Hot Air » penalty

Obama hits back: Romney’s a big flip-flopping fan of mandates, you know

Allahpundit — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 20:46:06 +0000

"That's exactly what's included as part of my health care plan."

You know that jobs report was bad when this guy would rather talk about the trillion-dollar albatross perched on his head instead. A pro-mandate Democrat who can’t get his story straight on whether it’s a tax attacking a pro-mandate Republican because he can’t get his story straight on whether it’s a tax. Perfection. Choices, my [...]

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Quotes of the day

Allahpundit — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 02:24:13 +0000

Here to stay?

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), chair of the House Budget Committee–and potential running mate of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney–told Breitbart News this week that the party’s leaders are “absolutely” committed to repealing Obamacare. “It would have been nice for the Supreme Court to repeal it for us,” he said, “but it’s no harder today than [...]

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How big a deal is the Romney campaign’s tax/penalty flip-flopping?

Allahpundit — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 00:01:58 +0000

Eh.

Does anyone seriously care about this? I know we’ve written a bunch of posts about it — it’s the political story du jour so we’re almost obliged — but I can’t believe there’s a single voter outside the chattering class that’s following it. Think of all the things a voter has to know just to [...]

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Obama campaign spokesman: Hey, we never said the mandate was a tax

Allahpundit — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:01:54 +0000

"It never referred to it as a tax."

Really? Last week, the day after the decision, NBC went through the oral-argument transcripts and pulled out all the colloquies where Verrilli had argued for upholding the statute on tax grounds. A taste: JUSTICE KAGAN: I suppose, though, General, one question is whether the determined efforts of Congress not to refer to this as a [...]

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Romney: If the Supreme Court says the mandate’s a tax, then it’s a tax

Allahpundit — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 18:11:01 +0000

"The Supreme Court has spoken."

A GOP strategist predicted yesterday that Romney would flip on Fehrnstrom’s “not a tax” argument by next week. Either the campaign decided this couldn’t wait or they figured they’d time the flip for the holiday when no one’s paying attention. Good enough? He’s not saying that he thinks the mandate is a tax; he reiterates [...]

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Team Romney: No way are we declaring a “ceasefire” on health care

Allahpundit — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 23:01:06 +0000

Engagement.

The inevitable reassurance after Eric Fehrnstrom’s “not a tax” soundbite kicked off a new round of anxiety over Romney. When Allen West is on Fox News in primetime telling conservatives that it might be time for some new presidential campaign staff, you know the moment has come for damage control. So is the Romney campaign, [...]

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Romney advisor: You’re right, the ObamaCare mandate isn’t a tax

Allahpundit — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 01:54:46 +0000

Penalties.

When you nominate the man responsible for RomneyCare, don’t be surprised if his team’s reluctant to embrace Roberts’s argument that a mandate is a tax. Even if everyone else in the party has spent the past five days happily rubbing The One’s face in it. Over at Breitbart.com, Joel Pollak urges Romney to get it [...]

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Pelosi: ObamaCare’s not a tax, it’s a ta-penalty

Ed Morrissey — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 14:41:25 +0000

"Well, who is the ta -- who is the penalty on?"

Democrats had a little trouble with their messaging yesterday in the wake of what should have been a big victory for them last week at the Supreme Court. Instead, the legal victory has given way to a huge political headache, and perhaps even a linguistic headache as well. How can Democrats argue that ObamaCare isn’t [...]

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