Posted on 01/31/2011 8:58:56 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Mitt Romney may very well be the front-runner for the Republican Party presidential nomination, but the big (as Donald Rumsfeld would put it) "known unknown" looming over his candidacy is to what extent the albatross of RomneyCare the health-care reform enacted in Massachusetts under Governor Romney in 2006 that is similar in many ways to the reviled ObamaCare will hinder him in the primaries. Romney will be endlessly assaulted about health-care reform by his primary opponents, and because the White House would prefer to face a divisive tea partier over the more broadly appealing Romney, they'll do their part to remind everyone about the similarities between ObamaCare and RomneyCare as well. In fact, they've been doing it for nearly a year already, whenever the opportunity arises.
Just today, President Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, made a tongue-in-cheek reference to Romney's "good ideas" in a USA Today interview:
He pointedly praised one of the leading contenders, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, in a way that spotlighted Romney's vulnerability within the GOP for signing a state health care law that parallels the new federal law in some ways.
Romney "did some interesting things there on health care, you know," Axelrod said. "We got some good ideas from him."
There was also Obama's appearance on 60 Minutes in November:
"We thought that if we shaped a bill that wasnt that different from bills that that had previously been introduced by Republicans including the Republican governor in Massachusetts whos now running for president that we would be able to find some common ground there, and we just couldn't."
And his sit-down with Matt Lauer on the Today show last March:
"I think that the Republican Party made a calculated decision, a political decision, that they would not support whatever we did... And I think that's unfortunate because when you actually look at the bill itself, it incorporates all sorts of Republican ideas. I mean, a lot of commentators have said, you know, this is sort of similar to the bill that Mitt Romney passed in Massachusetts."
Also last March, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs claimed in a press briefing that only one difference separated RomneyCare from ObamaCare:
"Ive talked about the fact that this legislation looks an awful lot like what happened in Massachusetts, and Im sure Governor Romney hates every time I say that. The only difference really is that we addressed cost, and Massachusetts didnt do that, and it took them a while to get to that curve."
You can tell this line of attack is really going to please them to no end.
Yeah, the White House has been frothing at the mouth over Sarah, and has barely paid attention to Mitt. It’s pretty obvious whom they fear.
This is why phony pollsters like PPP keep showing Romney in the lead- they want him to get the nom because he’s so vulnerable on this issue.
Obamacare is unpopular. Romneycare is an abject failure. I don't see how Axelrod reminding people that they "got some good ideas from him [Romney]" about a program that is universally unpopular, hurts Sarah Palin.
They can keep talking about Romney as a “front runner”. They did it all through 2007-2008. I’m now more committed to voting against him than ever before. If we haven’t had enough pain under Obama to realize how wrong Romeny is and his type of Republicanism than we haven’t learned anything. If Palin runs I’ll commit at least 10k to the cause and countless hours in ground time. She doesn’t need a traditional political organization she’ll millions of people mobilized like never before.
PRO-UBAMACARE versus ANTI-UBAMACARE.
RomneyCare is the reason why I will not under any circumstances vote for Romney, the final, decisive factor. A government program is the closest thing to immortality on this earth, and I am certain that “President” Romney would cement that unconstitutional fiasco in place so that it would be nearly unrepealable. I see no difference between Obama Part 2 (a sickening thought) and Romney Part 1 in 2012. I’ll write in DeMint, Palin, or Bachmann rather than vote for Socialism-lite under Romney.
Good, let them take Mitt out.
To the headline: Good. The more the public is reminded what a stink’n liberal Romney is the better.
They want us to think that Gov. Romney is the one they “fear” so that we’ll nominate him as the “strongest” candidate against Mr. Obama. That dog won’t hunt.
Exactly. The media and the Whitehouse have both been trying to pick Romney as their opponent. AIN’T GONNA WORK. These jackasses have awoken the sleeping giant: The American People.
Yeah, I'm still not following your logic here. You say they "want" us to nominate Romney, so to precipitate that nomination they remind people that Romney is the guy who inspired them to pass Obamacare - a profoundly unpopular piece of legislation.
That makes no sense.
Your confusion results because you are an intelligent
FReeper.
the DNC/OBAMA use Romney two ways, as it helps them
at the time — in inconsistent ways.
YOU expect them to be consistent — because you are.
I can avoid New York sales tax by not buying anything there, Florida resort taxes by not visiting there, restrictions on Sunday alcohol sales by avoiding Georgia, restrictions on Sunday automobile sales by avoiding certain Maryland counties, etc.
Obamacare is all consuming, and unavoidable.
Please, Oh Pleeeeze don’t throw the primary to Palin! Romney has already been annointed by our betters!
The other way 'round. This hurts Romney, and helps Palin, whom the Democrats feel is the weaker candidate.
Little do they realize...
And, apparently they are. While MA did not technically lose population between the 2000 and 2010 census, I don't believe it's addition of only 198K people kept pace with the population growth nationally. Just doing the math in my head, that's less than a 4% increase, but I believe the US population has grown over 8%, perhaps closer to 9.5%.
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