In a testy debate exchange last month, Mitt Romney reminded Newt Gingrich that he had backed the individual mandate previously. Now, with Gingrich surging in the polls to frontrunner status, Romney is reminding the electorate about Gingrich’s record on health-care.
“Don’t forget, this health care plan was something we learned about from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank,” Romney said on Fox News Channel’s Hannity in an interview to be aired tonight. “Even Newt Gingrich supported the idea of an individual mandate, insisting on personal responsibility.”
“Now, what we did isn’t perfect,” Romney added. “Some parts of it worked, some didn’t, some things I would change. But it’s not like it’s a liberal idea. It was a conservative concept.”
Romney, who used to be pro-abortion, explained how he altered his views while governor of Massachusetts.
“I changed my position on abortion back when I was governor,” he said. “The first time a piece of legislation reached my desk that dealt with the issue of life and abortion, I came down on the side of life. I wrote an op-ed and said I am firmly pro-life, I simply cannot support a piece of legislation which would have created new embryos for the purpose of testing them and destroying them. So I came down on the side of life while I was governor some years ago.”
Noting that an Obama adviser had “said their strategy will be to kill Romney,” Romney predicted that the general election race will be ugly. “He can’t talk about his record and get reelected,” Romney said of Obama. “So what he’ll do is try and assassinate, on a character basis, his opponents and –or his opposition. I’m hoping that’s me, but I’m not looking forward to those attacks.”
Mitt Romney is 100% correct!
The Heritage Foundation was the author of "Romneycare." And, the whole right wing media from National Review to American Spectator to Human Events lauded Romney for it!
Even Newt Gingrich praised Romney for it! And, Gingrich was still claiming to be for it in May of this year for crying out loud!
Are we in the Twilight Zone?....Everyone that praised Romney in 2008 is now denouncing him for the VERY thing they praised him for in 2008! CRAZY!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe Heritage Foundation has admitted their mistake.
Too bad Romney is emotionally incapable of doing the same.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThey admitted their mistake or they were for it before Obama was for it and now they must be against it?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHow is an individual mandate --the government telling you you must purchase something--a conservative concept? Sometime I think Romney doesn't understand this "conservative" thing.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHow is shunning responsibility in any way conservative?
You should be in charge of your own healthcare not milking the ER when you get sick.
I thought conservatives were interested in history...it seems many have selective amnesia concerning Romneycare...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBy your logic, Nanny Bloomberg is the utimate conservative since he's just forcing everyone to take care of themselves.
Likewise, Obama is a secret conservative since all he wants to do is use govt to force everyone to take care of themselves.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThat is quite a leap of "logic" even for you.
First off, how is mandating that you buy health insurance the same as saying you can't smoke in your home or you can't eat butter?
Requiring people to be insured is not nanny state at all...it is common sense that will bring down healthcare costs and preserve our free market health care system.
Scofflaws getting treated in the ER and then skipping on their bill is ruining the healthcare system and passing the costs onto taxpayers.
So, I am not subsidizing your healthcare. Buy your own insurance!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBuying insurance isn't the same as banning smoking.
Both are however examples of using govt to force people to take care of themselves.
Even someone as besotten with Romney as you are should be able to see that.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMitt Romney converted to the pro-life cause and for that he should be commended not denounced!
You'll never win hearts and minds by shunning the converted!
As governor of Massachucetts, long before he ran for president he vetoed Stem Cell reasearch and he did it because he did not want to destroy life.
That sounds pro-life to me.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's the timing of his multiple conversions regarding the right to life issue that has people suspicious.
The fact that his latest conversion, in our direction, occurred just in time for him to run for president as a Republican is just a coincidence. Right?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"But it’s not like it’s a liberal idea. It was a conservative concept.”
So, contemporary conservatism is as statist as contemporary liberalism? Doubtful.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJeff, what is "statist" about making people be responsible for their own health care costs?
How do you make someone pay for something when - by law - you can't refuse that "something", even if they don't pay for it, ever?
Without a mandate, how is America's private insurance system preserved?
In TX, at least 26% of all people have ZERO health insurance, and that number is expected to climb each year for the foreseeable future. Who's going to be paying for the health care system in TX in 15-years, when it's likely - to the point of virtual certainty - that there will be more people without health insurance than with it?
The inability of some self-described conservatives to look past the simplest of talking points is disturbing.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse[Jeff, what is "statist" about making people be responsible for their own health care costs?
How do you make someone pay for something when - by law - you can't refuse that "something", even if they don't pay for it, ever?]
Gee, what is statist about using the threat of force of the state to 'make' people do the things I want them to do, I don't get it!
[Without a mandate, how is America's private insurance system preserved?]
Really? Is this supposed to be a serious question? (How do we currently have a private insurance system absent the mandate?)
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"How do we currently have a private insurance system absent the mandate?
For a LOT of Americans, we don't. This fact seems to escape you.
And, if the numbers of uninsured continue to grow at current pace unabated, then within the next two decades, more than half of American will be without any health insurance insurance.
Listen, if you want to adopt the myopic position that says: Most people have health care insurance, so why worry about this problem - then that's certainly your prerogative.
I generally take a more pragmatic approach to problems, especially when I see them looming on the horizon and now would be the best, least expensive time to address them.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt happens to be true that the idea for an individual mandate arose from the Heritage Foundation.
But conservatives evolve, and so do the extreme litmus tests they use to measure conservative purity. You could be a conservative in good standing one day, but then the goal posts concerning what a "real" conservative changes the next day. Pass the litmus test with flying colors one day, fail the next.
And of course, it is simply outrageous to not be a "real" conservative. Whatever that happens to mean today.
There is something deeply shiftless and unrooted about modern day conservatism. No need to worry about deficits when Bush is in office, running them up with his taxes, wars, and expanded Medicare Part D.
I don't think conservatives are in anyway, well, conservative. There is no consistent set of principles. Only maximum self-righteousness in the assertion of whatever "principles" are the "conservative" flavor of the moment.
Conservatives have no core. They are hollow. The flip-flopping Mitt Romney is the perfect candidate for them.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhew; you must be all tuckered out now. Here's an ice cream cone:
External Link
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat is the matter?
You cannot actually respond to the point that modern day conservatism is rootless with no consistent set of principles.
Because it happens to be true.
Under George W. Bush, we had the largest expansion of the Federal Government into the field of education in history. Under George W. Bush, we had a huge expansion of the welfare state in the form of Medicare Party D. Under George W. Bush, we had deficit spending for as far as the eye can see to pay for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Yesterday, the individual mandate was a conservative idea. Today it is not.
Face it, modern day conservatism has absolutely no core. It is empty.
And your problem is that you want to deny it, but there are no facts that support your point of view. Because the facts reveal that conservatives have been completely inconsistent in a rather short span of time.
The only thing that distinguished conservatism is the intensity of the cry and the self-righteousness with which the flavor of the month is demanded.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI gave your post *exactly* the level of seriousness it deserved.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseActually, you have merely revealed that you cannot respond to the facts.
Your party and your ideology is hollow and constantly morphing.
Those are the facts. And they are undeniable.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm still waiting for you to put forth an actual fact.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe best you have been able to do so far is re-write history and parot DNC talking points.