Posted on 07/06/2012 5:22:25 AM PDT by xzins
Republicans are seizing on the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold ‘Obamacare’ under Congress’s taxing power to accuse Democrats of raising taxes on the middle class. But they’re finding it difficult to square that with the fact that their presidential nominee enacted the same concept as governor of Massachusetts.
Although Mitt Romney has vowed to repeal ‘Obamacare’, his 2006 law includes the same core elements, including the mandate to purchase insurance or pay a fine. In 2009, Romney wrote in a USA Today op-ed that he used “tax penalties” to achieve the objective of broadening coverage.
On Fox News Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) attacked President Obama for sneaking a tax increase past the American public.
“The Supreme Court has now declared it a tax. They have unearthed the massive deception that was practiced by the president and the Democrats, constantly denying that it was a tax,” McConnell said. “The chief justice has made it clear — it’s a tax.”
But the GOP leader dodged several questions on whether ‘Romneycare’ is also a tax increase.
“Well I think Governor Romney will have to speak for himself about what was done in Massachusetts,” McConnell said. “I can tell you that every single Democratic senator voted for this tax increase.”
On CBS’ Face The Nation, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) also ducked questions about whether Romney has a credibility problem because of his mandate.
“This is an issue that was in Massachusetts — that’s one state,” he said. “That’s why we have 50 different states. They’re laboratories of democracy. Governor Romney understands that Obamacare will bankrupt our country and ruin the best health care delivery system in the world. … This is far more than any state has ever comprehended or tried to do.”
The Congressional Budget Office projects that the tax penalty will hit 4 million people in 2016, or just over 1 percent of the population.
White House chief of staff Jack Lew, also appearing on Fox News Sunday, repeatedly denied that the penalty for noncompliance with the individual mandate is a tax hike, even though it’s enforced via the tax code and was upheld on Congress’s taxing powers.
“It was set up and it was not called a tax,” he said. “But there are powers that Congress has and you can justify a law in multiple ways.” Obama’s top aide added that “When he was governor of Massachusetts, Governor Romney put a plan in place that has many of the features that the Affordable Care Act makes available on a national basis.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called the mandate “a penalty on free-riders.”
“Mitt Romney is in a total pickle here. He prescribed this. This was his bill,” Schumer said on CBS’ Face The Nation. “Are [Republicans] going to say that Mitt Romney had the biggest tax increase in Massachusetts? Forget about it.”
Romney, for his part, responded to the Supreme Court ruling by saying, “If we want to get rid of Obamacare, we’re going to have to replace President Obama.”
Santorum was right. With Romney as nominee they gave away the biggest issue — ObamaCare — because Dems will simply say, “You did the same.”
And they’ll be right.
There is one big difference. The States can do this. The Feds cannot IAW the Constitution. At least the way the average grade school student interprets the Constitution.
“You did the same.”
Not so the entire country didn’t have to pay for Romney plan.
It’s going to take Roberts-like double speak to pull that off.
If I were him I would just go on offense and say national socialized medicine is toxic for our health and our economy, and leave it at that.
Then I’d let the rest of the GOP and PACs do the hard hitting.
The only it distinction between the two is that Romney (even if only for his own gain) will likely help undo bozocare.
I guess that will have to be good enough for me this year for him to get my vote.
Also as a side note. If we pick up “control” of the senate he damn well better give us a legit conservative should a spot on SCOTUS open up.
That is massive, intrusive government.
Why not impose a huge tax on me for not eating broccoli? There are a bunch of folks who think the states can do anything they want, but they can't.
It's good to remember that non-federal powers were left to the states AND to the people.
My purchase and enjoyment of broccoli is entirely up to me. Get the damn government at any level out of my life.
The plans are not the same. Romneycare is only 70 pages long and Obamacare has 2,700 pages.
In Massachusetts only 1.2% of the taxpayers have to pay the penalty:
http://bluecrossmafoundation.org/Health-Reform/~/media/D0DDA3D667BE49D58539821F74C723C7.pdf
Are you saying that Romney was not governor of the entire United States? Well, who could argue with that.
So maybe what they're saying is that Romney did the same thing in the kingdom of Massachusetts, so who is he to say anything about anyone else.
Santorum was right. People aren’t going to wade into Romney’s 70 pages of law; all they’re going to do is see that they’re the same.
If Romney feels like explaining the huge, apparent differences, then let him do it in 30 second soundbites on commercials and interviews.
He tried this past week and miserably failed.
Malkin has been very tough on Romney. I’m glad to see it. She is not a GOP toadie. When they screw up she calls it like she sees it.
Romney could very well blow this race. He gave away one of the largest issues this past week.
I think jobs is the biggest issue, and ObamaNomics is continuing to kill jobs, so Romney could pull it out of the fire. He always seems so unsure of himself, though. Just doesn’t inspire confidence at all.
If he’s not ahead after the Democrat Convention in early September, then he’ll lose.
Republicans have screwed up the debate on this issue (the persobnl mandate) so bad that they might as well just drop the whole subject and move on. Romney certainly cant argue the case against it.
Does Obama-care kill jobs?
Does Obama-care increase the deficit?
Does Obama-care make the currently insured, including those on medicare, worse off?
Does Obama-care raise middle class taxes ? (for those that comply with it)?
OK, now why is Romney-care better than Obama-care? Romney better come up with answers. He wanted this nomination more than anything.
Keep it simple:
OBAMACARE IS A TAX.
I WILL REPEAL OBAMACARE WHEN I’M ELECTED.
And let let the libs rant and rave about Massachusetts all they want to. I could care less.
A "Tax" or "Penalty" it's a matter of semantics and that is NOT what should be argued as that simply plays into the hands of Dear Leader and the Demo-Rats.
All Mittens (and the Republi-Tards) have to say (and emphasize) is that the "Ruling" was wrong and based upon a faulty (non-existent and "divined" from whole cloth) premise, thus it should be repealed.
And then follow-up that it is a state issue.
You and I both know they won’t allow that in the debates. I’ll bet it gets asked at least twice in each debate:
“Mr Romney, since your RomneyCare also had penalty taxes in place, would you say that was also a huge tax increase on the citizens of Massachusetts?”
It’s gonna happen. He better be getting his answer together.
I think that might be a much more palatable message.
PS. Then he could say that RomneyCare addresses the matter at the state level and ‘locally’ etc.
On this Romney cannot be trusted. There is so much at stake and the mistrust so great, that I find my support for Romney dwindling. Likewise amnesty for illegals. You can sense his intentions are deceptive no matter what he says to get elected. His body language is a lie. The stink is becoming overwhelming.
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