Will Mitt Romney take credit for the Individual Mandate?

[ljb5]

First he was for it, then he was against it.

He would say anything to get elected.

Like the automaker's bailout, which he was against... and then attacked Obama for... and then said he would "take a lot of credit for it."

[wardd]

today where is he on the auto bailouts and immigration?

[ljb5]

today where is he on the auto bailouts and immigration?

I think the hair is for them but the face is against them. The mouth hasn't taken a position yet.

[Chip-skiff]

I think the hair is for them but the face is against them. The mouth hasn't taken a position yet.

Ha! Dishonest as the day is long. I think it's fair to start calling him Flip Romney.

After the election, we can call him Flop.

[Keith Wilson]

Romney's major tactic right now is to say absolutely as little as possible about what he'd do if elected, nothing at all of substance, and hope people won't notice. I expect the idea is to not give people anything to compare to Obama's policies, in an attempt to make the election purely a referendum on Obama, not a choice between two alternatives, and also to avoid drawing attention to the fact that he's already taken two or three contradictory positions on almost every issue. It won't work. The press is already starting to catch on, and it's not even July yet.

It's kind of odd to see a politician who resembles the proverbial empty suit more than most (but a very nice suit) do his best to reinforce that impression.

[B_B]

Romney's major tactic right now is to say absolutely as little as possible about what he'd do if elected, nothing at all of substance, and hope people won't notice....

I completely disagree. I think he knows that people haven't voted for ideas in decades - the people that will vote for him don't care that he doesn't have any / trust that he has some good ones.

[Canoeyawl]

It's kind of odd to see a politician who resembles the proverbial empty suit more than most (but a very nice suit) do his best to reinforce that impression.

That suit, which seems to be a button down white shirt with the sleeves rolled up most of the time, is filled with a bullet proof vest. What's under that is anyone's guess.

[ljb5]

Here's Nicholas Kristof on Romeny's contradictions:

1. On abortion: "I will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose and am devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard."
2. "I am fighting for an overturning of Roe v. Wade."
3. On gay rights: "As we seek to establish full equality for America's gay and lesbian citizens, I will provide more effective leadership than my opponent."
4. On the 2009 economic stimulus: "No time, nowhere, no how."
5. "There is need for economic stimulus. Americans have lost about $11 trillion in net worth. That translates into about $400 billion a year less spending that they'll be doing. ... Government can help make that up in a very difficult time. And that's one of the reasons why I think a stimulus program is needed."
6. On climate science: "I believe that climate change is occurring -- the reduction in the size of global ice caps is hard to ignore. I also believe that human activity is a contributing factor."
7. "Do I think the world's getting hotter? Yeah, I don't know that, but I think that it is. ... I don't know if it's mostly caused by humans. ... What I'm not willing to do is spend trillions of dollars on something I don't know the answer to."
8. On health care: "It's critical to insure more people in this country. It doesn't make sense to have 45 million people without insurance. It's not good for them because they don't get good preventive care ... but it's not good for the rest of the citizens, either, because if people aren't insured, they go to the emergency room for their care when they get very sick. That's expensive. They don't have any insurance to cover it. So guess who pays? Everybody else."
9. On financial bailouts: "The idea of trying to bail out an institution to protect the shareholders or to protect a certain interest group, that's a terrible idea. And that shouldn't happen."
10. "TARP got paid back, and it kept the financial system from collapsing. ... Well, it was the right thing to do."

I always thought he was a fraud, but I'm astounded to see that he isn't even trying to disguise it anymore.

[Gerarddm]

It would be profitable for the Democrats to hammer on the fact that the individual mandate was championed by the conservative likes of the Heritage Foundation long ago.

The reason why regressives hate the idea now is because they hate Obama, and that's all they need to know. Bah. :-(

[fishrswim]

He should take credit for it. He did it first and it worked. The federal health care act is patterned after the one he put into place.

Give the man credit. Again and again.

[ljb5]

Republicans are coming out of the woodwork to acknowledge that they knew this all along.

Senator Bennett, (R-Utah):

“I can’t really complain about the upholding of the idea of the individual mandate, because I had an individual mandate in my own bill. The system won’t work without it. You don’t have a big enough risk pool to pay for everything if you don’t have everyone in it. And that’s the purpose of the individual mandate, to get everyone in the risk pool, and then the numbers will work.