After shilling for Rudy, DeRoy has finally found something useful to do -- exposing Willard.

Romney’s vaunted healthcare plan also disappoints. It forces individuals to purchase medical coverage and slaps the non-compliant with “tax penalties,” as a state-government radio ad described them last November. These charges were $219 in 2007, equal to the personal exemption on Massachusetts’ state tax. However, this year’s formula could crank this figure up to $912. Businesses with at least 11 workers either must offer health insurance or face annual fines of $295-per-uninsured employee. This is consistent with Romney’s statement at a January 5 GOP presidential debate: “I like mandates.”

This program is run not by the free market, but by the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector, a Romney-created government bureaucracy. For 2007, reports the Pacific Research Institute’s Sally Pipes, RomneyCare is expected to have cost taxpayers some $619 million. That’s $147 million and 31 percent above original projections.

Romney blames all this on tinkering Democratic state legislators.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen down the road as the Democrats get their hands on it,” Romney told the National Review Institute. “I was a little concerned at the signing ceremony when Ted Kennedy showed up.”

Romney’s Pontius-Pilate-like hand washing is thoroughly unconvincing. Bay State Democrats would have struggled to hijack health reform based on tax incentives, choice, and ownership, as a true free-marketeer would have insisted, rather than RomneyCare’s easily scaled universal mandates, regulatory boards, and government-imposed standards.

The Mass Mess is due only to Democratic control of the statehouse and their decades of corruption. If it got worse under Romney, it was due to waning support as Republicans fled the state in droves in the late ‘90’s through today. There isn’t a Republican out there who can fix this mess.

Romney never takes responsibility for all the failures that happened on his watch in Massachusetts.

He always blames somebody else.

“Our analysis reveals a weak comparative economic performance of the state over the Romney years, one of the worst in the country,” the researchers wrote in the Boston Globe.

Why would the Boston Globe care?

They’re a bunch of Democrats.

They should be PRASIING Mitt if this is true. Since when has the Boston Globe reported accurately on Republicans?

Wait ... I was told it was a hybrid

a mixture of private and those totally down trodden coming from the government. T

Yeah, Jeb Bush used that excuse...oh wait, under Jeb we took both houses from the Democrats...

Nevermind.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen down the road as the Democrats get their hands on it,” Romney told the National Review Institute. “I was a little concerned at the signing ceremony when Ted Kennedy showed up.”

Mitt will say the same thing if he is elected POTUS and probably vacation with Teddy on the Cape.

Understand that he had no control or support as Governor. A Republican uses the Mass. Gov. position as a springboard to running for Pres only now. There is NOTHING they can accomplish if the Dems who are really in charge don’t want them too. (Remind you of anything? And we’ve had it here since Curly!) Hence a state overrun with illegals and pols that want them here, and a flight out of the state for those who can afford to but are too smart to pay for the ridiculous cost of living.

Yeah, and he had help from the conservatives who bolted from MA (and everywhere else in NE) to Florida during his tenure, including many friends and relatives of mine. And trust me, they ain’t never comin’ back! We are nearly below 30% now in MA.

Romney's Wife Gave Money to Planned Parenthood

Republican Abortion Opponent Accused of Shifting His Views

Mitt Romney, governor of Massachusetts, and his wife, Ann, arrive at the White House for a state dinner February 26, 2006 in Washington, DC. Many of the nation's governors spent the evening at the White House, attending a state dinner and entertainment, in honor of the states and territories of the U.S. (

By RICK KLEIN
May 9, 2007

Former Gov. Mitt Romney's wife, Ann, gave an $150 donation to the abortion-rights group Planned Parenthood in 1994, at a time when Romney considered himself effectively "pro-choice," the Romney campaign confirmed today.

Campaign spokesman Kevin Madden said Ann Romney had no recollection of the circumstances under which she donated the money.

He said an internal review of Romney's personal records has not turned up any instances in which Romney, a Massachusetts Republican, himself sent money to groups that supported expanded abortion rights.

"The governor has not donated to Planned Parenthood or abortion-rights groups," Madden said.

Madden said he did not know whether the former governor was aware of the donation, but he noted that Romney had been publicly committed to upholding a woman's right to an abortion until late 2004.

"This is an issue that the governor has changed his position on, that the governor was wrong on in the past and believes he is right on now," he said.

Giuliani Donated to Abortion-Rights Group

The issue of past donations to abortion-rights groups has exploded in the Republican presidential campaign in the past few days, with the revelation that former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani gave six separate donations to Planned Parenthood during the 1990s.

That information -- obtained from tax returns that Giuliani released when he served as mayor -- has forced Giuliani to scramble to explain his statements that he has always been personally opposed to abortion.

Planned Parenthood is the nation's biggest abortion provider and lobbies actively to expand abortion rights.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and his top aides have been particularly strong in denouncing Giuliani for making the donation, but the Romney camp has not entered the fray.

Romney Changed Mind

Madden said a search of Romney campaign records unearthed only one donation the former governor had made to an abortion-related group: His foundation gave $15,000 in 2005 to Massachusetts Citizens for Life.

Thursday, Romney is scheduled to deliver a speech before that organization's Pioneer Valley chapter -- the first speech of his presidential campaign to an anti-abortion rights group.

The speech is expected to draw protesters from both sides of the abortion debate, with both abortion rights activists and abortion righs opponents upset with Romney's position on abortion.

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For the Campaign '08 Obsessive Who Has Everything

A campaign 2008 holiday gift guide. --Rachel Dry 3:53 PM ET | More »

Candidate Watch

Romney's 'Flip, Flop, Flip'

Romney at Planned Parenthood fund-raiser, June 12, 1994.

"Every piece of legislation which came to my desk [as] governor, I came down on the side of preserving the sanctity of life."

--Mitt Romney, NBC "Meet the Press", December 16, 2007.

It is becoming difficult for Mitt Romney to keep track of his twists and turns on the abortion issue. The photograph above shows Romney back in June 1994 during his first big political campaign, running against Sen. Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts. It was taken at a fund-raiser for the pro-abortion rights group, Planned Parenthood, in Cohasset, Mass. The woman with her back to Romney is Nicki Nichols Gamble, former president of the Massachusetts branch of Planned Parenthood, which accepted a $150 contribution from Romney's wife Ann (in a white jacket to Romney's right.)

The "pro-choice" candidate for senator, and later governor, of Massachusetts is now the "pro-life" candidate for president of the United States. His record as governor is controversial, however. Interviewed by Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" last Sunday, Romney claimed that he took a "pro-life" position on "every piece of legislation" that came before him. But that is untrue, at least by his present definition of what constitutes "life."

The Facts

Romney announced his conversion to "pro-life" views in an editorial in the Boston Globe on July 25, 2005, the day after vetoing a bill expanding access to the so-called "morning after" pill, which required that it be made available to rape victims. See my detailed and updated chronology here. Abortion rights groups such as Planned Parenthood expressed shock at the governor's change of heart, after he had personally signed a pledge to support increased access to the "morning after" pill. "Pro-Life" groups hailed the decision.

That was not the end of the story, however. The controversy over "emergency contraception" continued to haunt Romney. In October 2005, another bill came to his desk, seeking a federal waiver to expand the number of Massachusetts citizens eligible for family planning services, including the "morning after" pill. Romney signed that bill over the objections of his new anti-abortion allies. On this occasion, he was applauded by "pro-choice" advocates.

The issue came up yet again in December 2005. After weeks of agonizing, Romney instructed all hospitals in the state to comply with the terms of the emergency contraception law, and make the morning-after pill available to rape victims. He acted on the advice of his legal counsel, over the objections of half a dozen Catholic hospitals, which had previously refused to provide emergency contraception on the grounds that it conflicted with their religious views.

"Flip,flop,flip," editorialized the Boston Herald, on December 9, 2005. "Yes, Gov. Mitt Romney has now executed an Olympic-caliber double flip-flop with a gold medal-performance twist-and-a-half on the issue of emergency contraception."

Views on the acceptability of the "morning after" pill vary greatly, depending on exactly how you define "life." Many "pro-life" advocates, including Romney, take the view that life begins at the moment when a female egg is fertilized by the male sperm. They are opposed to the "morning after" pill, because it can prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus. "Pro-choice" groups argue that life begins much later.

Romney's gyrations on abortion have upset both sides. "For Mitt Romney, this has been not just a flip-flop, but an extreme makeover," said Angus McQuilken, vice president for public affairs with the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts. "Where he stands on any issue is always a moving target."

"I don't see how he can sign bills like that and say with a straight face that he is taking a pro-life position," said Joseph M. Scheidler, founder of the Pro-Life Action League, which is opposed to all forms of abortion. "There's no way we can accept that.".

UPDATE THURSDAY 11:30 A.M.: I just spoke with Nichols Gamble, the Planned Parenthood official who accepted the $150 cheque from the Romneys in June 1994. She says she had no reason to believe at the time that Romney was "not 100 percent behind the pro-choice public policy position." She now thinks that Romney "tried to have it both ways and every way to Sunday" on abortion, depending on what political office he was seeking.

The Pinocchio Test

Romney has changed his position so often on abortion that he lacks much credibility on this one. The Romney campaign did not respond to a e-mailed request to clarify the governor's position, so he loses the argument by default on this occasion. Three Pinocchios.

(About our rating scale.)

"One would think no heir-to-George would pin blame on his eldest son
for the illegal immigrants working in the family garden. But Mitt did.
No loyal husband would gracelessly roll his own wife under the bus
("Her contributions are for her and not for me. Her positions are not
terrible [sic] relevant to my campaign.") to dodge accountability
for his own previous support for Planned Parenthood.
Mitt Romney is often his own worst enemy"
The Salt Lake Tribune 1-11/08

Romney "Disses" Amateur Radio In Televised Town Meeting (and why he won't get my vote)

"This program is run not by the free market, but by the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector, a Romney-created government bureaucracy. For 2007, reports the Pacific Research Institute’s Sally Pipes, RomneyCare is expected to have cost taxpayers some $619 million."

Get off Romney's back. He was Governor of a State that has an 85% liberal Democrat Senate. EIGHTY FIVE PERCENT! You think that anything Romney introduced wasn't altered and re-written ad nauseum by these liberals? I'm a Massachusetts resident, conservative Repulican, and personally I think the man would make a tremendous leader. He is honest, something that his opponent's shills work very hard at to twist. He is brilliant, he has spine and he has moral character. He's a great statesman too. I think he's as firm a man as you'll find anywhere in politics. He makes liberal RINOS like Rudy, huckleberry and McInsane look like very unpleasant alternatives. If Mitt or Fred don't win the primary and the general election, then America is screwed for the next umpteen years. Mitt will fight the WOT and the war on our borders, unlike his major opponents in both parties.

With all due respect to your eloquence for Romney,
you are in denial. Romney decimated the Massachusetts Republican Party, and therefore showed no spine.

“The Massachusetts Republican Party died last Tuesday.
The cause of death: failed leadership.
The party is survived by a few leftover legislators
and a handful of county officials and grassroots activists
who have been ignored for years.
Services will be public and a mass exodus of taxpayers will follow.
In lieu of flowers, send messages to New Hampshire Republican voters
warning them about a certain presidential candidate named Romney.”
- Boston Herald, 11/12/2006

“Romney arrived on the scene with great promise,
but is leaving the Republican Party here in shambles.
Not only are the Republicans yielding the governor’s office
for the first time in 16 years, but registered Republicans
have fallen by 31,000 since Romney took office,
and their legislative presence is at historic lows.
But it worked out fine for him:
He is now chasing the prize he really covets, the presidency.”"
- Boston Globe 11/8/2006

I'll do as I please.

No one forced Mittens to sign the law, except it was his baby all along, and if he had to sell us down the socialist river for his ambition, he would, and did.

Mittens; “I don’t know what’s going to happen down the road as the Democrats get their hands on it,”

Is there any conservitve that wouldn't know what the Democrats would do with more power? Is Mittens stupid?

Understand that he had no control or support as Governor. A Republican uses the Mass. Gov. position as a springboard to running for Pres only now.

Well, it's nice that someone admits that Romney was just punching a timecard and looking ahead to his next campaign.

The mystery is that you still defend this scumbag.

I'm a Massachusetts resident, conservative Repulican,

Yeah, I bet you are, Mr. January 13, 2008 sign-up. Don't you have some fundraising calls to make?

"No one forced Mittens to sign the law,---"

Then you don't understand our government and how it works, especially in a State that has an 85% Democrat senate. Mitt's vetos were all easily overridden in the state senate. So when you claim he had could have vetoed the bill in its final form, I submit to you that you're quite wrong. His veto would have been just another meaningless token. Half the liberal Massachusetts senate could stay home and there would still be enough votes to veto the Republican Governor of Massachusetts.

Mitt is no socialist my friend, he made a literal fortune in the free market system, and I know from being a Massachusetts resident that he was always at odds with the liberal democrats here. They hated him. He didn't win much, but with an 85% Democrat senate and a completely Democrat State Supreme Court, how could he?