RW desperately embracing RomneyCare? Time to pull the rug out from under Mitt

[ProSense]

The right learns to look the other way on Romneycare

By Steve Benen

The evolution of conservative attitudes on Mitt Romney and health care has been fascinating to watch from a distance. It's also become principle-free, as became evident this week.

It seems like ancient history now, but a year ago, prominent Republicans said Romney would have no choice but to apologize for his Massachusetts health care reform law, which ultimately served as a blueprint for President Obama's Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare&quot . Sen. John Thune (R-S.C.), Mike Huckabee, Karl Rove, and prominent conservative activists throughout the party demanded that he "acknowledge he made a mistake."

Romney, at the time building his campaign around an anti-apology attack, refused, and in time, a subtle detente emerged -- the right would put its apoplexy aside, and the candidate just wouldn't talk about his only meaningful accomplishment in public office... In early August, Romney's chief spokesperson, Andrea Saul, gave the right a heart attack when she suggested on Fox News that struggling families nationwide would benefit greatly if only they lived under Romneycare at the national level...But with 39 days to go, both Romney's and conservatives' standards have changed.

A little more than 24 hours have passed since Mitt Romney took the base-alienating step of touting the health care law he signed while governor of Massachusetts in an interview with NBC. Unlike the last time his campaign heralded his signature achievement, however, the conservative grumbling was relatively muted.

Why? Because, Republicans say, things are so bad for Romney that they'll even let him talk up his health care law.

It would be an exaggeration to say the right let this go unnoticed entirely, but the reaction was muted, at best. After Saul's comments in August, for example, RedState's Erick Erickson said, "This might just be the moment Mitt Romney lost the election." After Romney's even more direct comments on Wednesday, there was no meaningful outrage.

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http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/28/14137798-the-right-learns-to-look-the-other-way-on-romneycare

Mitt is a liar, and now he's trapped.

Mitt Romney Did NOT Cover All Children In MA

by AlyoshaKaramazov

The LEGISLATURE did.

At least that's what the Wiki says:

In Fall 2005, the House and Senate each passed health care insurance reform bills. The legislature made a number of changes to Governor Romney's original proposal, including expanding MassHealth (Medicaid and SCHIP) coverage to low-income children and restoring funding for public health programs.

But here's Mitt on insuring children:

“(D)on’t forget — I got everybody in my state insured,” Romney told NBC. “One hundred percent of the kids in our state had health insurance. I don’t think there’s anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country than that kind of record.”

Um, no Mitt, YOU didn't. Your DEMOCRATIC LEGISLATURE did.

On April 12, 2006, Governor Mitt Romney signed the health legislation. Romney vetoed eight sections of the health care legislation, including the controversial employer assessment. Romney also vetoed provisions providing dental benefits to poor residents on the Medicaid program, and providing health coverage to senior and disabled legal immigrants not eligible for federal Medicaid. The legislature promptly overrode six of the eight gubernatorial section vetoes, on May 4, 2006, and by mid-June 2006 had overridden the remaining two.

Stop lying to the voters, Mitt. Nobody trusts a word that comes out of you any longer. Taking credit for trying to gut the program.

America deserves better, Mitt.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/26/1136897/-Mitt-Romney-Did-NOT-Cover-All-Children-In-MA

Here's the Wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_health_care_reform#Legislation

Here's how the veto was reported:

Mitt Romney health care vetoes overturned by Massachusetts House (Mitt Romney Archive, 2006)

By The Republican Newsroom

This story from The Republican’s archive is part of our look back at Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s years in Massachusetts politics: as Senate candidate, gubernatorial candidate and governor. It was published on April 26, 2006.

By The Associated Press

BOSTON — Sending a sharp rebuke to Gov. W. Mitt Romney, House lawmakers voted overwhelmingly yesterday to overturn his vetoes to the state's landmark health-care law, including the controversial $295 fee on businesses that don't offer insurance.

The predominantly Democratic House broke from debate of the state budget to begin the override process, first voting to restore a portion of the law guaranteeing dental benefits to Medicaid recipients.

The House overrides had been expected, and Senate President Robert Travaglini said yesterday that he expects the Senate will override all eight of Romney's vetoes. The Republican governor's spokesman said the differences were not essential to the larger goal of health care coverage.

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http://www.masslive.com/mitt-romney-archive/index.ssf/2012/04/gov_mitt_romney_health_care_ve.html

Unlike Mitt, President Obama strongly supports CHIP.

Obama Signs Children’s Health Insurance Bill

By ROBERT PEAR

WASHINGTON — The House gave final approval on Wednesday to a bill extending health insurance to millions of low-income children, and President Obama signed it this afternoon, in the first of what he hopes will be many steps to guarantee coverage for all Americans.

<...>

The roll call ended a two-year odyssey for the child health legislation, which President George W. Bush adamantly opposed on the ground it would lead to “government-run health care for every American.”

<...>

In a major change, the bill allows states to cover certain legal immigrants — namely, children under 21 and pregnant women — as well as citizens.

Until now, legal immigrants have generally been barred from Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program for five years after they enter the United States. States will now be able to cover those immigrants without the five-year delay.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/us/politics/05health.html

Mittwit lies!

[ProSense]

1. Kick for

good debate material. Mitt is boxed in.

[ProSense]

2. Another!

Does anyone still think Mitt supported real health care reform?

[ProSense]

3. Things Are So Bad For Romney, Republicans Are Letting Him Tout RomneyCare

Things Are So Bad For Romney, Republicans Are Letting Him Tout RomneyCare

Evan McMorris-Santoro

A little more than 24 hours have passed since Mitt Romney took the base-alienating step of touting the health care law he signed while governor of Massachusetts in an interview with NBC. Unlike the last time his campaign heralded his signature achievement, however, the conservative grumbling was relatively muted.

Why? Because, Republicans say, things are so bad for Romney that they’ll even let him talk up his health care law.

<...>

There were some detractors, of course.

“Facepalm,” read the headline on Twitchy, a conservative Twitter aggregation site.

“The obvious problem, of course, is that if there isn’t ‘anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country than that kind of record,’ then Obama wins the empathy argument … because his policies involve helping more people get health insurance,” wrote the National Review’s Katrina Trinko.

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http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/09/romney-romneycare-conservative-base.php

I smell a big problem. LOL!

[ProSense]

4. Romney Says He Cares. His Agenda Disagrees.

Romney Says He Cares. His Agenda Disagrees.

Jonathan Cohn

<...>

But in politics empathy isn't simply about rhetoric. It's about policy. Here, again, is what Romney has proposed on health care.

1. Romney wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would bring Massachusetts-style reforms to the rest of the country and make insurance available to almost everyone.

2. He wants to hand Medicaid over to the states and then, in short order, dramatically reduce its funding.

3. He wants to change the tax treatment of company health benefits, in ways that could make it less available even to middle-class people in the long run.

These three changes—repeal of Obamacare, the end of Medicaid as we know it, and changes to the tax code—represent nothing short of a wholesale revolution in health care. ("Repeal and Reverse," as Ed Kilgore likes to call it.) The changes would arguably more sweeping than the ones Obamacare will cause. They would inarguably be more cruel.

How cruel? A brand new report from FamiliesUSA can give you some idea. Based on calculations by Jonathan Gruber, the MIT economist, by 2016 the number of people without health insurance would be 40 million higher than it would be if the Affordable Care Act went into effect.

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http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/107827/romney-empathy-health-care-families-usa-gruber-million-uninsured-tax-credit

[ProSense]

5. Props to the President and

Democrats, from the OP:

In a major change, the bill allows states to cover certain legal immigrants — namely, children under 21 and pregnant women — as well as citizens.

Until now, legal immigrants have generally been barred from Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program for five years after they enter the United States. States will now be able to cover those immigrants without the five-year delay.

[bluestate10]

6. The Massachusetts Legislature

was responsible for Massachusetts Health Care Reform, not Romney. I lived through the fight. Romney agreed only with an eye for a second term. Once the bill was passed, Romney tried to gut it. Deval Patrick is responsible for making Massachusetts Health Care Reform work, making it a model for the nation.

[ProSense]

7. Wonder which position Mitt's going to take for the debates?

LOL!