Unease resurfaces on Romney's right flank
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign event at Central Campus High School on August 8, 2012 in Des Moines, Iowa.
/ Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
This article originally appeared on RealClearPolitics.
Lingering concerns among prominent conservatives about Mitt Romney's ideological dependability have boiled over once again, forcing the White House hopeful to walk a fine line between satisfying his base and appealing to the independent voters who are likely to decide the election's outcome.
The latest flare-up was triggered by comments Romney's press secretary, Andrea Saul, made Wednesday on Fox News. Saul was responding to a pro-Obama super PAC's controversial new TV ad that draws a tenuous connection between Bain Capital's decision to close a steel plant and the cancer death of the wife of a fired employee, who lost his health insurance along with his job.
"If people had been in Massachusetts under Gov. Romney's health care plan, they would've had health care," Saul said. "There are a lot of people losing their jobs and losing their health care in President Obama's economy, and that's why Gov. Romney is running to get people back to work."
Those remarks are in keeping with Romney's long-stated defense of the universal health care law he championed in Massachusetts. For years, the candidate has resisted calls from conservatives to disown it, arguing that the plan was an appropriate action for an individual state to take, despite its many similarities with the national health care law that Obama helped push through Congress.
But Saul's comments sparked an immediate, and at times apoplectic, response among several of the most well-known voices in the conservative media.
"OMG. This might just be the moment Mitt Romney lost the election," Red State's Erick Erickson tweeted with a link to a news story about Saul's remarks. "Wow."
On his radio show, Rush Limbaugh decried Saul's comments as a "potential gold mine for Obama supporters," and Ann Coulter was particularly irate during an appearance with Sean Hannity on Fox News.
"Anyone who donates to Mitt Romney, and I mean the big donors, ought to say, 'If Andrea Saul isn't fired and off the campaign tomorrow, they are not giving another dime,' " Coulter said. "There's no point in you doing your show, there's no point in going to the convention and pushing for this man if he's employing morons like this."
But Saul wasn't the only member of the Romney campaign talking publicly about his Massachusetts health care plan on Wednesday.
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OOPs...Sorry. No candidats here with that kind of courage.
Yeah....even the fox political network poll had Obama +7 along with the CNN poll of Obama +9, so I guess Obama is now paying off faux nooz according to Barry! LOL!
Papers please, willard, so we can see hos many years of zero taxes you had!
LOL!
yea, every poll that shows you and Obama ahead has at least 9% more people "claiming" to be Democrats in it.
You are getting a Roberts pulled on you and you dont even know it.
LOL!
Nice try CBS-Obama
Every poll that shows Obama is ahead has at least 9% of people "claiming" to be Democrats.
You've been had big time and you dont even know it.
That he became the Republican candidate must mean most people in the GOP were seriously turned off by the candidates who really ARE Conservatives.
Which means that when Romney wins he can shift away from all the right-wing rhetoric and can stop pretending to be Conservative. Lose/Lose for the right.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
These birther, bagger, Obama hating nuts are always angry about something. What Saul said is true with Massachusetts, and will soon be true in America once ACA is fully implemented. Willard wants to have it both ways, he wants bragging rights for UHC in Mass but criticizes ACA which was patterned after the Mass plan.
Yeah, gotta hand it to the right-wing noise machine, that has convinced these "birthers, baggers and buffoons," that we don't need the PPACA health care reform, since less people having health care is somehow healthier for America! What a bunch of non-thinking loons!
Papers please, willard, so we know if it was 10%, 5% or even ZERO!
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EmposterGeorge: "It's cool Barry. As soon as the poll number say what you want to hear, you won't consider them false anymore..."
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Yeah....even the fox political network poll had Obama +7 along with the CNN poll of Obama +9, so I guess Obama is now paying off faux nooz according to Barry! LOL!
Papers please, willard, so we can see hos many years of zero taxes you had!
Of course there will be lingering concerns among prominent conservatives about willard romney's ideological dependability, since he has FLIP-FLOPPED his entire career, and obviously this slip by saul proves that Americans need health care like romneycare!
How about that 'Son of Boss' scandal that is plaguing willard now?
Papers please willard, so we know you didn't pull a 'Son of Boss'.
Romney Son of Boss Tax Scandal
The latest scandal with Mitt Romney and it is difficult to pick just one, since they are coming out every day of the week is the Son of Boss Scandal.
Romney has a long history with the Marriott Hotels International and the individuals who founded the company and he was also on the Marriott Board of Directors.
During this time the Marriott commenced a series of complicated maneuvers, one of which is called "Son of Boss" where abusive tax shelters are sold to investment banks and accounting firms to sell to corporations seeking to avoid taxes.
The Son of Boss tax shelter method is the largest tax scam in history and avoids billions of dollars of taxes for corporations which of course increases their revenues. The US government countered Marriott's schemes by not allowing the losses of Marriott and other corporations to be written off.
Mitt Romney hasn't explained how he blew up his IRA Pension fund to 101 million dollars nor has he released his past 23 years of tax returns that he gave in 2008 to John McCain for a VP pick.
But today there is the Son of Boss scandal where Romney approved of a fictional tax claim loss of over 70 million dollars generated by the Son of Boss transaction. The IRS has called it an abusive transaction which requires detailed disclosures and is accompanied by heavy fines or penalties.
Read more: http://www.politicolnews.com/romney-son-of-boss-tax-scandal/#ixzz239bLAFlP