i consider it a conservative plan. if the state chose a mandate, it wouldn t bother you? i think it s a terrific idea. after all the states that are the laboratories of democracy, get their chance to try their own plans. those who follow the path that we pursued will find it s the best path. we ll end up with a nation that s taken a mandate approach. think about that for a minute. he says we insist they buy it. a mandate is when we, the government, insists people buy health insurance. but for romney, it s only a good conservative principle if a state government imposes it. not the federal government. i m joined tonight by wendell potter, senior analyst at the center for public integrity and ari melber of the nation magazine. gentlemen, good to have you with us tonight. ari, how can he make this case? okay at the state level, not good at a federal level? how is he going to work through this? he doesn t get very far. iáhdoesn t add up. if it s a good idea, a matter of personal
well, i tell you what. for him to pass it off, ari, as a conservative principle, is really a reach. the other funny thing about romney saying mandates are a personal responsibility, it only works if the government imposes it. ari, how is this going to play with the tea partyers? they hate the idea of the government getting involved in anything.ç what do you think? they don t like it. we remember the sad moment at the debate whereto teo libertar idea that you have to let folks who are sick die, that there s no protection for them. i don t think the issue is going away because you said the tea party is very, very concerned about this. we have, of course, the supreme court which will ultimately rule on this.
polls a large number of people are still, you know, moving around. as you ve seen from all these polls. there s a lot of movement. you know, this plays into the undecided people that are going to be showing up. are these voters swayed by caucus captains, bob? what do you think? i think pretty much by the time they go into the caucus they know what they re going to vote for. we ve been talking about polls. wait and see what the des moines register poll which has a track record for accuracy says when it comes out this weekend. one of two things is going to happen here. either romney is going to win this thing, win new hampshire, do okay in south carolina, win florida, wrap this up early. or he s going to stumble a little bit. i think in the end he still wins the nomination. because the republican establishment cannot abide the idea of ron paul. i don t think rick santorum has the plausibility or money to challenge romney over the long term. it would be a fun battle. it would be the
it. it s true, one way or another society has to deal with the problems associated with health care and lack of health care. which is why i think having a mandate at the federal level that president obama pushed so hard for is a good thing. if that s true, it s true at whatever level you operate it at. that s why romney doesn t sound very convincing here. wendell, if mandates accomplish anything at all, why would it be good at the state level and not at the federal level? how do you see this? well, that dog just won t hunt because republicans have tried this at the federal level in years past. it was, indeed, birth by the heritage foundation. and it was a big part of republican piece of legislation in 1993. the consumer choice health security act which was sponsored by senator nichols and had 24 republican co-sponsors. back then it was a great idea for the federal government to be involved in instituting a federal mandate. it s always been something that republicans have felt was i
he insists, insists the health care mandates are a conservative principle, but only at the state level. the state level. okay. so here s what he said on fox news this morning.ç look, our plan was rights for our state, and in my view, it was based upon conservative principles that frankly came from newt gingrich and the heritage foundation which was instead of people relying on government to provide their care, they should take personal responsibility. 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. but romney promises again and again to repeal the affordable care act if he becomes president of the united states. the conservative principle of the health care mandate doesn t apply at the federal level, apparently. we can give him credit for one thing. that is he has been consistent in talking about what a great idea mandates are. no more free riders. people have to ta