A conservative, a moderate, and a liberal walk into a bar. The bartender says, “Hi, Mitt!”

The slip-of-the-tongue admission by a longtime senior advisor to Mitt Romney last week was fair warning to Republicans that what they see now is not what they are likely to get next fall if Romney is their presidential nominee.

Not that anyone who has followed Romney should need any more warnings. The man has two political middle names: Flip and Flop.

Last week, aide Eric Fehrnstrom was asked by a mainstream media type whether it was dangerous for Romney to tack “too far” to the right in attempting to best rivals Gingrich and Santorum. (Note that the media types see danger where conservatives see opportunity and fidelity.)

No problem, Ferhnstrom replied. We will simply “reset” our guy for the general election, sort of like an “Etch-a-Sketch.”

Shades of Bob Dole, in his disastrous 1996 campaign, telling people that if they wanted him to be Ronald Reagan, he could be Ronald Reagan.

If Romney and crew think that changing his current stated views is a winning formula to beat President Obama, they underestimate the American voters.

The voters would like to be convinced that their candidate has convictions of his own, whether or not they agree with all of them.

Romney hasn't been able to “close the deal” with his own party because of his perceived lack of conviction. How is this a path to success in the fall?