The conundrum – how to be intellectually consistent that the mandate was an unconstitutional penalty to force people into commerce, yet deal with the fact that The Chief and the four liberal Justices called it a constitutional tax.
I said the only solution to this pretzel logic was to say, the Supremes are the Supremes and the Supremes have spoken. In other words, we don’t need no stinkin’ logic if they don’t use no stinkin’ logic.
After a kerfuffle of mixed messaging, Romney threaded the needle perfectly (video h/t Hot Air):
In an interview with Jan Crawford of CBS News, Mr. Romney said: “While I agreed with the dissent, that’s taken over by the fact that the majority of the court said it’s a tax, and therefore it is a tax. They have spoken.”
“They concluded it was a tax. That’s what it is, and the American people know that President Obama has broken the pledge he made,” he added. “He said he wouldn’t raise taxes on middle-income Americans. Not only did he raise the $500 billion that was already in the bill, it’s now clear that his mandate as described by the Supreme Court is a tax.”
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I agree this is the right tact. But, he also needs to be mentioning the total cost of the bill every chance he gets.
Exactly. Demonstrate respect for the SC branch, unlike current President who has been attacking them in public and threatening their reputations. Say your healthcare plan in state belongs in state, you tried the vaunted compromise and tried to design a horse and got a giraffe, and learned from that lesson. Then slice to the heavy tax burden in the law, broken promises and absolute flat out lie that he is telling citizens there is anything, anything at all that is “cost-free” in this world. It’s costing someone, and when you don’t pay someone else does and if it can happen to them now…it can and will happen to you when the next would-be-king picks you to carry the load!
This was a great start by Romney to demonstrate conviction and speak out. Now a little vinegar for the salad and wha la…
Now Romney needs to talk to his staff and make sure everyone is delivering the same message, and delivering it over and over again. Romney does not need loose cannons contradicting what he says, or weak-kneed staff members trying to get the alphabet channels moderators’ approval. The more they say “Obama”, “tax” and “lied” in the same sentence, the stronger the case. And Romney himself needs to get on target and stay there. These shifting scenarios are not good for my heart.
It took him long enough. The mixed messaging from his staff is going to haunt him for at least a few weeks though.
Now if Romney could just get a bit of fire….
I think his statement today was spot on. However, once we get through the minutae of this penalty/tax dispute, Mitt must get back to the basics of ObamaCare. It simply stinks on ice. The worst legislation in perhaps well, ever.
You are correct. It matters less whether the mandate is a tax or a penalty, rather that it is an unconscionable power grab by the Federal government.
Romney is not a knee-jerk type of guy. He often will deliberate on an issue or a tact before he speaks, which I think follows the rule of STAR — stop, think, and, act right.
My guess is that Romney’s main theme will be the economy and jobs. Folded into that will be all the asinine policies of Obama, such as the ACA or the Dodd/Frank bill, all the EPA regulations, that are doing nothing but weakening or tearing our economy down.
Econ/jobs should be his central argument, and he should pound that podium nonstop from now till November. The great thing about Obamacare as an issue is that because of the staggering price tag on it,he can talk about it while staying completely on-topic about the economy. That’s just the raw cost of the legislation- it doesn’t even touch the potentially even greater issue of gov’t takeover of 1/6 of the economy, and effects thereof.
The solution to your rebus is to accept what it is not. SCOTUS determined it to be a tax: It’s a tax
Excuse me if this is a double-post. Now Romney needs to talk to his staff and make sure everyone is delivering the same message, and delivering it over and over again. Romney does not need loose cannons contradicting what he says, or weak-kneed staff members trying to get the alphabet channels moderators’ approval. The more they say “Obama”, “tax” and “lied” in the same sentence, the stronger the case. And Romney himself needs to get on target and stay there. These shifting scenarios are not good for my heart.
Barack Obama:
I will not weaponize space, but I will weaponize the IRS.
I had to laugh at a couple libs I saw arguing about this on twitter. One honestly admitted this won’t matter at all while the other tried in vain to claim anything that can be used to paint Romney as a flip-flopper is a plus. Who was a bigger flip-flopper than the guy who ran against mandates then imposed them so he could secure his spot in history or something?
Romney needs to return the attention to the method behind Roberts’ twisted pretzel madness; the voters should render the verdict on those who imposed the tax. The libs and their media cheerleaders are working overtime to cement the idea ObamaCare is a fait accomplis.
Roberts was clever by far. Obama now has to defend Obamacare and his “no new taxes” promise. Romney has much ammunition for his campaign, and Republicans in Congress can take their time disecting the HCR law in full view of the American voters.
After all, didn’t Roberts also write most of the desenting opinion? Gotta love that guy!
How is ObamaCare like a Supreme Court decision? You don’t get a second opinion.
Obama should be the one on the defensive. Why not ask him, repeatedly:
Is Obamacare (a) constitutional because “the individual mandate” is really just the deceptive term you used to disguise a huge tax increase or (b) unconstitutional because the mandate is in fact a mandate, which five justices said can’t be imposed under the commerce clause?
Let him thread the needle.
1. I said the only solution to this pretzel logic was to say, the Supremes are the Supremes and the Supremes have spoken. In other words, we don’t need no stinkin’ logic if they don’t use no stinkin’ logic.
Agreed, but if they don’t use no stinkin’ logic, we need to explore ways to overrule them that are less laborious than a Constitutional amendment.
This is a matter for after the election.
2. Per commenter Chuck Skinner, it’s about time—no, overdue—for a clear response from the Romney people.
Note to Romney: When you go on vacation, make sure you can be reached if appropriate. There’s a whiff of “Obama on Martha’s Vineyard” here. Don’t let it happen again.
3. I still say Romney should have fired Fehrnstrom after the Etch-a-Sketch blunder. I fear that Fehrnstrom may become Romney’s Richard Darman. sigh Per Don Rumsfeld, you campaign with the candidate you’ve got…
4. Obama continues to creep upward at Intrade. Fortunately, polls and betting odds don’t mean much this far from Election Day.
5. As LIans have noted more than once before, the Romney team did not handle the SCOTUS event well. Two apparent saving graces:
a. Per our host, they seem to have recovered their balance.
b. The Obama team did not find a forceful way to take advantage.
Re: your #3- you’d think GOP pols would have learned this lesson after McCain’s staff did everything they could to sink his own VP nom after the Palin pick had already been announced.
I’m pretty sure that InTrade had Obamacare (or at least the individual mandate) going down hard. Hopefully they are no better right now on Obama vs. Romney
ObamaCare was never about “health care”, or even “health care reform” – from day one it was all about the money (taxes, redistribution of wealth, whatever label the liberals want to slap on it) and controlling the American people.
Those who thought it was about providing health care for the uninsured were naive at best.
Rules: ‘We make ’em up as we go along’
Actually, it is, and was, and always will be, about control.
Controlling “your health” is the Holy Grail.
BTW- What is “health”?
Keep up with the lingo, please: they’re not “the uninsured” anymore, they’re “freeloaders.”
l have always felt obamacare was about the growing lump in the snake that is us boomers. While we were out there paying in , which allowed politicians to use that revenue to buy the votes of previous generations things were fine. Now the situation is reversing so what to do? An ongoing campaign has been to indoctrinate gens X & Y that they are the “Can do” generations. They will make the tough calls. lnstitute Obamacare to make the hard top down calls , control costs , death panels etc. They are the first electronic , tech. driven new type of citizen. Largely educated in centralized , agenda driven , govt schools. Baby sat by television ,video games & expanding computor capability. l am a 1946 boomer. My & previous gens did this. We mostly didnt see this. l did but up to 3 years ago for the last 40 years l have been a largely lone voice in the wilderness. People simply did not want to hear it.
Lib press to Romney: “So, what it’ll be?
Romney: “I’ll have what you’re having”
Lib press: “Hey, you gotta pick one. Is it a tax, or a mandate?”
Romney: “Yes.”
Lib press: “No fair!!”
Hey Brownie-you ought go over to The Washington Times & read James Delingpole re Romney & the NHS. for fun .
It would not hurt to read Dekkers’ “Thanks to King George” either.
But Happy July4 from The British Empire. at least you gus are not french or worse -Hispanic.
Better late than never!
Romney agrees the mandate is a tax.
And no later does Anderson Cooper become the last person on earth to acknowledge he’s gay.
Tying up those loose ends!
I am glad Mr Romney read my posts yesterday & has begun to explain.
🙂
Isn’t it unconstitutional because it did not follow the correct procedure, laid out in the Constitution, for tax legislation?
The Constitution? They don’t need no stinkin’ Constitution – just ask our Emperor Wannabe, Mr. “I’ve got to act if Congress won’t act,” or ask the Supremes.
Roberts treated our Constitution like a lab rat treats a maze.
If the Supreme Court says a cow is a horse it would still be wise not to bet on it in a horse race.
Romney is EXACTLY the wrong guy at the wrong time to be leading this fight. He has no moral authority because of what he did in MA and he doesn’t really believe that our essential liberties are at stake. The ONLY thing he has going for him is that he is NOT Obama. I don’t think anyone has ever won when they did not give the voters something to vote FOR rather than AGAINST.
Roberts needs to be excoriated at every opportunity and he needs to be made to feel that he has delegitimized the court in the eyes of the people. He had a choice between upholding his oath and getting patted on the back by the elite and he chose the latter.
There is no word for him but traitor.
The country is in rough times and may well be headed into rougher times. Whoever gets elected is going to have to do some unpopular things to get us back on the road, and I fear he will choose the course the “smart and educated with experience” recommend.
Note how hard Bernanke is trying to do correctly something that should not be done at all. He studied the 30’s. He should have studied the financial crisis of the early 20’s, which was worse, but healed quickly because the fedgov did nothing.
[…] – Overheard in The Argument Room. “It’s a Tax.” “No, it’s a penalty.” […]