Mitt Romney and President Obama, typically at distant poles on the national health care law and on taxes, found themselves in awkward agreement Monday, sharing the position that “penalty” — not the politically riskier “tax” — is the proper word to describe money owed to the government by people who flout the law’s mandate for health insurance.
Romney’s spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, begrudgingly conceded his candidate’s belief that Obama and his team — and not Republicans — are on the right side of a dizzying debate over how to characterize what the Affordable Care Act officially calls a “shared responsibility payment.”
Comments
While I remain neutral regarding the candidates and this election, and I remain neutral as to whether PPACA is the best policy to pursue, I do have two thoughts. First, it is better than the lack of any policy. Reliance on the ER is no substitute for finding a way to get everyone insured. In this light I would counsel approving a replacement before repealing anything. Second, I am surprised Gov. Romney has not taken the approach along the lines of the argument that, since he successfully implemented such a policy in MA he is the logical choice to implement a nationwide policy. At this point he has probably painted himself into a corner with all his proclamations that he's the anti-Massachusetts Massachusetts candidate.
I'm glad that Lapdog Eric has finally set us straight on what Mitt thinks. I don't understand why Mitt wouldn't want to speak for himself, but He has always let his hired help say the important things first just in case they turn out to be unpopular.
OF COURSE it's a penalty, and not a tax. I don't recall even Republicans referring to the "renters tax" that has encouraged home ownership for generations. Eric Fehrnstrom and Mitt Romney actually telling the truth IS front page news, however.
Mitt has finally met his convergence point: he has been on both sides of so many issues during the past few years, it is difficult to ascertain what his current positions really are (as if it mattered!) This is different and current. After having called the tax a mandate, a penalty and a tax, he really has nowhere to go. The spotlight is too intense, that is, the simple-minded media have still not gone into the law and pointed out the provisions and exceptions, but rather stay on the semantics of settled law. Vicki is correct: it's done. Move on. The provisions of the Affordable Health Care Law need to see the light of day in clear, concise, complete and repeated fashion so that people know what the law means, in understandable and memorable language. We should fault the administration for dropping this ball and the media for not picking it up. We are all owed much more information than the tax/mandate/penalty explanations that are mostly repetitious.
Never - ever- heard mention of Gov. Mitt Romney proclaiming he is an anti-Massachusetts candidate! Where did that nonsense come from? This blabber has never been quoted or written in any of the credible daily newspapers: lets not put words in the candidates mouths,although there is much to be said about the lack of credible reporting by the media.