Mitt Romney: It’s Dog Track Time

Don’t hate him because he’s beautiful; reject him because he’s a phony flip-flopping wimp.

From The New York Times, Kevin Sack reporting [tip of the fedora to Rich ‘Twinkle-Toes’ Lowry]:

As he promotes himself as a problem-solving pragmatist, Mr. Romney can justifiably point to the landmark universal coverage law in Massachusetts that he, as governor, proposed in 2006. But as he appeals to conservative activists and Republican primary voters, he is trying to draw nuanced distinctions between his Massachusetts law and the federal legislation that shares many of its fundamental elements, including a requirement that people have insurance.

The core of his argument is a federalist assertion that the new law usurps powers that properly reside with the states.

“Whether you like what we did or think it stinks to high heaven,” he said of the Massachusetts plan in a speech here on Thursday, “the point is we solved it at our level.”

He then compared the two plans: “I like the things that are similar, I don’t like the things that are different, and that’s why I vehemently oppose Obamacare.”

Whether Mr. Romney can sell that formulation in a black-or-white political culture may become one of the compelling questions of the 2012 campaign.

He is already under assault from conservative writers and potential Republican rivals like Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota. The Democrats, meanwhile, are working to make the topic as uncomfortable as possible for him.

The Democratic National Committee has posted a video compilation of Mr. Romney’s comments praising the Massachusetts health insurance mandate. Twice last week, Mr. Obama pointedly observed that Mr. Romney seemed to be lambasting a federal plan that was derivative of his own Massachusetts model.

“I keep on scratching my head,” Mr. Obama said at a fund-raising reception in Boston. “I say, ‘Boy, this Massachusetts thing, who designed that?’ ”

In response, Mr. Romney is reminding audiences that Mr. Obama has cast the Republicans as the “party of no,” devoid of ideas. “And yet,” Mr. Romney said in Bedford, “he’s saying that I was the guy that came up with the idea for what he did. He can’t have it both ways.”

He added, “If ever again somewhere down the road I would be debating him, I would be happy to take credit for his accomplishment.”

…

One difference, he said, is that Massachusetts, unlike Washington, did not finance its plan with a tax increase. But Massachusetts officials acknowledge that they were able to make the numbers work only by gaining federal permission to redirect Medicaid dollars that compensated hospitals for treating the uninsured. Since Mr. Romney left office in 2007, the state has raised taxes to keep the program afloat during the recession.

Indeed, Massachusetts is in such dire financial straits, much worse than most of the other states, because of the costs of Romneycare.  This is the crowning achievement of an administration that saw no decreases in spending, that saw the Legislature ignore all of his proposals, and that saw him raise fees a number of times.

Anyone who thinks that the socialization of health care at any level is something to be proud of is living in a past where the ideas of fascism and socialism have not yet all been cast on the ash heap of history.

Though he is relatively speaking a young man [age = sixty-three], the Dog Track recognizes that some people are older in their thinking than in physical years and Mr. Romney is one of those.  Therefore, his membership has been easily approved.

Mitt Romney…

…it’s Dog Track Time.