Not necessarily.

Everything they say now will be taped and replayed in ads and "pivoting" will next to impossible.

Dunno about that. Mittens turned on a dime after the convention and (albeit with a series of broad winks at the crazies) presented himself in the debates as the soul of moderation, something like the second coming of Jacob Javits, fishing for the low-information "undecided" voters.

I've often thought that Obama was signally ungrateful when, following the 2012 election, he neglected to offer an ambassadorship to the bartender who caught and circulated Romney's infamous "47%" remarks. I do not doubt that President Romney would have come through with a Foreign Service posting—to Libya.

cordially,