if he becomes the nominee, "but he does have consultants who are in the Etch A Sketch tradition."

"In fairness, Mr. Speaker, that Etch A Sketch comment was made in reference to the fact that you do kind of an emphasis reset, not a -- you don't change your convictions going into the general," Hume replied in defense of Romney. "Isn't it unfair to describe him as a man who is going to rewrite his whole platform?"

"First of all, Romney didn't say it," Gingrich noted. "So, Romney is in a pretty good place to say to the party, 'Let's have a very solid, aggressive platform.'"

During a March interview on CNN, John Fugelsang asked Romney Communications Director Eric Fehrnstrom if an extended primary against Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum would “force the governor to tack so far to the right it would hurt him with moderate voters in the general election?”

“I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign,” Fehrnstrom explained. “Everything changes.”

“It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch,” he added. “You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again.”

Elizabeth Warren might be the first Democrat to invoke the Etch A Sketch attack on an Republican incumbent (Scott Brown), though she could have been referring to others across the aisle just as well. She'll make a real difference in the U.S. Senate.

"What the lobbyists want, what Wall Street wants, is they want Etch A Sketch Senators. They want the ones who will clear the screen and change their minds to do whatever big money tells them to do. That's what they want. But let me tell you -- I've been fighting for middle class families for years and nothing -- nothing -- will shake that commitment."