I hope that this doesn't pass our notice today: Mitt Romney plans on joining the push for "repeal" of the HCR bill that just passed.
Problem is, he not only supported the same system in his home state of Massachusetts, he SIGNED IT INTO LAW!!
In addition to being in the first and "denial" stage of grief after the passage of health care, Romney is, I believe, making a critical and dangerous miscalculation for his 2012 campaign:
The healthcare legislation passed by Congress should be repealed, Mitt Romney said today. The former Massachuetts governor also accused President Obama of "bribery" and "fraudulent accounting."
In a statement, Romney called the passage a "historic usurpation of the legislative process":
[Obama] unleashed the nuclear option, enlisted not a single Republican vote in either chamber, bribed reluctant members of his own party, paid-off his union backers, scapegoated insurers, and justified his act with patently fraudulent accounting. What Barack Obama has ushered into the American political landscape is not good for our country; in the words of an ancient maxim, "what starts twisted, ends twisted."
As I recall, the bill that passed the Senate is merely a more involved version of the Act that passed in Massachusetts that provided for near-universal coverage.
One that once-Governor Romney signed into law himself.
In fall 2005 the House and Senate each passed health care reform bills.
The legislature made a number of changes to Governor Romney's original proposal, including expanding MassHealth (Medicaid and SCHIP) coverage to low-income children and restoring funding for public health programs. The most controversial change was the addition of a provision which requires firms with 11 or more workers that do not provide "fair and reasonable" health coverage to their workers to pay an annual penalty. This contribution, initially $295 annually per worker, is intended to equalize the free care pool charges imposed on employers who do and do not cover their workers. The legislature also rejected Governor Romney's proposal to permit even higher-deductible, lower benefit health plans.[citation needed]
On April 12, 2006 Governor Mitt Romney signed the health legislation.
Now, Mitt Romney is already tagged as a flip-flopper, particularly due to his sudden "conversion" to becoming anti-choice after being an active supporter of planned parenthood. But to flip flop on this in the 2012 campaign is so obvious and craven and high-stakes that I cannot imagine this going well for the former Governor.
UPDATE: Thanks to sirclown in the comments for this:
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DNC responded (quote via TalkingPointsMemo) (1+ / 0-)
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I said GOOD DAY sir
The DNC today responds to former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney's statement blasting health care reform: "We're sure that it must be difficult to endure all the comparisons of the similarities between your signature health care plan and the bill passed last night when you are trying to appear to be the angriest of the angry far right wing in the Republican Party, but it doesn't cover up the blatant hypocrisy of lashing out against policy that you thought well enough of to campaign for and sign into law," writes spokesman Hari Sevugan.
by sirclown on Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 11:10:00 AM PDT
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