Romneycare

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with senior writer John McCormack on what Jonathan Gruber got wrong.

This afternoon, Mitt Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul emailed a brief, edited video of rival Rick Santorum speaking in Moline, Illinois today. "I don't care what the unemployment rate's going to be," Santorum says in the five-second clip. "Doesn't matter to me."

The anniversary of Obamacare's passage is later this week, and the debate over health care and mandates (both regarding Obamacare and Romneycare) continues to carry on. Here's Jeff Jacoby, writing about Mitt Romney's health care plan--and the former Massachusetts governor's commitment to it--in the…

Summarizing President Obama's accomplishments to date, Jonathan Cohn writes in the New Republic, "Health care reform alone constitutes a major legislative legacy. The Recovery Act launched infrastructure and energy projects that could shape the economy and, by the way, education for a generation.…

James Lileks: "The Toll"

During Wednesday night’s Republican debate, moderator John King said, “Governor Romney, both Senator Santorum and Speaker Gingrich have said during your tenure as governor, you required Catholic hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims. And Mr. Speaker, you compared the governor…

Remember the second Florida GOP debate on Thursday night, January 26, in Jacksonville? Mitt Romney came out pummeling Newt Gingrich, Gingrich was ineffectual in response, and Romney sailed on to a decisive victory five days later in Florida. This was soon followed by Romney's easy triumph in Nevada…

More than anyone else during any of the previous Republican presidential debates, Rick Santorum took dead aim tonight at the similarities between Romneycare and Obamacare. Arguing that those similarities could pose great problems for the Republican party and for the prospects for repeal if Mitt…

Between Sunday and Wednesday, Newt Gingrich went from leading Mitt Romney by 8 points to trailing Mitt Romney by 8 points in the Florida GOP primary polls. Thursday night's debate in Jacksonville was Gingrich's best opportunity--and most likely his only--ahead of Tuesday's primary to reverse…

In wake of his 12-point defeat in the South Carolina primary (which no previous Republican nominee has lost), Mitt Romney’s principal challenge is to convince Republican primary voters that he shares their core convictions and concerns. Above all, he needs to convince them that he shares their…

In tonight’s debate, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum both questioned whether Mitt Romney actually governed in a pro-life fashion, even after his public conversion on abortion. Both claimed that Romney’s health care law increased access to taxpayer-subsidized abortion. Romney denied any culpability,…

North Charleston, S.C.

It's notoriously hard to judge the political consequences of candidate debates. The media and political elites tend to opine as either drama critics judging performance art or as professors judging intellectual arguments. Doing well on one or another of these criteria can matter for a candidate.…

In this morning’s Republican presidential debate on Meet the Press, David Gregory asked Mitt Romney, “What would you say to conservatives, so that they'll trust that you'll stand up for conservative principles?” Without skipping a beat, Romney replied, “They've got my record as governor.”

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that a Newt Gingrich newsletter from April 2006, the month that Mitt Romney signed the Massachusetts health care bill into law, praised Romneycare. "The most exciting development of the past few weeks is what has been happening up in Massachusetts," read…

In 2006, Newt Gingrich's Center for Health Transformation published a "Newt Note" on Mitt Romney's Massachusetts health care plan. "The most exciting development of the past few weeks is what has been happening up in Massachusetts," the note began. "The health bill that Governor Romney signed into…

The Hill reports: “Requiring people to have health insurance is ‘conservative,’ GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney told MSNBC on Wednesday, but only if states do it.” The Hill adds: “The argument aims to improve Romney’s appeal to Republican voters concerned about the healthcare reform plan he…

Over at the Washington Examiner, Philip Klein reacts to a Romney video Ben Domenech highlighted this weekend. In the clip, Mitt Romney, who is responding to a young Mike Warren’s question at Vanderbilt, talks about the similarities and differences between Romneycare and Obamacare and says, among…

Mitt Romney erased any doubt that he’s playing to win the Iowa caucuses when he rolled out his first campaign ads in the Hawkeye State last week. A glossy paper mailer pitched Romney to socially conservative Iowans as “the strongest Republican to beat Barack Obama and protect our values.” Romney’s…

In Paul Ryan’s hometown newspaper, the Janesville Gazette, Grace-Marie Turner and Tevi Troy debate whether Mitt Romney is the right person for the job of repealing Obamacare and replacing it with real reform — reform that would lower health costs without amassing power and money in Washington at…

At Tuesday night’s debate in Las Vegas, Mitt Romney faced attacks on his record on health care, particularly the close relationship between his health care reform in Massachusetts and Obamacare. But Texas governor Rick Perry was particularly forceful when criticizing Romney, primarily for his…

In endorsing Mitt Romney for President, Chris Christie alleged that, when it comes to health care, “Any attempt to try to compare what happened in Massachusetts and what the president has done to the United States of America with his plan is completely intellectually dishonest.” The problem with…

During tonight’s GOP presidential debate, Mitt Romney vowed — for the first time — to advance legislation to repeal Obamacare “on day-2,” pledging to use the reconciliation process (the same process by which Obamacare was ultimately passed) to do so. This is a welcome step forward for Romney, who…

One of the six ways the Supreme Court could rule on Obamacare is to strike down its individual mandate while keeping the rest of the health care overhaul intact.  Politico reports that liberal legislators, anticipating this prospect, are looking for alternatives to the federal mandate, especially…

Rick Perry has a new, high-quality web ad that renews the charge that Mitt Romney has flip-flopped on health care reform. Watch below:

In his speech yesterday at the Hoover Institution on health care reform, Paul Ryan said the real problem in health care is “runaway inflation” and that the Republican party needs “to coalesce around a complete reform agenda” focused on bringing down costs. This is exactly the opposite of the…

Rick Perry has a new ad out today, following up on last Thursday's debate, and hitting Mitt Romney for changing a line in his book about the Massachusetts health care law:

When Mitt Romney answered a question about Romneycare during last night’s GOP debate, it unfortunately sounded like he was defending Obamacare.

If Monday night's GOP presidential debate is any indication, Romneycare may not be the liability it once was for Mitt Romney. The former Bay State governor took fewer punches on the issue than before and seemed to have absorbed most of the blows.

At Monday night’s GOP debate in Tampa, Mitt Romney continued to defend the health care law he signed as governor of Massachusetts while insisting that Barack Obama’s signature Obamacare law ought to be repealed. Romney contrasted his “Romneycare” plan with the president’s law as best as he could.

Jon Huntsman joins Tim Pawlenty in criticizing Mitt Romney's record on health care. ABC's Jonathan Karl reports:

"Charles and David Koch are not going to be silenced. They are principled men and we have a principled company.”