Gov. O'Malley: Romney twisted himself into an "ideological pretzel"

(CBS News) As Republicans are attacking the president's health care law, Democrats on Sunday criticized Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for supporting - and passing - an individual mandate as Massachusetts governor.

Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley said Gov. Romney has "had to twist himself into an ideological pretzel to satisfy the Tea Party wing that's running their party" on health care by coming out in opposition to an individual mandate and vowing to repeal the health care law.

O'Malley said Romney passed the mandate because alternatives were falling short.

"I think the reason why he did that was because he saw that the free market solution wasn't working," O'Malley said on "Face the Nation," in response to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who said he supports a free-market health care plan for his state.

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The Maryland governor said he has implemented parts of the health care law in his state already.

"We decided early on to be an early implementer of health care reform, of 'Obamacare,' because we know that's good for businesses," O'Malley said. "That's why we have an exchange up and going, and that's why we're going to have an economic competitive advantage over other states that decide to put their head in the sand and pretend this isn't a problem."

O'Malley said the Republicans are creating a "falsehood" by saying the health care bill is "a massive tax increase."

"A massive-so-called tax increase they're talking about is the freeloader penalty which would affect at most 1 percent to 2 percent of people that could afford health care and instead want to be freeloaders on the rest of us with uncompensated care," he said.

The Supreme Court ruled that the individual mandate is constitutional because the penalty imposed on those who don't purchase it is a tax.

O'Malley said Democrats need to tie health care to the economy this election season.

"We cannot build an economy that lasts, an economy expanding jobs if we're every year throwing away more and more money on ever-more expensive health care for fewer and fewer people with worse and worse outcomes," he said. "So what we have an opportunity to do now that the Supreme Court has affirmed 'Obamacare' is to show that this will allow us actually to reduce the rising costs of health care. In fact, since passage last year we've seen premium costs, the rate of growth, has actually declined."

[raptor-022]

sandy 1027 July 2, 2012 8:21 AM EDT
"When the health care law was being shaped,efforts were made to make the law bi-partisan.Initially, there was a group of 6(I believe), comprised of 3 Democrats and 3 Republicans.They worked to craft a bill for a long time.At a certain point, it started to seem as if some of the GOP members of this group weren't just using stalling tactics, but were actually attempting to sabotage the bill.The group disbanded, but there were Republican ideas incorporated into the health care bill/law.[The individual mandate, that landed the law in the Supreme Court was, originally, one of those Republican ideas]."




All very true, yet the republicans still complain that they had no input on the legislation, and it was all done in backrooms like all other legislation, but this was more lies by the GOP.

Fact is, not only is the mandate that the GOP hates today, one of their premier ideas in order to promote "personal responsibility" like Chief Justice Roberts said in his Majority Opinion, but also Sections 1302, 1312, 1333 and 6801, were all republican cost-saving ideas that made it into the final law. These include selling insurance across state lines, health care exchanges for larger pools among individuals and small businesses, medical malpractice reform and "the Waiver for State Innovation," which gives states the power to junk the whole of the health-care plan -- that means the individual mandate, the Medicaid expansion, all of it -- if they can do it better and cheaper.

As you can see, NONE of the reddest of republican states have come up with a "better and cheaper" method after more than 2 years, so obviously, the GOP is out of ideas for REPLACEMENT of the PPACA! LOL!

[raptor-022]

PhilipASC July 1, 2012 9:23 PM EDT
"IMO, the more Republicans exaggerate and procrastinate (and play dodgeball when asked questions) about the health care reform act, the more everyone who isn't a deranged Obama hater comes to recognize just who has prevented this country from recovering from the recession more rapidly."




Yes, the right-wing "hyperbolic words are destroying their credibility," and spouting the same propaganda from the usual sources!

[raptor-022]

Yes, without giving any SPECIFICS or DETAILS on ANYTHING he is proposing, and while the far-right is still "warming up to him," mitt roMONEY has been twisting himself into an ideological pretzel! LOL!

[24lomas]

hey democrats: you and obama the the socialist/dictator must go. we will make sure your socialist/dictator obama is not reelected. we do not want this health care law. we do not want to pay taxes. we already pay taxes. more taxes is not acceptable. you politicians want our money for your programs. we will vote the dictator out in 11 2012. obama is destroying our country with wrong policies and his illegal aliens. obama the socialist / dictator must go .

[Nocults]

So, allowing children access to medical care was "bad policy" when Bishop Romney shoved it down the citizens throats in Massachusetts??????

That's what you get when you elect a Mexican cult member.

George Wilcken Romney (July 8, 1907 - July 26, 1995) was an American businessman and Republican Party politician. He was chairman and president of American Motors Corporation from 1954 to 1962, the 43rd Governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, and the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1969 to 1973. He is the father of former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney and the husband of former Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Lenore Romney.
Romney was born to American parents living in the Mormon polygamy colonies in Mexico; events during the Mexican Revolution forced his family to flee back to the United States when he was a child. The family lived in several states and ended up in Salt Lake City, Utah, where they struggled during the Great Depression.

[two-cats]

Romney wants to be president...he'll do or say anything to win. I see him as vacillating and opportunistic... a candidate who abruptly changes his political stances as often as he changes his shirt. He is beholden to the richest elements in our society and any middle class person should be aware that he will not do anything to alienate his rich cronies who are funding his campaign. That means he will not lift a finger to see that the American people are represented in an even-handed fashion. He'll stop at nothing to get to the top.

[wizard800]

"Protect the Freeloaders" part of the Repub's new platform. Go ahead and forget personal responsibility.................

[smittyc]

O'Malley obviously supports Obamacare. Not surprising, he is Gov of Md. a very Democratic stronghold. The bottom line however is 62% of the American public is opposed to Obamacare, a very large majority and Romney is stating he will follow the electorates will on Obamacare, something Obama ignored when he passed this legislation. If Obama loses in NOvember, many will state Obamacare was the game changer and of course quite obviously they will be correct. Overall the bigger picture is Obama has cost the Dems the House of Representatives already with Obamacare and will lose the small Senate majority in the Senate this election. Further the threat of Obamacare looming has cost more union and non union jobs in the mfg sector as more U.S. companies are trasnferring their operations off shore. Federated Mogul is the latest I read in the business sector, they are moving to China and leaving the unions and their members with no jobs. They announced after the Obamacare ruling and pretty clearcut more announcements of this type will be coming now that the court has ruled on Obamacare.

[stevehamilton858]

I believe that you are dead wrong in your predictions. First, I don't see how Romney can be elected when you think of all of the groups that won't vote for him: First, no animal lovers will vote for him, Second, no Hispanics will vote for him, Third, no blacks will vote for him, Fourth, no union members will vote for him, fifth, no evangelical Christians will vote for him, sixth, no-one who has ever been laid off following a merger or change of ownership will vote for him.

Next, I think as the American public starts to see some of the predicted ACA benefits actually happening, large numbers of people will accept the ACA as a better alternative than the current free market system that has failed so many ordinary people. What is driving the braod public's antipathy to the law iis a combination oflack of knowledge about the specifics, combined with the relentless lies promulgated by GOP electees and candidates, driven in many cases by the improperly named "Tea Party"; these right wingnuts are nothing but a reincarnation of the Anti-Federalists who argued so passionately 200 years ago for no central government; that the states could do everything thath needed to be done on their own. They lost the debate when the Constitution was drafted, but the current TP activists don't know that. The real Tea Party was about taxation without representation, and has nothing to do with the colonists who disguised themselvesa as indians and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor over a three hour period in December 1773. So the current day imposters have created a little more excitement by choosing a more recognizable title for their group than "Anti-Federalists", but that's what they are. Thank heavens they didn't have any sway in the 1930's, or we would have been caught completely flat footed in our preparations for WW2.

I think Romney is going to lose by a margin greater that Barry Goldwater's loss to Lyndon Johnson in the 1960's. And I believe that if the people who manage the Republican Party do not change the makeup of their constituency to something akin to that which Dwight Eisenhower had during his campaign and presidency, then the GOP will become a Rump Party, because more and more voters will realize that the Cogressional gridlock we suffer from is due primaarily to the radical/ my way or the highway behaviour of currently elected GOP Congressmen. the Constitution is designed to insure that laws are created through negotiation, but radicals don't know how to negotiate, because they don't dare give anything up. So the answer is gridlock. If more companies follow the Federated Mogul path, what we are sure to see is a change in the tax code that will disallow some portion of offshore costs from the calculation of pre-tax income for these companies. This kind of change in the IRC has a long history. Most recently, President Reagan changed the code to disallow interest on real estate projects as a reduction of income, unless the taxpayer's principal business was commercial real estate. It worked;prior to the change, our cities were filled with "see through buildings", financed largely by doctors, lawyers, and high paid business executives.

[selfcentrist]

have to disagree on a few points 1) Obama was responding to the electorate when he helped create the health care law 2) The Tea Party didn't win the house because people disliked Obamacare, they won because people wanted their jobs back (oh, well) 3) US companies like Federal Mogul who choose to outsource jobs at this time are doing it because it is convenient from a PR perspective, not because of the additional costs of the law which are minor compared to what they gain in shifting to Asian labor.

[PhilipASC]

IMO, the more Republicans exaggerate and procrastinate (and play dodgeball when asked questions) about the health care reform act, the more everyone who isn't a deranged Obama hater comes to recognize just who has prevented this country from recovering from the recession more rapidly.

Keep it up, Repugs. Your hyperbolic words are destroying your credibility.

[aintfakin]

part of this "pretzel" of hypocrisy is Robmee's offshore bank accounts.
One of the ludicrous right wing talking points is that if rich folks have to pay the same tax rate as the middle class they won't create any jobs.
So who is going to guarantee where the Cayman and Swiss banks will invest this money that might create jobs?
In the USA? hahahahahaha
Robmee's chiken in every pot BS is a cover for his true intentions which are to keep and increase the coddling for his country club buddies only.
Good luck to any non millionaire suckers that might vvote for him.

[sweetcakesmaria]

How can anyone support the canidacy of a man who has taken at least two positions on every issue, a man that will lie and flipflop on an issue at the drop of a hat. Take a look at what he's doing now, he's demonizing a health care bill that he signed into law when he was Governor of Massachusetts. 98% of the people of Massachusetts are insured and are happy with their coverage. Why would Mitt suddenly demonize a bill that is working so well in his state. Maybe Mitt is against the bill now because he doesn't want President Obama to get the credit for implementing this bill nation wide. What other reasons are there for Republicans to demonize Romneycare other than the fact they will not be getting credit for it's implementation.