When Mitt Romney was Mr. Mandate

07 June 2012 |permalink | email article

PROGRESSIVE bloggers are having a “gotcha” moment ahead of the upcoming landmark Supreme Court decision on a report that Mitt Romney pushed more forceful than previously known for an individual health care mandate while governor of Massachusetts. Through a public-records request, the Wall Street Journal obtained internal documents when Romney was in office, which shows, among other things, that the governor personally drafted an op-ed defending the individual mandate. Among the reactions: “At the time…Democrats weren’t on board with an individual l mandate, but Romney and his aides championed the provision.”—Steve Benen at the Rachel Maddow blog….”Romney considered it essential to a functioning health care law.”—Annie-Rose Strasser, Think Progress….”Romney flipped sides. He hasn’t fully backtracked, still terming his Massachusetts plan the right action for his state.”—Patrick Caldwell, American Progress….”No way is this guy going to get the support of a national business lobby sharply opposed to universal health care”—Alec MacGillis, The New Republic. (The Body Politic (June 6) wrote about Romney’s hire of former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt as his presidential transition team chief whose thoughts on the individual mandate has angered conservative Republicans.)

Ray Bradbury, 91

A master of science fiction died Tuesday in the same house in Los Angeles he lived in for more than 50 years. Recalling his “hungry imagination” as a boy in Illinois, “It was one frenzy after one elation after one enthusiasm about one hysteria after another. You rarely have such fevers later in life that fills you entire day with emotion.”

Bullet Train

As legal challenges to the California bullet train project mount Gov. Jerry Brown began circulating proposals to significantly diminish the possibility that opponents could stop the project with an environmental lawsuit. The legislation would most affect suits brought by the Central Valley agricultural interests. A lead question is whether the governor is asking too much of the green lobby. Like it or not Brown is on the right track to bring high-speed rail to the state.

Quotable

“If I were President Obama, I’d focus my entire campaign now on an effort to reforge a “grand bargin” with Republicans based on a near-term infrastructure stimulus tied to a Simpson-Bowles long-term fiscal rebalancing.”—Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times.

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