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Tuesday, June 5, 2012

2012 Wall Street Journal Uncovers Romney E-Mails Supporting the Health Care Mandate

Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 3:21 PM

Of course, those mandate-supporting e-mails were written six years ago:

For team Romney, it was clear from the start that a mandate would be critical.

Analyzing a proposal offered by the Senate leader, Romney’s health secretary Tim Murphy wrote in a Feb. 2006 email to the governor and key aides: “It is unclear that the plan adopts an individual mandate. We must have an individual mandate for any plan to work.”

This story isn't going to change anything in the general election. Romney is still going to claim—against his own personal beliefs, I think—that a mandate was the right solution for Massachusetts but is not the right solution for every state. But it does serve as a reminder that six years ago an individual mandate was a conservative solution to the health care problem. It wasn't until the mandate was embraced by President Obama that it became a dangerous liberal concept. It's getting hard to remember where the goalposts are when the field keeps changing this quickly.

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"It's getting hard to remember where the goalposts are when the field keeps changing this quickly."

It isn't the goalposts.
It's which team has the ball.

The trick is to define which issues matter to you personally and work for those issues.

Posted by fairly.unbalanced on June 5, 2012 at 3:29 PM

it isn't even about which team has the ball. it's not about anything. romney is a republican and republicans vote republican. republicans do nothing if not fall in line. short of personally aborting a baby on stage at the republican national convention after kneeling down and saying a prayer to an icon of stalin, i can't think of anything that romney could do that would make a republican vote for someone else.

Posted by AmyC on June 5, 2012 at 3:38 PM

@2
"romney is a republican and republicans vote republican."

That's the point.
If you are a Seahawks fan do you refuse to watch or buy tickets because the quarterback used to be on a different team that beat the Seahawks?

No, you support your team because that's what you do.
No matter who is on the team.
No matter who they played for before.
No matter who buys ad space in the stadium.
If they do something laudable then you're proud of them and the team.
If they commit a crime then you still support the team.

And you boo the other team.
No matter who is on that team.
Even if a member of that team does something laudable.
etc etc etc

Posted by fairly.unbalanced on June 5, 2012 at 4:13 PM

@2 - This. There will always be at least 35-40% of the country that will do exactly that, no matter what, and then wear it as a badge of pride.

Posted by Pridge Wessea on June 5, 2012 at 4:16 PM

If it was such a great idea, and it was successfully implemented in Massachusetts in 2006, then why didn't Gregoire and the Democrats simply copy it here in Washington State?

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on June 5, 2012 at 4:48 PM

Obama should, can, and will put this right in Rmoney's face in every debate. Let Willard try to split hairs on the federal/state distinction and watch Independent's delicate eyes glaze over.

Posted by Max Solomon on June 5, 2012 at 7:08 PM

The Romney plan is very similar to the Nixon plan which is very similar to the Clinton plan which is very similar to the Obama plan. The only difference is time and place. When Nixon proposed it, he was considered a mainstream Republican. The Democrats rejected it, because they figured they would win the next election (they were correct) and thus usher in single payer (they were incorrect). Years later, Governor Romney was a moderate Republican in a Democratic state, so it made sense to resurrect the Nixon plan for the good of the state. Meanwhile, Democrats like Clinton and Obama propose moderate solutions to problems, using Eisenhower/Nixon style policies, but get accused of being socialists. The Republican party has moved to the extreme right, and only liars, fools and extremists are part of it. My guess is that Romney is a lot more the first and second than the third.

Posted by Ross on June 6, 2012 at 6:58 PM