Mitt Romney Doubles Down… Says Health Care Mandate Is “Conservative”
Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, December 21, 2011, 9:56 PM
Good grief…
Mitt Romney doubled down today saying the health care mandate is “conservative.”
The Hill reported:
Requiring people to have health insurance is “conservative,” GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney told MSNBC on Wednesday, but only if states do it.
The argument aims to improve Romney’s appeal to Republican voters concerned about the healthcare reform plan he signed into law as governor of Massachusetts in 2006. The Massachusetts law contains an individual mandate similar to the one in President Obama’s healthcare law, which conservatives despise.
“Personal responsibility,” Romney said, “is more conservative in my view than something being given out for free by government.”
“There were two options in my state,” he said. “One was to continue to allow people without insurance to go to the hospital and get free care, paid for by the government, paid for by taxpayers.”
“The best idea is to let each state craft their own solution because that’s, after all, the heart of conservatism: to follow the Constitution,” he said.
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Published May 23, 2012 at 4:57 am - 63 Comments
CT commented:
This is why I’m voting for Newt unless Mitch Danials reconsiders. Danials and Newt woulld be a powerful pair.
Steve commented:
RINO! Hasn’t a clue and is just pandering!
Dittogirl commented:
OT…this is frightening!
http://69.84.25.250/blogger/post/2011/12/21/HOME-LAND-SECURITY-SENDING-IN-50-FEDERAL-AGENTS-TO-TAKE-OVER-ARIZONA-SHERIFF-JOE-ARPAIOS-JAILS-to-determine-who-will-stay-and-who-will-go!!!.aspx
Cargosquid commented:
He HAS to say this because he CANNOT repudiate his own policies. Federalism…leaving the states to experiment…is conservative. And, unfortunately, some conservatives did state that a mandate was conservative because it was conservative to have people pay their own way.
What the GOP always gets wrong is that having the GOVERNMENT mandate “conservative” ideas is NOT conservative. Its Progressive also.
#1AMERICAN commented:
Look at what the rhino did to the mass holes and their health care…bye bye mitt time to retire out to pasture
Terry Gain commented:
The health care mandate required the irresponsible freeholders to purchase health care insurance. The alternative was for taxpayers to pay for the coverage of the irresponsible who would not pay for their own coverage.
Romney is right. The health care mandate is coercive bit it is less coercive than requiring the responsible to pay increased taxes to cover the health care costs of the irresponsible.
So yes, it is conservative. This is clear to those who think it through.
Bruce MacMahon commented:
Using the power of government to force people to engage in behavior in which they would otherwise choose not to engage is authoritarian. And immeasurably wrong.
On what planet is “Do what we say, or we’ll come looking for you with guns drawn to confiscate your assets or put you in prison!” considered part of a conservative agenda?
atticcellar commented:
Force citizens to purchase an expensive product from a for profit (HUGE PROFIT) corporation.. Now that’s freedom.. End the Fed.. End the wars.. Ron Paul..2012.. New York Times announces Ron will be the run away winner in Iowa.. Let’s get this ball rolling..
Dale commented:
Disagree with Jim on this one, it is Conservative, he is saying allow the leechy freeloader Democraps to get something for free by going to the hospital, or actually require people to pay for their own insurance. He is not going to do what Obama did, please people, be sensible and find out what Mitt stands for by yourself.
Dale commented:
#1, HA HA, Newt was FOR the national mandate on healthcare just LIKE Obama, WAKE UP and see the truth dummy.
gary gulrud commented:
Romneycare is a disaster, the State Treasurer says if not for Federal funding it would have already bankrupted the state.
Romney is Obama-Lite, same lying crud.
jpv446 commented:
The poor now are getting free care paid by the taxpayers. With mandatory health care insurance, the poor are will still get the same free care. The taxpayer pays either way. The difference is that many taxpayers aged 18 to 35 are extremely low risk and would rather forgo health insurance until later years. Under Obamacare, those taxpayers will be forced to purchase a product they neither need nor want.
midusdew commented:
Clarification, mandated health care is not conservative it’s Communism. ES mitt.
Kathy commented:
How in the world is Romney any better than Obama?
WillofLa commented:
Romney is wrong. He thinks he’s going to convince people that under “states rights”, the 10th Amendment they can enact universal health care taking the same right away from the people and removing from insurance companies these policies that prohibit them from competing against each other with better policies for people to choose from, cheaper, more portability, etc. that we’re going to take that bait. That way by disguise the left still get what they want and that is to control your life. What difference does it make if it’s the state capital or Washington D.C. where liberals have taken from you your choice of things you wish to do for and to yourself and they can’t tell you what to do? There is no difference Romney, you con!
When states or the Federal government take your rights away, it’s the same thing. What difference does it make if that state says you can’t eat something or Obama, you’re still being controled as to what choices you make as to what you eat. If it’s not you making the choice, then it’s somebody else who doesn’t have that right. Romney is just as much a con man as Gingrich when it comes to convincing us that somebody else, the government or some elected official, or someone appointed by the governor or the President knows what’s best for us because they are being called an “expert”. No one is more of an expert in making decisions for each and every one of us than ourselves. God does not look down from Heaven and see Obama or somebody at your state legislature when He’s looking for you. He see’s you and no one else when He’s looking for who it was that prayed that prayer for wisdom.
I’m telling you all right now, we have watch ourselves very carefully, and it’s because these guys are very, very slick and what may seem to make sense right now, later on will be a nightmare when we give what was said a bit more thought. That’s why we all must be very careful when some kind of crap like this comes out of Romney or Gingrich, or Paul, or any of them I don’t much care who. They didn’t get as far as they have gotten because they were dumb and didn’t know how to twist things around where we are as confused as we can get. That’s how the wrong person will get selected as the Republican candidate before we know it. Then it will be to late and we won’t be able to do anything about it.
WE CAN’T LET THAT HAPPEN. PAY ATTENTION TO THESE SLICK TALKERS BECAUSE THEY ARE SELLING SNAKE OIL!!
Aitch748 commented:
And this Romney fellow is apparently the one whose “turn” it is to become the GOP nominee.
And what does Ann Coulter say? Does she agree with Mitt that a health care mandate is conservative???
StrangernFiction commented:
President Romney will compromise with the ‘rats and “fix Obamacare.”
StrangernFiction commented:
be sensible and find out what Mitt stands for by yourself.
Wow, just wow.
Molon Labe commented:
Just when I think no one is crazier than Ron Paul and his posse, Mitt Romney goes out and howls at the moon again!
Nancy commented:
“be sensible and find out what Mitt stands for by yourself.”
Already did. With all of them. None of them are perfect and all have baggage, but I’d rather have Gingrich than Mitt. At least he’s admitted he did some stupid things in the past. Mitt is just doubling down.
Gingrich also balanced the budget for the first time in decades. Did Mitt *ever* balance his state budget? I’m betting not.
WillofLa commented:
Oh yeah. I almost forgot, Romney is speaking about the NEW conservatism where it’s moderate left leaning like all the Socialist Democrats were talking about last year and early on in Obama’s first term. They were making excuses for us in loosing saying that our problem was we were out of touch with our voter base of new conservatives who are much more moderate. Remember what the left news people were saying about the “hard line” everybody in the Tea Parties were taking was going to scare off those conservatives out there who were trying to “reconfigure” what they believed conservatism was in 2011? They were trying to indicate that conservatism had changed somehow from what it used to be. The San Francisco elites were trying to tell us how to be conservative. They were saying we needed to lighten up and be more like them.
I was thinking, “Isn’t that what we’ve been pushed into doing since the 60′s was being more like the sissyfied lefties from San Fran-sick-o? Wasn’t that what we were being attacked from every side for not doing and that was resisting being “politically correct” enough at our kids public school when little Johnny came home and told us we were murdering the Polar bears from driving our SUV’s and burning our light bulbs, was lightening up? Becoming more “enlightened” like them?
Why else do they think we are rising up now? Why else do they think we are pushing our representatives to do our bidding now and not listen to Democrats anymore. It’s because we want them to continue being real conservatives like us instead of falling for dope’s like Romney who think we should soften our stand on things like universal health care. Romney’s idea is, “why not?” “As long as it’s the states that are doing it…” What Romney, we get to keep our freedom of choice? That’s what the left said about the schools, and you see what happened to them!!
Molon Labe commented:
#16
Great post.
gus commented:
Most people, including people who CONSIDER themselves CONSERVATIVE, are far too stupid to THINK for themselves. I see it every day. People allow the MEME or the NARRATIVE, to shape their opinion, even if they disagree with the narrative. It’s very weak minded and quite amusing to me.
The concept of FORCING ANYONE to buy into the GOVERNMENTS’ (fvck the Liberty that the Constitution guarantees us) is ABSURD. Comparing it to the WELFARE STATE as we NOW KNOW IT, is not the MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE CHOICE. In fact, it’s not a choice at all.
BECAUSE, we’ve allowed LIBTARDS to create a WELFARE STATE, that is RETARDED, RIDICULOUS, CRAPPY, DYSFUNCTIONAL and UNSUSTAINABLE……..does not require us to fix that problem, by RAMMING ANOTHER UNCONSTITUTIONAL WELFARE PROGRAM down the throats of The Citizens of this nation.
Friendly commented:
Romney is the most conservative candidate in the top three. He gave the Mass folks what they wanted, and he did it constitutionally. He’s got my vote.
gus commented:
You are right Friendly. Compared to Hitler, Mussolini was a nice man.
Gary Gross commented:
I wrote here that Mitt’s omitting an important part of the Tenth Amendment. Mitt loves citing the part of the Tenth Amendment about states’ rights. Isn’t it interesting that he consistently omits this:
Is Gov. Romney willing to argue that government-imposed responsibilities on families are preferable to families crafting their own solutions? Doesn’t that sound like Mitt thinks that government knows best?
CT commented:
#10 Dale, Ho Ho, Newt is not for the mandate now oh so smart one.
Pragmatic commented:
I am beginning to HATE Mr. Romney . . .
Terry Gain commented:
Gingrich also balanced the budget for the first time in decades. Did Mitt *ever* balance his state budget? I’m betting not.
I’ll take that bet. You could have looked it up instead of speculating. If you had, you would have learned that Romney inherited a deficit and then ran 4 straight surpluses. And he did so in state where 85% of the legislature was Democrat.
Freddy commented:
Mitt Romney is now twisting words like every PROGRESSIVE has done for the last 100 years!
Mitt will NEVER get my vote. There is no difference between his totalitarian view of this country and Obama’s.
How could anyone expect Mitt to even appoint conservative supreme court justice when he twists the meaning of the words in the constitution into a pretzel? In fact, Mitt has already hidden behind the ‘democrats were controlling the Mass legislature’ story as the excuse he had for nominating progressive judges to their courts. A President Romney would use that same excuse for nominating yet another Kagen or Sotamayor!
Mitt deserves no conservative votes. NONE!
RedBeard commented:
Yep, Romney is trying to get himself out of the hole he dug for himself with Romneycare. It’s not going to be easy. If he defends coerced health insurance, he comes off as a big-government liberal. If he admits he was wrong in Massachusetts, he comes off as an idiot. He has left himself no campaigning option but doublespeak.
Where is George Washington when we need him?
eaglewingz08 commented:
There are at least two other options, suing people for the medical care they receive whether or not the state is forced to provide it. That gets rid of freeloader argument. Second is to not force hospitals to provide medical care for free which also gets rid of freeloader problem. But using a mandate to further corrode freedom that was corroded by prior bad liberal policies is not “conservative” in any true sense of the term.
averagemelon commented:
When is everyone going to learn to pay for things themselves? Charity is a GIFT that is ASKED for. The giver may REFUSE to DONATE.
Alana commented:
We might as well just have Obama.
RedBeard commented:
One bright spot in Romney’s comments is that he at least pays lip service to states’ rights. Whether he actually believes in the letter of the law of the 10th Amendment is anyone’s guess, but he does seem to recognize how importance it is to a great many people. That’s something, I suppose.
mcc commented:
OT, but thoughts/opinions to consider re that other guy:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/12/the_gingrich-churchill_comparison_1.html
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/12/gingrich_and_the_fear_factor.html
trevino commented:
RINO
mcc commented:
re #44 — and then we can’t forget there’s this guy:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/12/the_madness_of_ron_paul.html
Obamas regulation destroy jobs commented:
No Romney was CONTROLLED by the MASS folks–they told HIM what they wanted a DEMOCRAT state and he GAVE it to them….MASS is a democrat state..he is a flip-flopper he goes where the wind blows as long as he can get the power–he wants it bad….
Newt tells it like it is–bad Judges…make the unemployed get trained…shut the borders..
I just want the communist out of the white house!
bg commented:
++
In Islamic Law, Gingrich Sees a Mortal Threat to U.S.
[Mitt Romney said in a June debate: "We're not going to have Shariah law applied in U.S. courts. That's never going to happen." He immediately added, "People of all faiths are welcome in this country."
For Mr. Gingrich, concern about Shariah has been a far more prominent theme. He and his wife, Callista, produced and narrated a 2010 film on the threat from radical Islam, "America at Risk," that discusses the danger of both terrorism and Shariah against a lurid background of terrorist bombings, bloody victims, wailing sirens and chanting Muslim crowds. (Mrs. Gingrich does say, at one point, "This is not a battle with the majority of Muslims, who are peaceful.")]
==
Jewel commented:
You forget that I still have a choice to drive a car, so no, I don’t have to buy auto insurance. You healthcare mandate leaves me no choice. When you take away my choice, you take away my freedom.
Jewel commented:
Ron Paul is the only candidate fighting for our rights. Don’t listen to the news, look for the real truth online. The internet is our most powerful tool.
CT, please google health care mandate requirement and look for the article about Newt for mandate.
sensibleleft commented:
If you can promise me you will not get sick or hurt and need hospitalization, then I’ll tell you that you don’t need to buy health insurance.