Romney Fundamentally Lacks Conservative Principles on Healthcare…Or Anything Else

“His only contribution to the party has been his five-year interminable presidential campaign, despite his insistence that he never intended to run for office again after 2008.”

When Mitt Romney was seeking the Republican nomination in 2008, he deflected criticism of Romneycare by blaming its disastrous effects on the liberal legislature in Massachusetts.  That was four years ago, when Romney was attempting to win the hearts of the conservative base as the alternative to John McCain.

This time around, as he seeks to eschew any ideological principles, Romney is pronouncing his signature healthcare reform as a meritorious and quite ideal plan, at least for his state.  In fact, in recent days, he has gone so far as to proclaim MassCare as a fundamentally conservative principle.

Here is what he had to say today on Fox and Friends [video]:

“I’m happy to stand by the things that I believe. I’m not going to change my positions by virtue of being in a presidential campaign,” Romney said. “What we did was right for the people of Massachusetts, the plan is still favored there by three to one, and it is fundamentally a conservative principle to insist that people take personal responsibility as opposed to turning to government for giving out free care.” [emphasis added]

Romney owes Republican primary voters answers to two questions; one ideological and one political.

1) If Romneycare is built on such inviolable conservative principles; if Romneycare has been such an auspicious healthcare reform plan, then what is so terribly offensive about Obamacare?  Yes, we’ve heard that dubious distinction between state governments having the ability to promulgate tyranny, whereas the federal government is constrained by the constitution.  But why not amend the constitution so we can implement Romneycare (Obamacare) on a federal level?  Why not share your paramount success with the rest of the nation?

The GOP Payroll Tax Cut/UI Extension Proposal

“will they finally hold the line on their own promises this time, or will they pass all the extensions without the reforms, riders, and spending offsets? This package must be the final offer.”

Earlier today, House Republican leaders unveiled their package deal to extend the payroll tax and unemployment benefits for another year and to continue Medicare ‘doc fix’ for another two years.

While bipartisan passage of the payroll tax cut and doc fix were a forgone conclusion, the real issues for conservatives were the UI extension and the spending cuts.  Unfortunately, they are acquiescing to another extension, albeit with some reforms.
The major reforms include mandatory drug testing and participation in reemployment services as a condition for receiving benefits.  Those receiving the 99 weeks of UI will gradually be reduced to 79, and then finally 59 weeks.  Also, states would be authorized to use some of the funds for job training programs.  The UI component of the bill falls short of transformational reform, but at least it precludes 99 weeks from becoming the standard duration of payments.

In order to ameliorate yet another welfare extension for conservative members, two more sweeteners were added: 1) A law to force Obama’s hand on the Keystone Pipeline 2) A provision that would keep illegal immigrants from receiving the refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit, by requiring that recipients provide a valid SSN.  This would save $10 billion over 10 years, according the GOP sources [more background on that issue here].  The bill also has a provision to reduce Clean Air Act regulations for industrial boilers.

The proposal, which includes the aforementioned three extensions, will cost about $200 billion.  Republicans say they will pay for it with the following reforms, many of which were adopted from the Senate Republican proposal:

The Tragic Results of No Free-Market in Healthcare

What has 40 years of no free-market in healthcare wrought on the American consumer?  John Goodman, a healthcare expert at National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), posted this shocking graph:

As long as health insurance is treated as a primary payment instead of traditional insurance, the premiums will reflect this reality.

Telling the Truth About Medicare

We must end the vicious cycle of third-party payer and rising healthcare costs

By far, our largest unfunded liabilities are Social Security and Medicare.  According to recent actuarial reports, Medicare faces a $25 trillion liability and Social Security has an unfunded liability of $21 trillion.  And those numbers are regarded as low-ball figures, due to their unrealistic accounting for cost-cutting measures.  They already represent the largest expenditures of the federal government, with Social Security and Medicare consuming 20.2% and 14.6% of the budget respectively.  Those numbers are slated to skyrocket as the retirement population doubles over the next three decades.  Hence, any meaningful discussion of balanced budgets must include a plan to fix these two entitlement behemoths – brought to you by previous Democrat presidents.

The first step to entitlement reform must include an acknowledgement of the dichotomy between the two largest programs.  Social Security and Medicare are very different programs.  Consequently, they face divergent problems and require dissimilar solutions.

Last week, healthcare expert Christopher Conover posted an analysis at the American Enterprise Institute, illustrating the differences between Social Security and Medicare.  He found that while most people (except low-income earners) receive Social Security benefits that are roughly commensurate to their contributions from the 12.4% payroll tax, the same cannot be said of Medicare benefits.  The average Medicare recipient, according to Conover, received $2-$6 per every dollar paid into the system via the 2.9% Medicare tax.  Moreover, the only people who earn all of their Medicare benefits are those earning an average of $130,000 a year over their entire career – the very people who will see a payroll tax increase under Obamacare.

Chris Christie is Intellectually Dishonest

Earlier today, Chris Christie endorsed Mitt Romney for president, describing him as “a real hero in Republican circles.”  During his announcement, he disparaged conservatives who oppose Romneycare, by suggesting that any attempt to compare it to Obamacare is “completely intellectually dishonest.”  Governor Christie might want to look in the mirror or step down as a prominent spokesman for the Republican Party.
Any attempt to suggest that the two healthcare plans are fundamentally different is completely intellectually dishonest.

Romney on Romneycare


“Let me tell you this about our system in Massachusetts: 92 percent of our people were insured before we put our plan in place. Nothing’s changed for them. The system is the same. They have private market-based insurance.  We had 8 percent of our people that weren’t insured. And so what we did is we said let’s find a way to get them insurance, again, market-based private insurance. We didn’t come up with some new government insurance plan.” (FoxNews-Google Debate, Sept. 22)

Reality


Like every egregious government intervention in the private sector, MassCare drove up total health insurance costs in Massachusetts by $4.311 billion.  Massachusetts individual health premiums are now the highest in the nation.   The other 92% are being forced to pay higher premiums for what is no longer “market-based insurance.”  The 8% that are “uninsured” were put on government programs, primarily Medicaid.  That’s exactly what Obama seeks to do with Obamacare.  The costs will be even higher once the federal government stops subsidizing Romneycare through extra Medicaid grants.

Romney Finally Getting Hit on Romneycare

While there is much needless focus on whether a Mormon can be elected, there is much less focus on whether the man who created the antecedent to Obamacare can win the Republican nomination.  Until recently, the Republican presidential field has largely left Romney unscathed.  That is about to change, as Rick Perry goes full throttle on Romneycare.  Here is his latest ad:

Romneycare: A Microcosm of Obamacare, According to Conservative Study

Does government have the right to take over the healthcare sector, thereby infringing on liberty, killing jobs, reducing income, destroying investment, and driving up costs to consumers?  Well, as long as it is promulgated by state government, Mitt Romney thinks there is nothing wrong.

The conservative Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University has done a comprehensive study surveying the devastation of Romneycare – and it’s not pretty.  The study, which was obtained by the Boston Herald, analyzed trends in healthcare costs and employment data before and after passage of this unconstitutional behemoth.  Here are some of the key findings of the Romneycare devastation:

• cost the Bay State 18,313 jobs;

• drove up total health insurance costs in Massachusetts by $4.311 billion;

• slowed the growth of disposable income per person by $376; and

• reduced investment in Massachusetts by $25.06 million.

Additionally, the study found that much of the higher costs were subsidized by the federal government (national taxpayers) through a Medicaid waiver program.  A previous Beacon Hill study found that Romneycare cost Medicaid $2.4 billion and Medicare $1.4 billion.  It is these very costly state programs that are causing federal Medicaid expenditures to rise from its current level of $280 billion to $574 billion in 2020.  It is these very state mandates that have spiked the cost of private health insurance for years.

GOP Must Use Political Victories to Oppose Obama's Stimulus in its Entirety

Pass the bill never!

The Democrats have provided Republicans with a historic opportunity to go on offense against Keynesian stimulus, and apply jujitsu against the Democrat 2012 playbook – Mediscare tactics.  They shouldn't blow it.

Last night, Democrats got wiped out in two special elections; losing by 22% in Nevada CD-2 and by 8% in a New York district that hasn’t voted Republican since 1922.  These victories were buoyed by Obama’s record disapproval ratings across every demographic, most notably, whites and independents.

While there have been copious pages of commentary published in an attempt to analyze the source of the GOP’s success, it is clear which tactic was unsuccessful: Mediscare (are you watching, Mitt Romney?).  Both Democrat candidates attacked their opponents incessantly as proverbial killers of Medicare and Social Security.  Although this pathetic line of attack is 50 years old, it was slated to serve as the impetus for Democrats’ 2012 campaign strategy.  Well, their only plan to win in 2012 failed miserably, providing Republicans with a chance to launch a counterattack.

Obama's America

There are three headlines from today that serve as paramount examples of a nation on decline - a nation that has been transformed from one of ownership to one of entitlement, thanks to socialism:

- The U.S poverty rate swelled from 14.3% in 2009 to 15.1% in 2010
- Employment-based health insurance coverage dropped by 1.5 million
- People covered by government health programs rose by 1.8 million in 2010.  31% of the population is now on some government run health program.

How's that 45 year-old war on poverty working out for you?  As the chart below from the Cato Institute shows, it has done nothing but perpetuate and exacerbate poverty.

The Fuzzy Math from Gang of Six

A plan that is all things to all people, but vapid of details and coherence

As a rule of thumb, any idea coming from a gang is not a good one.  This holds true in the real world; it is certainly true in the gangster world of the U.S. Senate.  Members of the media are agog with glee over the supposed Gang of Six deal to cut the deficit by $3.7 trillion over 10 years.  There is much hype over the fact that more than half the Senate attended the unveiling of the proposal, with many Republicans – including those in leadership – offering robust praise for it.  Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) is calling for a vote on the plan, even though most of the details don’t exist.

The festive atmosphere at the press conference prompted bearded Marxist Senator Chris Coons to observe that “if Sen. Durbin and Dr. Coburn can both endorse it, this may be just the tough discipline fiscally and the balanced path forward that we need.”  So the questions begs, just how can such an ‘austere budget plan’ garner the support of liberal luminaries like Coons and Durbin?

The answer is very simple: the budget plan is devoid of a roadmap to achieve the alleged $2.7 trillion in cuts and $1 trillion in revenue gains.  Furthermore, the proposal relies upon the passage of some conservative reforms, which if seriously drafted, will never be supported by a majority of the Democrat Caucus, including Gang members like Dick Durbin.

Michele Bachmann: Don't Forget Obamacare

The clock is ticking and our options are shrinking

The most effective proposal for dealing with the debt ceiling vote that has the backing of conservatives is the Cut, Cap, and Balance plan brought forth by the RSC.  Accordingly, virtually every major conservative organization has coalesced around a pledge forcing all members of Congress to support the plan as a condition to raising the debt ceiling.  The presidential candidates are also being recruited to sign the pledge, with Jim DeMint promising to support only those who sign to it.

Yesterday, Mitt Romney announced his support for the pledge, joining every other announced Republican candidate except Jon Huntsman and ….Michele Bachmann?

While Bachmann is a strong supporter of the RSC plan, she is still tepid about signing the pledge.  CNN is reporting that Bachmann told DeMint she is still contemplating her support for the pledge because she wants it “to go a little further.”  Bachmann said at a town hall in South Carolina that she would like to add the defunding of Obamacare to the pledge as another precondition to raising the debt ceiling.

While it is probably a good idea for Bachmann to sign the pledge despite her reservation, she should be applauded for refocusing attention on Obamacare.  We all agree that our long-term budget crisis, including reform of the existing entitlements, should be our paramount concern.  However, we must not lose focus of the urgent need to defund the newest entitlement, Obamacare, precluding it from being enshrined as the entitlement to end all entitlements.

Key votes on Abortion, DADT, START, and Gitmo This Week

Today's House Action Alerts.

Today, the House will consider two bills with some amendments that are important to conservatives.

 Abortion

After a period of morning speeches, the House will finish work on H.R. 1216- the fourth bill brought to the floor that defunds mandatory appropriations for an Obamacare program.  This bill rescinds all unobligated funds for graduate medical training programs created under Obamacare.  It also subjects the remaining appropriations to the annual discretionary spending process.  This will prevent the program from becoming a mandatory slush fund for Democrat special interests.

The critical vote on this bill is the Foxx Amendment (H. AMDT. 298, which prohibits funding for graduate medical institutions to be used for the purpose of training medical residents in abortion procedures.  Please call you member of Congress and request a yes vote on the Foxx anti-abortion Amendment. 

Defense

After work on H.R. 1216 is complete, the House will begin debating the FY 2012 Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 1540); along with a marathon amendment process which calls for votes on 152 amendments.  That means that we must watch the floor vigilantly.

It's Obamacare, Stupid

Obamacare is not an extraneous issue to the budget fight.  It is the fight.

Many establishment conservatives are agog with joy over the grand sellout of a budget deal.  They feel that John Boehner was the real winner in the debate.  The problem is that they are all focusing on the dollar amount of the discretionary spending cuts.  They are forgetting the 800-pound gorilla in the room; Obamacare.  The cost of O-care to our economy, liberty, consumer choice, and health care system is incalculable; certainly ions more than the diminutive $38 billion (really $26 billion in new cuts) in discretionary cuts that were secured by Boehner. 

The Wall Street Journal penned a disingenuous op-ed lauding the spending deal as the " first victory for the Tea Party".  They further admonished conservatives for criticizing the deal.   Here is what they had to say:

"Republicans also showed they are able to make the compromises required to govern. We realize that "governing" can often be an excuse for incumbent self-interest. But this early show of political maturity will demonstrate to independents that the freshmen and tea party Republicans they elected in November aren't the yahoos of media lore. A government shutdown over a spending difference of $7 billion and some policy riders would have made the GOP look reckless for little return....

Now the battle moves to the debt ceiling increase and Paul Ryan's new 2012 budget later this year, and there are lessons from this fight to keep in mind. One is to focus on spending and budget issues, not extraneous policy fights." (emphasis added)

95 Republicans Vote to expand ObamaCare

Is this the meaning of 'repeal and replace'?

Beware the many bills that discreetly pass the House under suspension with bi-partisan support.  Carefully scrutinize any legislative news headline announcing the passage of "non-controversial bills".  Last night, more than a third of House Republicans granted Democrats a small, but gratuitous health care victory.  95 Republicans joined every Democrat to pass a provision of the original 2009 ObamaCare bill by a 280-138 margin.  Republican leaders; Cantor, McCarthy, and Roskam opposed the bill.

The Veterinary Public Health Amendments Act (H.R. 525), sponsored by progressive extremist Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), was part of the original ObamaCare bill that passed the House in 2009, but was not included in the Senate version or the final reconciliation bill.  Here are some of the provisions of H.R. 525 as summarized by the Republican Study Committee.

• Allows veterinarian schools to receive grant assistance from the Public Health Workforce Grant program.
• Individuals who will receive or have received a degree in veterinary public health can apply for and receive loan assistance under the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program, a federal loan repayment program created in Obamacare.  Title V, Section 5204 of Obamacare created this loan program which forgives student loan indebtedness for eligible public health professionals for up to $35,000 per year for three years.
• The bill defines the term “veterinary public health” to include veterinarians engaged in one or more of the following areas to the extent such areas have an impact on human health: biodefense and emergency preparedness, emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, environmental health, ecosystem health, pre-harvest and post-harvest food protection, regulatory medicine, diagnostic laboratory medicine, veterinary pathology, biomedical research, practice of food animal medicine in rural areas, and government practice.

Hey Barack, Resign Now, and Now Means Yesterday

While our nation languishes amidst record food and energy prices, unprecedented underemployment (including those excluded from the workforce) and economic stagnation, crippling regulations, and an administration in contempt of two court decisions, the media would rather distract us with the Islamist uprising in Egypt.  It is imperative that we keep up the pressure on Obama and the Democrats by denying them the opportunity to preclude our attention from more relevant and ominous domestic problems.  On the other hand, there is one salient question that we should excogitate from Obama's handling of the Egyptian insurgency.  If Obama is willing to listen to the protesters of a foreign country due to their grievances from high food and energy prices and an unresponsive government, shouldn't he accede to the similar demands of his own citizens and resign immediately?

As a direct result of Obama's assiduous depredation of the private sector, there are a record number of people who are unemployed or underemployed.  For those who are lacking sufficient income, their most vital needs include food, energy, and health care are among  Yet, this President has used every tool at his disposal (including illegal ones) to ensure that the cost of production or delivery of each vital sector of our economy has burgeoned exponentially.

Through this President's continued support of ethanol mandates, subsidies, and tariffs, the price of essential food commodities has risen sharply, as corn is the antecedent of the food chain.  Almost 40% of corn grown in this country is now used for an ineffective and potentially environmentally degrading fuel.  In addition, the President has done everything in his power to mandate and subsidize the production and usage of under-performing and deleterious sources of energy.  This, along with his slavish devotion to the Fed's policy of quantitative easing (QE2), has artificially and gratuitously spiked the cost of food and energy commodities.

Democrat Support for Repeal of 1099 Provision is Self Indictment

Mitch McConnell plans to offer his health care repeal amendment (S.A. 13) to the FAA authorization bill later this evening.  Every Democrat, including the bald faced liars like Joe Manchin, plan to support a budget point of order to scuttle this amendment.  However, in order to buttress red state Democrats from electoral reprisal,  Debbie Stabenow plans to offer an alternative amendment (S.A. 9) that would only repeal the onerous 1099 filing provision.  Even Chuck Schumer says that most Democrats support this amendment.

Here is a question that needs to be asked by Republicans on the floor of the Senate.  How can you so categorically reject something that you wholeheartedly supported just a year ago?  What has changed now?  It's not like they could claim that circumstances have shown this mandate to be a burden because it hasn't even taken effect yet.  Isn't this a self indictment that they knowingly vote for bills that even according to their ideology would be detrimental to their constituents?  Yet, we are supposed to believe that the rest of the bill was voted on in good faith.  What other nefarious pieces of legislation do they knowingly support for political reasons?

Maybe we ought to take to the streets to demand that they repeal health care.  Hey, if protesters in Egypt can get Obama to support their cause, why can't we?  Or, is he more amenable to the Muslim Brotherhood than the Tea Party?

Remember Those Red District ObamaCare Socialists in 2012

Thankfully, the Republican controlled House just passed the repeal of Obamacare by a 245-189 margin.  Three Democrats; Mike Ross (AR), Dan Boren (OK), and Mike McIntyre (NC), joined every Republican in support of repeal.  This means that 10 of the remaining 13 Democrats who voted against Obama Care to win reelection last year, showed their true colors by opposing repeal.

Here are the ten Democrat turncoats:

Ben Chandler ( Ky.), John Barrow ( Ga.) Heath Schuler ( N.C.), Larry Kissell ( N.C.), Stephen Lynch ( Mass.), Jason Altmire ( Pa.), Tim Holden ( Pa.), Collin Peterson ( Minn), Dan Lipinski ( Ill.) and Jim Matheson ( Utah).

If we include the other Democrats who represent R rated districts (Cook PVI) but supported ObamaCare from the beginning, that number increases by another 6, for a total of 16:

Jerry McNerney (CA) Joe Donnelly (IN) Tim Walz (Minn) Bill Owens (NY) Mark Critz (PA) Nick Rahall (WV)

These 16 Democrats must be targeted for their disingenuous conservative talk at home, as they vote with the radical left in DC.  It looks like their symbolic vote against Nancy Pelosi was nothing more than window dressing.  Let's end the blue dog and pony show and defeat these clowns in 2012.

Weekly RINO Roundup

- McCain Calls Obama a Patriot

- Bill Frist: Don't Repeal Obamacare (And he was the leader of Senate Republicans when they controlled every branch of gov't?)
- Newt Gingrich Praises Obama, Criticizes Palin

- Scott Brown:  R is Just itty-bitty Letter at End of Name ( I guess it is the Ted Kennedy seat after all)

- Dick Lugar to Seek Reelection-  Promote Assault Weapons Ban

-Charlie Bass and the Return of the Tuesday Group ( And we thought we were done with RINOs in the House)

- Lindsey Graham: Romney is the Front Runner

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

Let's Not Fall for the Demagoguery Concerning Pre-Conditions

The day of reckoning for Obama Care is rapidly approaching as the Republicans have scheduled a vote next week to repeal this unconstitutional, job killing piece of socialism.  They plan to schedule two votes; one on the full repeal of Obama Care (Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act), and another on a resolution which instruct four committees to craft a new health care bill.  The resolution dictates that the Committee on Education and the Workforce, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on Ways and Means, report a new bill that includes the following twelve provisions:

1.  "foster economic growth and private sector job creation by eliminating job-killing policies and regulations
2.   lower health care premiums through increased competition and choice
3.   preserve a patient’s ability to keep his or her health plan if he or she likes it
4.   provide people with pre-existing conditions access to affordable health coverage
5.   reform the medical liability system to reduce unnecessary and wasteful health care spending
6.   increase the number of insured Americans
7.   protect the doctor-patient relationship
8.   provide the States greater flexibility to administer Medicaid programs
9.   expand incentives to encourage personal responsibility for health care coverage and costs
10. prohibit taxpayer funding of abortions and provide conscience protections for health care providers
11. eliminate duplicative government programs and wasteful spending; or,
12. do not accelerate the insolvency of entitlement programs or increase the tax burden on Americans."

For Republicans, Elections Have No Consequences.

The GOP won their greatest electoral victory since 1938, but you wouldn't know it from most of the recent news.  Let's round up some of the GOP's greatest hits since November 2nd.

• The House Republican Steering Committee, led by leadership, appointed big government, big liberals Fred Upton as Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Hal Rogers as Approps Chair, and Spencer Bachus (R- Freddie Mac) at Financial Services.  So we have three wolves guarding the hen houses by leading three of the most vital committees.
• Last week, 6 Republican Senators (including John Thune) joined Tom Harkin in signing a letter of support for extension of Ethanol welfare.  This comes at a time in which these same regressive policies of the progressives have already spiked the price of gasoline to $3 a gallon.
• Last week, 8 Republican Senators voted against the earmark moratorium.  Mark Kirk, a member of the class of 2010 voted against it.
• After the health care and financial services takeover, the FDA food-Nazi bill was one of the most egregious nanny state, job killing, cost raising, special interest pandering pieces of legislation to come out of the 111th congress.  15 Republican Senators, including the likes Vitter, Burr, and Enzi, ensured its passage.
• The Debt Commission.  Yes, even Conservatives like Coburn and Crapo voted for massive tax hikes and the exacerbation of the current Social Security ponzi scheme that will force young workers to pay even more into a bankrupt system until age 69.
• Incoming Majority Whip Eric Cantor announced that he would support the pre-conditions and slacker (26 year old's on parent's plans) previsions of Obama Care.  These mandates are the very reason why insurance is already so expensive and will ensure that costs rise to the point that all Americans will beg for single payer.  This is exactly what Obama had envisioned all along, and Cantor is being played like a fiddle.
• Loads of GOP Senators seem to support unilateral disarmament, the return to Soviet era rivalries, and the gutting of our missile defense by ratifying START.  Even John Kyl has indicated that Republican support of START might be part of a compromise to other issues.

The list is unfortunately too long to mention the numerous other policy hits from the GOP.  Are there any conservatives left aside for Jim DeMint?   Did we just have an election, or are we living in the twilight zone?