What Romney should say about RomneyCare
posted at 9:10 pm on March 26, 2010 by Allahpundit
You know where I stand on this but here’s the counterargument from Bill Pascoe, imagining the ideal Mitt response.
What we tried in Massachusetts sure does look an awful lot like what President Obama is trying to do now. He’s got an individual mandate, and tax penalties for those who fail to purchase insurance on their own, and subsidies for those who can’t afford to purchase insurance, and he’s even got a government health “exchange.”
And guess what, Chris? I’m willing to bet that it won’t work any better at the federal level than it has at the state level. The fact of the matter is, we tried it, and it doesn’t work — Massachusetts has the highest insurance premiums in the nation, and our state’s per-capita spending is 27 percent higher than the national average.
Guess what else we found? When you expand the availability of insurance, you increase the demand for medical services. But we didn’t do anything to expand the number of doctors in Massachusetts. So now our doctors are seriously overworked. In fact, more than half our internists are refusing to take new patients — that’s right, the ones who just got insurance for the first time because of the changes we made. Having insurance is great, Chris, but only if you actually get to see a doctor when you need to. Otherwise, what’s the point?
We conservatives have always said the states are the laboratories of democracy. Well, we tried ObamaCare in Massachusetts, and it didn’t work.
I was wrong. I am sorry. But I learned my lesson. And the good news is, America can learn from our mistakes. America can learn from the Massachusetts experience.
The line about “laboratories of democracy” is a nice touch. If Romney ever does go this route, I guarantee that it’ll show up in his rhetoric. But look: There’s a reason you rarely hear candidates admit massive policy mistakes. What’s more appealing to you, a would-be president who stands by his decisions and argues their merits, even if you think he’s wrong on balance? Or a would-be president who reverses course at a moment of intense political pressure and confesses that, yes indeed, his master plan was wildly, wildly wrong? Which gives you greater confidence in his policy acumen and personal fortitude? There are arguments for both, but I’ll bet I know which way most voters lean — especially vis-a-vis a guy who’s famously reversed course before at moments that seem suspiciously opportunistic.
Beyond that, though, the idea that Romney’s already finished more than a year before the primaries start to crank up is simply goofy. Passions are running high now over O-Care so it’s gratifying to think that the health-care apostate within our ranks will suffer for it, but am I the only who remembers those stories breaking in 2007 about how McCain once wanted to leave the GOP? Remember the hotter-than-hot amnesty debate on the Senate floor that summer, where Maverick was his good ol’ amnesty shill self? How about those incredible financial problems his campaign had early on, which made me and pretty much everyone else think he was left for dead? And then, a year later, he was the nominee. A lot can, and will, happen to ease the sting of RomneyCare, which isn’t to say that Mitt will or should be the nominee, merely that this won’t be the instant disqualifier that it now seems. Like I said the other day, if conservatives were willing to suck it up and nominate the, ahem, “electable” candidate two years ago, think how much more willing they’ll be two years from now when they’re chomping at the bit to get The One out of the Oval Office. Things change. Right, Politico?
Blowback
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yup
katy on March 27, 2010 at 1:35 AM
Good God, Ron Paul?
Why? So that he can crawfish out of Iraq and Afghanistan and slam the doors on Gitmo even faster than Obama? Then draw all troops home from all foreign points to top it off? JC!
Romney needs to say “I tried it in Massachusetts, it sucked there, I should know……..and it’ll suck for the entire U.S. if we don’t be rid of it and quick”
A weird axiom here is that Obama will have a hard time calling Romney “mean” or “heartless” on healthcare after Romney has already tried Obamacare in Mass years before with the results to show for it. Romney can say that he proved Obamacare wrong years before Obama knew what it was and he has a better way. Period.
Besides, said before and I’ll say again, seeing as how Romney was the conservative choice in 2008……….how did he become the anti-Christ so fast for 2012?
He’s one Hell of a sight better than the travesty in office now that’s getting acolades from Castro and treating Netanyahu like a house-boy. Damn him.
We need GOP’ers in Congress in 2010 and we need a GOP nominee that can win in 2012. If Romney’s the best chance, then so be it, I’m in.
JoeinTX on March 27, 2010 at 1:37 AM
I don’t just “think” he’s wrong on balance. The numbers bear that out. Yeah, it’s disconcerting that he ever went there in the first place, but this — to me, anyway — is not like his flip-flopping on abortion and gun control. Those are broader, more abstract issues. In the case of RomneyCare, we have a specific experiment with measurable results and the results are not good.
We all know that a Republican governor/president dealing with an overwhelmingly spend-happy Democratic legislature usually has his hands tied. Reagan certainly did, and he still gets beat up for his part in running up the deficit. I just think Mitt would be better off emphasizing this fact, but he seems to want to embrace Masscare as his own. If I were he, I’d at least be trying to distance myself from it. And I speak only for myself of course, but I have a whole lot more respect for a pol who admits where he or she went wrong in the past and vows not to make the same mistakes again than I do one who keeps trying to polish a turd.
NoLeftTurn on March 27, 2010 at 2:26 AM
Romney’s goose is cooked – he already has the image of a flip flopper – you dont have to be a die-hard social conservative or a Huckabee fanatic to see his change of mind on abortion as very opportunistic – i.e. before the primaries.. nor does it help when news comes out that Romney joined the NRA just before the primaries – when had his whole adult life to do so.
And now he is going to change his mind on health care again ? It establishes the pattern of a politician who has an expiry date for all his positions – Obama ofcourse is the WORST example of this. All politicians do this but Romney has two disavantages
A. He does it so transparently.
B. He does not have an MSM that literally campaigns for him the way they campaign for Obama.
I hope Mitch Daniels runs – he is the only one who can win – his Indiana health reform plan is the most sensible out there and it is something that he can run on without being defensive about it like Romney.
Either that or Romney runs and loses so that its the last we see of him. I am not opposed to him personally but i cannot support him or the likes of Huckabee, Paul etc
nagee76 on March 27, 2010 at 2:39 AM
Mittens just isn’t a conservative leader. He is a compromiser who lets the left dictate the terms to him.
I guess you really can’t expect much more from someone so gullible as to believe in the Mormon mythology of Joseph Smith, his scrying device, and the magical appearance of the white Jesus in America.
Mr Purple on March 27, 2010 at 2:49 AM
Brad Jones says
PrezHussein on March 27, 2010 at 3:12 AM
By the way these righties against Romney sure like to help the left in there Obamacare is Romneycare while above you can see it isn’t.
PrezHussein on March 27, 2010 at 3:14 AM
I know it’s late but, what did you say?
Gohawgs on March 27, 2010 at 3:40 AM
You speak of desperation as if choosing possible amnesty over Obama/Romney care wasn’t an act of it. Someone doesn’t believe in going Galt.
FeFe on March 27, 2010 at 3:45 AM
Dude, go pound sand. If by some miracle, Mittens gets the Republican nomination, I’m going to vote for him. I just think it’s sheer fantasy to believe he will. His supporters can cry all day long that RomneyCare is distinct from ObamaCare, but the fact remains he’s going to get beaten like a rented mule over it by his primary opponents and people are going to be paying attention to that.
NoLeftTurn on March 27, 2010 at 4:00 AM
It’s not just Romneycare, although that’s what finishes him off.
In no particular order, this is why Willard just needs to shut up and go away…
1. Globull Warming….Just a few weeks ago Algore was praising Romney for is stances on “climate change”. That right there is enough to throw him out of the party, period. Same goes for Newt.
2. Willard and Jeb Bush went on a forget Ronald Reagan tour, and now that ass is trying to claim the Reagan mantle. It just so happens that as RomneyCare starts his run, General Electric will be spending about $10 million to help celebrate Reagan’s 100th birthday.
Even worse, while he’ll be trying to claim the Reagan legacy as his own, and people will be remembering his F.U. Reagan tour, Sarah Palin, who IS Ronald Reagan will be running as well. Game over.
3. Abortion. As we saw, the right to life movement is alive and well. More people now than at anytime in modern history oppose abortions. Not only is RomneyCare on record as being pro-choice, he’s also supported Planned Parenthood. Ever seen the photos of Margaret Sanger at the Klan rallies? Bye-bye Mitt.
2. Romney’s claim to being a “good businessman” is bogus. Willard ran on bringing Jobs to the Bay State, but if you read this from Market Watch, you’ll see that Romney is a joke:
So….Mittens can’t claim he knows how to turn the economy around! his record shows he can’t.
Anyone wanna compare Sarah Palin’s incredibly successful time as Governor to RomnyCare’s? It won’t be pretty!
And of course…there is:
1. RomneyCare!
As another poster here points out, there are only two human beings alive that have a socialist/communist health care program named after them, and one of them is Romney…the other the Marxist thug in the WH now.
Forget the fact for a minute that it would be hard for Romney to trash Obama over ObamaCare, when his program was basically the blueprint for it.
Worse yet, Romney won’t repeal ObamaCare, because it IS like RomneyCare, and Romney is a Big Government progressive, or he wouldn’t have concocted that disaster of his own.
Massachusetts is about to go bankrupt because of RomneyCare, and their ‘death panels” are already at work rationing care!
Romney is at the wrong place at the wrong time in history.
Here’s a guy who trashed Reagan, and will be running at the very time we will be celebrating his centennial with great joy. Even better, his competition, Palin, is the very spiritual essence of the Gipper! Epic Fail!
The one big issue is going to be ObamaCare, and he has no where to go. (but home)
Romney is done. He’s not a leader anyway. He’s been in hiding the whole time others have been on the front lines. At best, he’s middle management. Maybe, President Palin will give him a job where he won’t screw too much up.
gary4205 on March 27, 2010 at 4:58 AM
I feel Allahpundit’s pain.
*T*I*N*G*L*E* /s
Pascoe’s full article, “Say Goodbye to Mitt Romney” is well worth a read. It hits the nail on the head.
I do not subscribe to Allahpundit’s “stay the course, (no matter how wrong I am)“ nonsense. It is nonsense precisely for the reason stated in parentheses: it is wrong to support state-run healthcare.
For all the faux-elitist “I can see the forest over the trees you are among” I sense in Allahpundit’s writings – it has well exceeded the point of adolescent snarkiness over time – he is wrong, wrong, wrong.
Stay the course, by all means, as long as you are confident the course is correct.
As Romney has long defended his role in state-run healthcare as “correct,” I say mutiny!
Lockstein13 on March 27, 2010 at 7:08 AM
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
maverick muse on March 27, 2010 at 7:11 AM
Mitt, in all his lack of brilliance, failed to research the experiences of the other states that tried mandated state health care BEFORE he huddled with his plan to pass in Massachusetts. And is Mitt actually saw the failures, then note well his pompous pride that HE could pull the miracle to make HIS work, despite the facts. MittCare works so well that the newly insured have no doctors, and the hospitals are going bankrupt, and the STATE is going bankrupt.
But his fellow neoconservative compulsive socialist in the Republican Party, Allahpundit, WILL write something to ease the sting of RomneyCare. Here come the testimonials.
maverick muse on March 27, 2010 at 7:20 AM
Most importantly, has he revised his position on car rooftop dog carriers?
Dr. Carlo Lombardi on March 27, 2010 at 8:53 AM
As a Massachusetts resident I can tell you that both Romney and Brown are playing with fire if they try to defend Romneycare. Forget all the policy wonk stuff about it. The bottom line is the individual mandate.
The only defense they have is the hair splitting difference between a state and the federal government. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is going to care about the intricacies those legal arguments. People still compare car insurance to health insurance, so forget trying to take any kind of high road when it comes to the Big Bad Federal Government vs the rights of the Commonwealth.
As far as how bad Romneycare is? Yeah, I can attest to how hard it is to find a PCP even with decent insurance in an area that does have a lot of doctors. I recently had to find one. I live about 40 minutes from Boston and there are a lot of doctors around here. I had to call 8 before I could find one taking new patients and the earliest appointment for him was 2 months out. So I moved on to number 9 and booked an appointment for 3 weeks later.
I still ended up in the emergency room. When I explained my symptons to the receptionist who booked my appointment (swollen and black and blue legs) she booked the appointment and then told me to go to the emergency room.
I had Googled it so I knew the worse case scenario, which was sudden death from DVT. But being adverse to doctors in general I still waited two more days before I went. I figured it would either get better or I’d drop dead. When neither happened, I went to the ER.
That was a total waste of time, but that’s another story.
Romney and Brown are losers if they stay on this track.
Jaynie59 on March 27, 2010 at 9:11 AM
The question of mandatory low flow toilets is also unresolved.
Annar on March 27, 2010 at 9:14 AM
Nodody will remember Obamacare in 2012.
Falz on March 27, 2010 at 9:22 AM
He shouldn’t say anything. He should just give up on his presidential aspirations and help other candidates’ campaigns.
RobbBond on March 27, 2010 at 9:34 AM
Let’s look at this in terms of “principles.” I don’t, and never have, expected presidents to be perfect, infallible people. That’s why we call them “Mr. President” instead of “Your Highness.” Remember, when the country was founded there was serious debate over just this issue. They are just like us, flaws and all. It’s foolishness to expect anything else.
That said, I would much rather have an elected official admit that he tried something that didn’t work, than one who says, “I don’t care if it was wrong – I’d do it all over again.” Honesty plays into integrity, and there’s little enough of that in Washington these days.
The key is not whether an individual makes mistakes. It’s whether the individual has the integrity, courage, and testicular fortitude to own up to them, and to learn from them. That’s integrity. That’s why William Jefferson, Charlie Rangel, and others will never have my respect – they’re unwilling to admit they screwed up.
I’d much, much rather see our Republican candidates show more humility and integrity than many of the Democrats (and Republicans, for that matter) who seem to believe that being elected provides them a certain infallibility. Wouldn’t you?
psrch on March 27, 2010 at 10:01 AM
I’m sorry, so sorry, would do for a start since it’s worked out so well for Mass. Maybe it didn’t work out as he envisioned, maybe those who came after him screwed it up. Do not hang your hat on this mess, Mitt. I’m sure you’re a nice guy, stay in the business world and have a good life. Just like Huckster should keep his day job.
Kissmygrits on March 27, 2010 at 10:07 AM
Mitt Romney: The Apostacy Candidate!
NCC on March 27, 2010 at 10:23 AM
Experiments fail all the time. The real question should be why a purported free market-supporting, limited-government touting capitalist would push that one.
Barnestormer on March 27, 2010 at 10:31 AM
And if the answer, “You know Bill, I only support blatantly socialist policies that contradict both my background and my rhetoric when they are politically expedient at the moment,” sounds perilously close to the truth (albeit not “ideal” in the Pascoeian sense), you might be onto Mitt’s real problem.
Barnestormer on March 27, 2010 at 11:08 AM
Romney needs to go away. He had his chance in 2008. Enough with re-treads.
Chekote on March 27, 2010 at 11:52 AM
THANK YOU. Now let’s try and drill that through the thick skulls of the Palinistas here.
Vyce on March 27, 2010 at 1:00 PM
He’s going to have to get the votes of some of those thick-skulled Palinistas at some point if he’s ever going to be anything other than a squishy idol-fantasy-pinup boy.
ddrintn on March 27, 2010 at 1:16 PM
Interesting AP, first you say this:
“Beyond that, though, the idea that Romney’s already finished more than a year before the primaries start to crank up is simply goofy.”
Then you say this:
“Passions are running high now over O-Care so it’s gratifying to think that the health-care apostate within our ranks will suffer for it”
So in other words it’s goofy to think it now, but wise (on your part) to just wait for it. What a guy.
And how very menacing of you to give Romney the religious moniker of apostate…..way to stoke the flames of religious bigotry there Allahpundit.
sheryl on March 27, 2010 at 1:24 PM
With the stigma of RomneyCare, the only candidates he can help are Democrats. Conservatives should distances themselves from Romney as much as the so-called moderate Democrats are distancing themselves from Obama — and for the same reason.
George Allen was disqualified because of “macaca.” Romney’s claims to conservatism are full of macaca.
Terrie on March 27, 2010 at 1:36 PM
As much as I admire Sarah Palin, she isn’t going to win a national election anytime soon.
She has way too many negatives to overcome and they are very easy to mock: unqualified, dumb, a quitter, inexperienced.
Also she would be dreadful debating Obama. He’d win hands down. Not on substance but on style masking as substance.
sheryl on March 27, 2010 at 1:40 PM
I don’t think so. Romney on the other hand would be shut up just with a mention of RomneyCare.
Good grief, it’s just an expression. I don’t think any religious bigotry was intended. Are the Romney supporters always going to be so sensitive? Good luck then.
ddrintn on March 27, 2010 at 3:43 PM
“Good grief, it’s just an expression”
You are absolutely correct. But Allahpundit is a professional writer who chooses words carefully. Add to that AP’s historical distain for Romney. I don’t think it was just an expression that he choose a distinctly divisive religious word.
sheryl on March 27, 2010 at 7:20 PM
“I don’t think so.”
I hope you’re right. But as Krauthammer advised awhile back she has to engage in more than platitudes.
Don’t get me wrong I’ll vote for Sarah in a heartbeat. I’m ready to vote for most of the candidates the GOP is batting around, except Huckabee.
But Obama is going to be starting his third year as POTUS when the 2012 election campaign starts; his vanity is going to know no bounds. Sarah’s very good at sharp put downs (loved them at the convention) but it’s not going to work as a strategy and that’s most of what I’ve seen from her.
My preference is for Romney to challenge Obama on the campaign trail and in the debates. His quick mind, his deep knowledge of the global economy, his understanding of America’s role in the world and his ability to handle Obama’s fillibuster style of answering questions is going to be what we need in a candidate to challenge such a vain, ego driven incumbent like Obama.
And I’d like to see either Ryan, Cantor, Daniels or Jindal as his running mate.
sheryl on March 27, 2010 at 7:45 PM
So does Romney, which is just about all he does. “We need a strong and free America…”
ddrintn on March 28, 2010 at 12:44 AM
By the way: ohhhhhhh yes, that’s EXACTLY the strategy that’s going to be needed. Someone who’s utterly unafraid to take Obama on.
ddrintn on March 28, 2010 at 12:46 AM
“So does Romney, which is just about all he does. “We need a strong and free America…”
This is a really immature response, in both tone and fact.
And so is your “that’s EXACTLY the strategy” statement.
Many good critics have said that Sarah needs to hit the books more, study up. I think her co-worker at Fox, Bill O’Reilly, even said that she needs to read more.
I’ve heard no one of any merit criticize Romney of speaking in platitudes. If anything he’s accused of being the exact opposite….too wonkish.
sheryl on March 28, 2010 at 2:16 AM
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