Who Wants to Celebrate RomneyCare's Birthday?

Democrats who like ObamaCare, that's who, according to Chris Moody at The Daily Caller:

In anticipation of the anniversary of the state health-care law Mitt Romney signed in 2006, the New Hampshire Democratic Party is planning a tongue-in-cheek celebration for the former Massachusetts governor's plan, which health-care policy experts argue bears a striking resemblance to the federal health-care law President Obama spearheaded into law last year.

"Without Romney, it's hard to see how President Obama would have been able to provide quality, affordable health care for every American," said New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley in an email to supporters Monday. "Take a second today or tomorrow to thank Mitt Romney for providing the critical momentum necessary to get President Obama's vision of health reform through Congress and signed into law."

Calling him the "founding father of health-care reform," the group is urging supporters to send Romney a thank-you tweet.

Watching Democrats tease Romney like this continues to be amusing. But I wonder if it might not backfire slightly, at least for those who continue to be genuinely happy with the precedent set by the Massachusetts health care overhaul. After all, the more that liberals celebrate RomneyCare, the less appealing he becomes to the conservative base that dominates Republican primaries. Sure, Romney isn't going to come out swinging in favor of ObamaCare, but so long as he doesn't disavow the Massachusetts plan completely—which doesn't seem likely—he's going to be a lot more amenable to mandate-driven state reforms. And in general, he's a lot closer to liberals on health care policy than any other potential GOP candidate. But liberal activist community, aided by the White House, seems intent on taking him out of the running, mostly, I suspect, because they can. No matter what, though, it's pretty fun to watch.

General reminder: The Massachusetts plan has not worked out very well, and public support appears to be tanking.

Comments

[Nancy Pelosi]

What?

[dbcooper]

OT: San Francisco to require ID scans, face photos of everyone who goes to a venue with capacity of 100 people or above.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/04/eff-san-francisco-entertainment-commission-don-t

[sage]

SF really is becoming a national laboratory for douchebaggery.

[dbcooper]

I do wonder if this a punishment action against the clubs by the cops there. The licensing and entertainment commissions have a bad rep for corruption and have had numerous political clashes with club owners ...

[Johnny Clamboat]

Since the company I work for does business in SF, I have to file a Commuter Benefits Compliance Report every year with the SF Dept of the Environment.

The Director of the Department of the Environment is named Nutter.

[Old Mexican]

Re: Johnny Clamboat,

The Director of the Department of the Environment is named Nutter.

Does he wear a top hat?

http://www.terry-1.com/Mad-Hatter_Drawing_sm.gif

[jml]

as in fluffernutter?

[fresno dan]

Plenty of the nudie bars have a capacity of over 100. Are they going to take pcitures of all those guys (and 3 or 4 lesbian chicks???).
Having my picture taken won't bother me, as I am merely an affectianado of 'modern dance' which takes dance back to a primative era prior to clothing, and the deeper more emotional basis that motivates the dancer...
Yup

[fresno dan]

that and I can't get laid

[Restoras]

Does this inlcude every movie theater as well? Mind-numbingly stupid.

[Paul]

OT: San Francisco to require ID scans, face photos of everyone who goes to a venue with capacity of 100 people or above.

San Francisco is a progressive city. This does not compute.

[Chupacabra]

Just not the voting booth.

[Chupacabra]

Damn you, Night Elf!

[Pro Libertate]

What's he doing there, pledging allegiance to a flame? Is he a Zoroastrian?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

OT: San Francisco to require ID scans, face photos of everyone who goes to a venue with capacity of 100 people or above.

Like, say, a polling place?

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

LOL, praising a "plan" that's a failure. That's the genius of politics for ya. All hail Leaders With Plans!

[The Truth]

Romney could be a great leader with his aptitude for business and management if he endorsed the right policies (state capitalism, industrial policy, protectionism and ration planning of the 'commanding heights' of the American economy).

What this country needs is someone running for President with that as his goal--as well as centralizing power in the executive branch to accomplish them instead of having Congress water down and filibuster then for petty, narrow, local politics instead of committing all of us to a grand national vision.

[The Truth]

*rational planning

[Pro Libertate]

You were right the first time.

[JoshINHB]

That pretty much describes Mutt.

Well that and daddy issues that can only be settled by becoming president.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Poe's Law, imo.

[Trespassers W]

I was just thinking that. Are we sure The Truth isn't an ongoing spoof by one of us? It's a little on the nose.

[prolefeed]

Had to google that:

Poe's Law is an axiom suggesting that it's difficult to distinguish between parodies of religious fundamentalism (or, more generally, parodies of any crackpot or extremist belief) and genuine proponents of religious fundamentalism, since they both seem equally insane. Conversely, real fundamentalism can easily be mistaken for a parody of fundamentalism.

[Il Duce]

I tried this but it ended up not working out so well. We had nice uniforms, though.

[DesigNate]

Cause centralized power in the hands of the president could never turn into a dictatorship, not ever.

[The Truth]

Not in the *President*, in the *Executive Branch*, i.e. the President plus his cabinet members.

The President would actually have less power under my system but the cabinet as a group dramatically more as a collective group.

Congress would be reduced to a footnote and policies could be implimented faster and with far less resistance, and we wouldn't have ridiculous spectacles like government shutdowns and debt defaults for reasons of petty, individual and local politics.

[DesigNate]

Oh, so something like the Politurbo. Got ya.

[R C Dean]

Politurbo

RC likes.

[Josef Stalin]

Re: The Truth,

The President would actually have less power under my system but the cabinet as a group dramatically more as a collective group.

Under MY system, the cabinet also had a lot of collective power, and retained even after I sent a few traitors to their deaths.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Dude, you forgot to add the MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! after that speech you cribbed from every theatrical movie villain ever.

[Trespassers W]

OK, now I'm sure it's a spoof.

[Restoras]

When your goal is 'social justice' and 'equality of outcomes' little things like 'freedom', 'achievement', 'excellence', 'personal responsibility' get in the way.

[The Truth]

I believe in national and collective greatness and excellence.

[JW]

Do you know who else....oh never mind.

[Restoras]

No you don't. You think you do, but you really don't. What you believe in is what every dictator in history has promised - National Prestige. In order to attain this prestige you will sacrifice individual liberty and in so doing drag human progress backwards.

If you really beleived in National Prestige you would be figuring out a way to maximize personal liberty and minimize government power. That is the only path to greatness - all other roads lead to ruin and, I might add, have been well trodden.

Reduce Congress to a footnote? As much as I despise the Critters it exists to 1) represent the will of the people (however imperfectly), and 2) to act as a check on the executive. This point is clearly lost on you and I suggest you read some history.

[Zeb]

Like some sort of... I don't know, national socialism or something, right?

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe in national and collective greatness and excellence.

Tutto nello Stato, niente al di fuori dello Stato, nulla contro lo Stato.

[Old Mexican]

I am just beginning to realize that your handle "The Truth" is not a total reference to the actual product...

(Yes, I am being facetious.)

[Old Mexican]

Re: The Truth,

Romney could be a great leader with his aptitude for business and management if he endorsed the right policies (state capitalism, industrial policy, protectionism and ration planning of the 'commanding heights' of the American economy).

He already endorses Fascism, so your bet is safe.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Good, but you need more appeals to authority and non-sequitur links to MSM fear-mongering OPs.

[Hazel Meade]

God damn. For a while there, I thought you were a real person.

[JD]

Are the China fetishists here ever real?

[Voros McCracken]

Carl Williams' career since he retired from Boxing has really gone downhill.

[Wile E. Democrat]

Dems obviously don't want Romney to get the nomination, that's why they're doing this. Expect more in the future.

[prolefeed]

Why wouldn't they want someone from an oft-despised religious minority who is thus eminently beatable to get the nomination?

[Meta_Man]

Right, Romeny is probably the only guy on the GOP side that could challenge Obama but he's not insane enough to win the GOP nomination.

The GOP as a party is stuck in a Catch-22 of sorts. The Southern Strategy worked for a long time but I think it's coming back to haunt them.

[The Truth]

I hope it leads to their collapse, we need a major party that is substaintially different from the Democrats rather than being Democrat Lite.

[cynical]

Give it up, dude, the American Nazi party just isn't ever going to sell well.

[sage]

"and our tester walks out of the wind tunnel with another magic relighting torch..."

[Stretchy]

President Obama is providing quality, affordable health care for every american? Where does he find the time? And, where do I sign up to have him check me for a hernia?

[JW]

"This is what doctors have found up the ass of people who have no health insurance!"

[NoVAHockey]

you'd be surprised. or maybe you wouldn't.

/volunteer EMT.

[Tony]

I'm not surprised.

[R C Dean]

Well, I hope the Dems do manage to take Romney out of the running. More big-spending, big-government Republicans, we do not need.

[Tulpa]

Too bad Huckabee and Palin are exactly that recipe, with a heaping helping of social conservatism smeared on top.

If you're hoping for Ron Paul or Gary Johnson you may as well give up right now.

[Tony]

As much as I'd like to think the GOP primary voters will reject Romney on his healthcare plan or because he's a Mormon, I fear they are more pragmatic than they seem when it comes to nominating a presidential candidate. If the Obama people are smart they won't hang all their hopes on Romneycare... I've already seen plenty of rationalizations from the right. (Apparently death panels and socialism are OK at the state level.) Even though he's essentially a haircut with a mouth, I hope he's not being underestimated.

[DesigNate]

If Romneycare was all puppies, kittens, sunshine, unicorns, and rainbows, people might be willing to swallow him down. I think he'll crap out like the turd sandwich he is in about 8 months.

[Old Mexican]

Re: Tony,

If the Obama people are smart they won't hang all their hopes on Romneycare

You mean the very smart people that still think he's a literary genius?

[Tony]

I don't talk to freepers.

[Freeper]

Re: Tony,

I don't talk to freepers.

Why not??? Don't you love me anymore???

[tarran]

OM is a freeper?

When did that happen?

Why wasn't I cc'ed the memo?

[Old Mexican]

Pssst! Tarran... what's a 'freeper'?

[Tony]

It's what you're resembling lately. Paranoid right-wing conspiracy theory peddling idiot.

I've spent all this time debating you and you think the Civil War wasn't about slavery? That Bill Ayers wrote Dreams from My Father? Christ... if this wasn't already a huge waste of time, I'd consider it a huge waste of time.

[Anonymous Coward]

Tony, did someone freep you without the courtesy of a reach-around?

[Mainer]

..and Constitutional Scholar

[Old Mexican]

... and healer of old racial wounds.

[MWG]

...and giver of truth and knowledge.

[R C Dean]

If the Obama people are smart they won't hang all their hopes on Romneycare

By repackaging it and taking it national, haven't they already done just that?

[kc]

but..but..but... I'm THRILLED with my health insurance here in Massachusetts -- my premium only went up 26% this year! Imagine how much it would have gone up WITHOUT RomneyCare!
*snark*

[Old Mexican]

Who Wants to Celebrate RomneyCare's Birthday?

Uh.... do I have to?

[NoVAHockey]

Was there cake? Or is that allowed under romneycare?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

The cake was a lie.

[Old Mexican]

After all, the more that liberals celebrate RomneyCare, the less appealing he becomes to the conservative base that dominates Republican primaries.

Lefty: But, he's an odious GOP-er! We can't have a strategic vision and, at the same time, be consistent with our fallacies! That can't happen!

[Applederry]

"But liberal activist community, aided by the White House, seems intent on taking him out of the running, mostly, I suspect, because they can."

I don't know, I think they may really not want him to run. Of all the GOP hopefuls right now, I think Romney has the best chance against Obama in a general election. His biggest negative is RomneyCare, but that can really only be an issue for the primary. Otherwise I think Romney's business history and his turning around of the Olympics would really appeal to the fickle independents out there worried about the debt and economy.

[Tulpa]

Spot on.

I don't love Romney by any stretch of the imagination, but let's be serious.

[prolefeed]

I don't think America is ready yet to elect a Mormon. Too many fundy Christians who normally vote Republican will stay home.

Maybe in 40 years, when the Mormon population has doubled, then doubled again, that will be doable.

[TrickyVic]

""Too many fundy Christians who normally vote Republican will stay home.""

There's not enough rooms in the Whitehouse for his wives!

[Invisible Finger]

I'd be embarrassed to vote for anyone named "Mitt". Now, "Jock strap" on the other hand...

[JoshINHB]

Fuck Mutt Romney and his donkeys.

[Zeb]

"Without Romney, it's hard to see how President Obama would have been able to provide quality, affordable health care for every American,"

I love how they speak as if this has already happened (and as if it is even what the backers of the law think the results will be).

[TheZeitgeist]

Romney's a empty suit, but unlike Obama he looks the part. And his religion is ultimately too much with the Fundies.

Religiously-speaking, Romney's Mormonism makes him Spock at the Republicans' collective Star Wars convention: They're all Space Cadets...but the 'devil' is definitely in the details.

[Spoonman.]

Except Spock is cool.

[TheZeitgeist]

Alright, make him Jar-Jar at a Star Trek convention, same point lamer talisman. Lamest, actually.

[Tulpa]

It's really a shame Romney doesn't just come out and say that the MA health care plan was a noble experiment that didn't work, and highlight the differences between it and Obamacare (principally that it was limited to one state, had no constitutional infirmities, and was popular with the people when it was passed). Unfortunately his ego probably gets in the way, like many politicians, and admitting that anything he was connected with was not a complete success would kill his self-image.

[TheZeitgeist]

doesn't just come out and say that the MA health care plan was a noble experiment that didn't work

You've also got to wonder about the highlight-reel of Romney one-liners etc. uttered by him while stumping for that loser legislation.

He couldn't just disavow the program in the enlightened terms you describe, he'd have to admit all the political hyperbole he undoubtedly spewed about that turkey over the years was just that...political hyperbole. Not possible for a politician who depends on this week's hyperbole for his next job.

[Tulpa]

In all seriousness, how much "stumping" did he have to do for universal health insurance in Massachussetts? It's not like it was a political dogfight getting it passed or anything.

I mean, if you have examples of things that he said that couldn't be explained away easily, then perhaps it is best (from his POV) not to go in that direction.

[prolefeed]

I think Romney's thinking is that he can't completely disavow Romneycare, because then that will be used in hit pieces ad nauseam in the primaries. He's gotta weakly defend it, and pretend it's different than Obamacare.

The way a politician's ego works is they want to WIN, and if admitting a mistake allows them to win, then they will suck it up and do that.

[Tulpa]

Nah, it goes beyond that. Look at GWB -- he was (rightly) mocked about that one question during the 2004 debate where he couldn't think of any mistake he'd ever made. Now, he could have mentioned some minor policy point that no one would base their vote on, or even some bigger ones like signing McCain-Feingold that would not alienate anyone who didn't already despise him...and that would have prevented the media from ripping him as a total egotist.

[Tman]

What's even funnier than that is the sheer stupidity of Democrats in praising Romneycare whilst completely disregarding the fact that by any reasonable measure, Romneycare has been a complete disaster. Emergency room wait times have gone up, costs for premiums are the highest in the nation for private insurers thus many are leaving the state altogether, and the proposed budget to pay for Romneycare has gone up exponentially every year.

And as the statistics list above, even the residents of the great state of Taxachusetts think IT SUCKS.

So please, Democrats, keep talking about how "great" Romneycare is and why the rest of the country should be happy that Obamacare is so similar.

[R C Dean]

I'm not convinced that the current stable of Repub wannabes, poseurs, and also-rans is the complete list of viable candidates.

But if Romney (or Gingrich, or Huckabee, or etc.) gets the nom, no way I vote for any of them. If its Romney v. Obama, with Trump running a vanity independent campaign, I'd vote for Trump.

[TrickyVic]

You probably wouldn't be the only one, and that scenario is a likely win for Obama.

[Tulpa]

Right, some electable hero[ine] will ride in at the last minute with solid, long-time fiscal conservative credentials, even though we can't actually name him or her right now.

Go ahead and vote for Trump since you're not in a swing state. I'll have no moral qualms whatsoever pulling my lever for Romney in that scenario.

[Paul]

Personally, I'm happy Democrats are engaging in this 'ironic teasing'. It helps better clarify the blinding daylight between Republicans and libertarians.

It also allows me to more forcefully say to my liberal friends who keep thinking I'd vote for President Romney: Why would I vote for that douche, I have his healthcare plan?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd love to celebrate Romneycare's birthday!

All I need is a flammable likeness of Mitt Romney, an accelerant, and an open flame.