For about two years now, the issue of Mitt Romney's health care reform law in Massachusetts has been an elephant in the Republican Party's room. There was even some speculation early on that the GOP's right-wing base would force the former governor to repudiate his only meaningful accomplishment in public office.
That obviously didn't happen, and as it turns out, it didn't matter -- since Romney ran against such weak competition, he managed to get the Republican presidential nomination despite having created the blueprint for President Obama's Affordable Care Act.
But the elephant never really went away. Yesterday, 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 -- implicitly endorsing the implementation of Obamacare.
All of a sudden, conservatives are starting to point at the elephant in the room all over again. The Republican National Committee held a conference call with Rick Santorum today, and when Saul's comments came up, he laughed inappropriately.
Santorum, you'll recall, said Romney was the worst Republican in the country to run against Obama precisely because he has no credibility on health care.
Also this morning, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), a co-chair of the Women for Mitt coalition and a campaign surrogate, was asked on CNN to talk about Romney's health care law in Massachusetts, and Blackburn simply refused to answer the questions. She told a couple of lies about the Affordable Care Act and ignored all other questions.
This isn't going away. Several leading right-wing voices are livid and both Romney and his campaign team no longer have any idea what to say about the subject.
Maybe Republicans should have had this conversation during the primaries, instead of 89 days before the election?
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Eric Fehrnstrom (not Andrea Saul) needs to show Rick Santorum the right way to shake that Etch-A-Sketch.
"See Rick? You have to turn - yes, that IS a very nice sweater vest. Now listen and watch. You have to turn it upside down first, and THEN shake it back and forth, very vigorously. Then you can change it to whatever you want, and the idiots will magically forget what you said before and believe what you say now."
Romney's campaign spokesperson is, essentially, saying that if we all lived in Mass., where Romney instituted a healthcare program similar to President Obama's, we could all have health care coverage. OR: If someone instituted the same program, nationally, we wouldn't all have to move to Mass., after all! Gee--didn't President Obama do just that???
A political gaffe isn't a misstatement, it is accidentally telling the truth. Or put another way, forgetting to lie.
Saul's comment was a gaffe. It was true, but didn't fit the party line.
Same, frankly with Santorum's inappropriate laugh. It was funny, and for him, I'm sure very satisfying. But he's not supposed to think so.
HEh Heh
they nominated Willard...they're stuck with him
Ummm... technically, they haven't actually nominated him yet. Maybe there's a gazillionaire or two interested in bankrolling an "August surprise"?
;-)
" Romney and his campaign team no longer have any idea what to say about the subject."
Shirley, you jest!
There's always Ralph Kramden's "hummina hummina hummina!"
it's amazing how all - even "frenemies" will get in line and LIE THROUGH THEIR TEETH!
Is Santorum going to be the new Sunday Shows McCain?
Should Romney lose this election, something tells me we won't be seeing Precious on the Sunday shows...McCain will have to continue on until he crumbles into dust and they have to sweep him off the set.
This is what happens when you lie so much. You forget what's a lie and what is not. She thought she was slinging yet another lie and ended up messing up with the truth. You can bet that won't happen again.
Whatever's going on, I get the queasy feeling we're all gonna be made nauseous by what the Romney folks come up with to explain it.
"We’ve got to do reforms in health care and I have some experience doing that as you know. And I know how to make a better setting than the one we have in health care. I want to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions are able to get insurance and that people don’t have to worry about getting dropped from their insurance coverage and that health care is available to all people."
That was Romney speaking in Iowa on Wednesday. Saul’s comments seem to be less of gaffe and more of a sign that Romney is attempting to shift his position on health care. Romney has undoubtedly seen the recent polls showing that Americans, especially women and minorities and working class families, actually like many of the features and benefits of Obamacare. So, despite running away from his own health care program when it was considered toxic and promising to repeal Obamacare on day one, Romney now wants some of that health care mojo.
This has become a familiar pattern with Romney. He was all for letting Detroit go bankrupt until he saw that President Obama had saved the American auto industry. Then he attempted to claim that Obama's plan was his own. He called Obama's promise to go into Pakistan to take out Bin Laden "ill-considered," but when the mission was successful, he said of course he would have ordered the mission.
Let's all move to Romneychusetts for the great healthcare. Can't wait to see the statue of Churchhill in the town square.
Romney hasn't held the position of governor for more than five years, but Santorum repeatedly gives Romney that title. But he can't bring himself to say President Barack Obama.
Romneycare and what Saul said about it are really just a symptom, not the disease. This isa much bigger problem for Romney, and carries real risk for his campaign: because he has no core, the far right doesn't trust him, no matter how much he kissed up to them in the primaries. They believe they are so very close to having all of the power - a truly wacky House, a compliant Senate, an Opus Dei-led majority on the Supreme Court, and now the Presidency. But they need Romney to be a willing stooge.
So long as Romney was saying the right things, they were willing to keep the faith and keep quiet. But the distrust was always there. And any little slip like this forces them to weigh the value of avoiding a circular firing squad for the good of the team, versus ensuring Romney gets no taste of independence without a penalty. They have to make sure he knows the wingnuts are in charge. So they pounce to enforce ideological discipline, to make sure Romney still bows and scrapes appropriately.
If Team Obama can bait a couple more of these incidents, the trust gap with the right will grow exponentially and they will tie their own candidate up for several news cycles answering to his own unpopular right flank. It will be a thing of beauty, and will be about all that is needed for Obama to run the clock out on any comeback attempt by Mittens.
It couldn't happen to a more deserving spineless cretin.
Here's a happy thought, people:
Republicans have a pretty strict "next in line" system for nominating Presidential candidates (which is how McCain and Romney got the nod.)
Assuming that Romney loses in November, the next in line would be ... Rick Santorum.
You're not the first to think that. And you're probably right.
I can't believe this election cycle is going to be this easy.
I felt the same four years ago when McCentury & $arah Palin were running against Obama. This is too easy. The repubs aren't putting up a decent fight. It's like the repubs are rolling over and playing dead. Again!
I'm a die hard liberal, ex military with a college degree, and can not for the life of me believe that the repubs are actually going forward with this candidacy.
There's something wrong with this picture. Either there's a big surprise between now and the RNC convention or all of the political process is a sham. The other side hasn't tried to win an election since 2008 but have been able to get everything they wanted. We commoners are taxed @ 35% or so, and Exxon/Mobile made $35billion last quarter tax free.
Repubs say we can't balance the budget and yet get away with giving the national treasury away to foreign countries instead of repairing our roads & bridges.
I'm starting to feel 'used'. And I don't like that feeling. Something has to be done. The world's not right!
There's an easy answer for your claimed disbelief that republicans have fielded Romney and Ryan as candidates. Ready for the answer? They don't actually want their candidates to win. They secretly want Obama to win.
Why would that be? -Because by and large, republicans are already getting EVERYTHING they could ask for from Obama. Lookit: Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy were extended by Obama's signature. Guantanamone is still open 4 years after Obama was elected on a promise to close it. Obama NEVER investigated or prosecuted allegations of torture of POWs and war detainees, even though investigation is warranted by law and the net result of an investigation would have been partisan political advantage for democrats. Why would Obama give republicans this gift after their impeachment of Clinton?
Lastly, Obama has been involved both directly and covertly in the toppling and overthrow of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Libya, -and he continues to act against Syria and Iran. This is a continuation of Dick Cheney's regime change agenda for every Arab state in the mid east. Americans didn't vote for this.
Can I just say it's always struck me as "perverse-twisted-sick" that any human being in this country would be "frothing-at-the-mouth-insane-with-fury" over being able to receive better healthcare. Because that's what it all boils down to. Rabid conservative voters are actually going bat@!$%#-crazy over any indication that Romney might actually give into the side of keeping them from being virtually boiled in oil by insurance companies. That's f*cking sick! (excuse my French). That is all.
In the spirit of Ann Coulter, in her declaration about Chris Christie (Romney will be nominated and will lose), I declare,
Romney will withdraw at the convention, which will then draft David Petraeus. Pretraeus doesn't want #2 spot, but will be unable to resist top of ticket, and will be nominated by proclamation. GOP will sigh with relief and Petraeus will win in a landslide. It's the only way GOP can win this year. Not much time for GOP to campaign, but also not much time for Dems to prepare response.
I fear it will actually happen...