Free Republic

To hell with the Supreme Court. I’m a free American. I will NOT be a ward of the State. Throw all the bums out, before it’s too late.

[BIG Snip] Jared Woodfill, chairman of the Harris County Republican Party and a Perry supporter, thinks an Austin-Boston connection represents a potentially powerful ticket for his party, but he maintains the roles should be reversed. "Perry's going to be strong in the primaries," he said last week. "Romney may fall short, and he could be number two. Gov. Perry has a very strong record as governor of Texas that will play strong across the country. I think he'll beat Romney in the primaries." Romney falling short is a possibility, political scientist Jillson says, noting that Republicans usually nominate the person...

Piggybacking off of this Politico article on conservatives attacking RomneyCare, Jon Chait asks why in 2008, "nearly all (conservatives) were fine with Romney's health care plan." If you were reading the National Review -- which had a soft spot for Mitt -- I can see why you would have that impression, but the reality is a lot more complicated. For starters, there were a lot of conservatives who did raise issues about his health care plan, and we published a lot of them here at the Spectator. I was a frequent critic of both Romney and his health care plan,...

Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King’s discharge petition, aimed at repealing Obamacare, is gaining momentum in the House as more representatives sign on. Today Rep. Tom Price, Georgia Republican and chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC) is circulating a request that members support the petition. To date 80 representatives — all Republicans — have affixed their names to the document which, if a majority sign, would force House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring King’s bill, H.R. 4972 “To repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” to the floor for an up-or-down vote. If a majority sign the petition it...

ObamaCare, formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is bad news for U.S. workers. Strike One: ObamaCare is fiscally dangerous, raising the risk of higher taxes all around — including taxes on labor at a time when the job market is struggling. Strike Two: ObamaCare creates strong incentives for employers — even while holding workers financial harmless — to drop employer-sponsored health insurance for as many as 35 million Americans. This is sure to lead to widespread turmoil in labor compensation, employee insurance coverage and labor relations. Strike Three: ObamaCare slaps big increases in effective marginal tax...

The Boston Globe: Four of Massachusetts largest health insurers posted first-quarter losses with three blaming Gov. Deval Patrick's rate increase caps for the bulk of the financial hit that totaled more than $150 million. "The carriers attributed $116 million of their $152 million in losses to the April 1 ruling by the state Division of Insurance to deny most proposed premium increases for the so-called small-group market.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney must be tired of answering questions about his position on Obamacare, yet questions remain. We know he’s against it, but how does he square his opposition to it with his support for a similar plan in Massachusetts? His answer — what’s good for the states is not always good for the country — looks increasingly weak now that flaws in the Massachusetts model are coming to light. And yesterday, the Heritage Foundation’s Robert Moffit, an erstwhile supporter of the Massachusetts plan, declared in a Washington Post op-ed that Heritage’s support for the individual mandate, a...

Over the past several weeks, political observers have speculated about how passage of the national health care law modeled after the one Mitt Romney signed in Massachusetts could hurt his presidential ambitions. But more significant for conservatives is how Romney's presidential ambitions could stymie the effort to repeal ObamaCare. As it is, achieving a full repeal of the recently-passed health care law will be extremely difficult. Given that Obama would veto any bill to undo his signature legislative accomplishment, it means that to get rid of the law, Republicans will have to not only take back Congress, but capture...

The DNC has a new Web vid out mocking Mitt Romney’s increasingly contorted positions on the individual mandate. As you know, he backs it on the state level as rooted in conservative principles (a la Romneycare), but he’s been warning that implementing it on the Federal level (a la Obamacare) constitutes a frightening abuse of power that conservatives everywhere should resist. But, unless I’m missing something, the DNC appears to have unearthed video of Romney, during the 2008 GOP presidential primary, coming very close to endorsing the Federal mandate. The key bit comes at around 45 seconds in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6DrH6P9OC0&feature=player_embedded Here’s...

The DNC has a new Web vid out mocking Mitt Romney’s increasingly contorted positions on the individual mandate. As you know, he backs it on the state level as rooted in conservative principles (a la Romneycare), but he’s been warning that implementing it on the Federal level (a la Obamacare) constitutes a frightening abuse of power that conservatives everywhere should resist. But, unless I’m missing something, the DNC appears to have unearthed video of Romney, during the 2008 GOP presidential primary, coming very close to endorsing the Federal mandate. The key bit comes at around 45 seconds in...

When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls for consideration of the Senate version of Obamacare sometime early this afternoon, it won't be under the now-infamous "deem and pass" procedure, but rather a highly restrictive "Supermax" rule that stifles debate and limits the minority's right to offer amendments.

(CNSNews.com) – If Congress passes the Senate health-care plan, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, American families will be required by federal law to buy a federally approved health insurance plan that will cost a minimum of $12,000 per year--and, on average, will cost $15,000 per year -- whether their employer or the government helps them with the premium or not. Beginning in 2014, the Senate plan would require all individuals to buy health insurance. Anyone who does not obtain insurance through an employer would be forced to buy it out of their own pocket. Families of...

Remember when Democrats mocked Jim DeMint for calling ObamaCare the President’s “Waterloo”? Apparently, that’s stopped being a bug and is now a feature, at least according to Barack Obama. In a pitch aimed at convincing skeptical members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to back the Senate version of the bill, Obama told them that the “fate of his presidency” depended on winning this vote: President Barack Obama had exhausted most of his health care reform arguments with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus during a White House meeting last Thursday when he made a more personal pitch that resonated with...

State regulators said yesterday that they will probably change the complex formula they use to determine how many Massachusetts residents face a tax penalty for not having health insurance, because spiraling costs are making coverage unaffordable for too many people. Each year, the Massachusetts Health Insurance Connector Authority board updates the formula it uses to determine whether health insurance is affordable for individuals, couples, and families and whether people in each group should face a tax penalty for not having coverage. The state’s landmark 2006 health law requires nearly everyone to have health insurance or to pay a stiff tax...

President Barack Obama is planning to host a televised meeting with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders on health care reform.

Health Care? Don't Mention It! The Wall Street Journal ^ | 02-04-10 | JOHN FUND Posted on Thursday, February 04, 2010 11:24:26 PM by GOP_Lady Democrats privately lay into President Obama for his lack of a health-care strategy. President Obama's session with Democratic Senators yesterday was carefully scripted, with the questioners all selected in advance by the Democratic leadership to address issues such as partisan gridlock and GOP obstructionism. Senators Evan Bayh and Blanche Lincoln, both of whom are facing serious opponents this fall, went off message with concerns about the liberal drift of the administration, but all other questioners...

Why hasn't the Commerce Clause been read to allow interstate insurance sales? Last week, I asked South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, where in the Constitution it authorizes the federal government to regulate the delivery of health care. He replied: "There's nothing in the Constitution that says that the federal government has anything to do with most of the stuff we do." Then he shot back: "How about [you] show me where in the Constitution it prohibits the federal government from doing this?"

Just heard on Hannity, Romney will be in a few mintues