Posted on 08/12/2009 6:29:22 PM PDT by Graybeard58
The governor's program is hardly a model for the nation--it's a mess.
Mitt Romney appears to have changed his mind once again about the statewide health care program he enacted as governor of Massachusetts. Obviously running for president in the next election, Romney is a brilliant man and an impressive candidate. But he has some explaining to do.
At first Romney boasted about the program. Signing the legislation in 2006, he claimed he had been able to "steal" the health care issue from the Democrats. This was understandable. Polls showed that Massachusetts health care reform proved popular among Massachusetts voters.
Then Romney clammed up, seldom mentioning the program during his bid last year for the GOP presidential nomination. This too was understandable. Romney was attempting to grasp the free-market mantle of Ronald Reagan. Touting a government-run health care program would scarcely have helped.
Now Romney has gone back to gushing about the program. "This Republican," he wrote last week in USA Today, "is proud to be the first governor to insure all his state's citizens."
This isn't understandable; it's baffling. After the present exercise in Washington, Republican primary voters in 2012 will prove even more dubious about government-run health care programs than they were last year, not less. More to the point, these days the Massachusetts program hardly looks like a model for the nation--or even for any other state. What it looks like is a mess.
A few questions that I suspect his fellow Republicans will sooner or later press Romney to address:
Item: Romney's program appears to have done very little about the central problem--actually, the only real problem--with health care: spiraling costs. In seven of the last eight years, as economist Irwin Stelzer has noted, per-capita spending on health care in Massachusetts has increased faster than in
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Not around here he ain't.
Only in the minds of a few starstruck Mormons and some women who think with their libido is this guy any kind of good candidate for anything.
If nothing else, my motto is "Never trust a guy with nicely styled, pretty hair."
Nothing new. Romney has always been a two-faced, unprincipled chameleon.
It looks like the party wants to see Obama another 4 years. What are they thinking? They aren’t!
ROFL.
Not for long-term observers of Mitt Romney. The man has no core principles, other than his own quest for power. And that is why he is wrong for the GOP and wrong for the future of this country.
so, it appears that some are “smitten with mitttens”
Mensa Mitt. Uhhhhg
RINO ping.
ping
Always with the attacks on Mormons.
Please stop attacking Mormons, Charles. It’s really unbecoming of you.
Oh, wait, what’s that? You only MENTIONED Mormons? Oh, well, that’s the same as an attack, so stop attacking Mormons, you anti-Mormon bigot!
You’re an intellectually dishonest buffoon, Charles. Always have been, always will be.
It does not matter. An eggplant[Natural born] will be supported by FR to get Obama out.
Parties have it that only you can support them or else. No one[From the GOP] ran against Bush in 04 to push him to the right, etc.
I’d rather have Obama than a slick, used car salesman, who will push liberal policy and call it conservatism.
He did that in MA and look at the mess he caused. Can you imagine imposing socialized medicine and calling it ‘conservative’, so the libs who pushed for it could blame everything that went wrong on conservatism?
I’m not voting RINO in 2012 and I suspect you would be well served not to assume that I’m alone in that. Put up a man who says what he means and means what he says or kiss it goodbye. Either the GOP sells a product I like or I ain’t buying. No amount of fearmongering or blame for the outcome will change that. You’ll have nobody to blame but yourself for advocating for RINOS when you didn’t have to.
I always know what I get from a Dem. They are a open book, and Republicans only act conservative when they are in the minority.
The mystery is always what a Repub. will do.
We see what Bush did, yet as a whole the ‘right’ carried the water for him.
Yeah, but that’s the problem. Republicans across the board (mainly due to Bush’s ideological fuziness) literally betrayed the people who believed in them.
You don’t just get that back over night. If they are to win, they must be unassailable in their beliefs.
For instance, here in NY, for a congressional special election, a Republican was polling 10 points ahead of a nobody Dem. Then, one day, the press asks this Republican what his position would be on the stimulus package. The Republican’s answer? He didn’t have a position.
He eventually came up with an answer (he’d vote against it), but the damage had been done. That lead evaporated immediately and the Dem went on to win the election. The Republican in question was a household name. He should have won that election in a walk, but because he showed indecision and politcal opportunism, he was rejected.
That’s exactly what will happen to Slick Willard. He’s a lying sack of excrement and everyone but his sycophants are aware of that. If the GOP nominates him, he’s a goner. McCain will look like a brilliant choice compared to Romney.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.