Will Willard Slink Away from the Healthcare Debate?

The Romney camp may roll over and piddle on its belly rather than engage in the healthcare debate, according to the National Journal (via General Stuck in the open thread):

Romney Campaign Declaring Cease Fire on Health Care

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court health care ruling, the early conventional wisdom was that an unfavorable health care ruling at the court would be good for Republicans politically, even as it was a serious policy setback for conservatives. But that’s not shaping up to be the case. Mitt Romney, after giving a brief statement decrying the decision, has been virtually silent on criticizing the health care law. He’s been on vacation and his campaign has been giving off clear signals that it doesn’t want to make health care a major part of the election.

I don’t buy this. Sure, Romney is vulnerable on healthcare since he enacted a virtually identical scheme in Massachusetts and the Republicans have nothing to offer to replace the ADA except “Die at great expense in the emergency room, poors!”

But since when have astounding hypocrisy and cruelty ever interfered with a Republican talking point? Maybe Willard really is too busy concocting schemes to trip a toddler grandchild and take the gold in the Romney Olympics sack race to bother with this shit right now, and his team is regrouping in the Sister Wives cabins to plan the attack.

Cease fire my ass. We haven’t even begun to hear the lies and demagoguery yet, is my guess.

[X-posted at Balloon Juice]

Posted by Betty Cracker on 07/03/12 at 09:15 AM • Permalink

Well, McConnell’s been backtracking, too, FWIW.

Given how the “base” recovered from its stunned disbelief of the SC decision by pivoting into “THIS IS GREAT NEWS FOR ...,” it may not be purely either of their decision in the long run.

Any scenario that sees Mitt get elected probably includes significant gains in the House and Senate, possibly handy overall majorities in both. It may have more to do with how those in downticket races are framing this and what they’d feel they had to do to placate their constituencies if all this came to pass, fed no doubt by the shenanigans certain governors get up to.

OTOH, the backtracking now—including declaring that the individual mandate isn’t a tax after all—is guaranteed to piss off all those recent donors they were crowing about and the “newly energized base,” so such wins may not be on the cards anyway if they stick to this tack. Such are the perils of demagoguery.

Oh yeah. Remember the other day, when Mitt’s campaign was full of praise for the Breitbartlets’ abilities to have reporters who offended Mitt fired at will and their general wingnut meme propagating abilities?

Oh dear oh dear:

CONSERVATIVES TO MITT: QUIT NOW IF YOU WON’T FIGHT OBAMATAX!

by Joel B. Pollak

The Obama campaign has seized on remarks made by Romney adviser Eric “Etch-A-Sketch” Fehrnstrom this morning on MSNBC, to the effect that the individual mandate in Obamacare (and Romneycare) is not a tax. Fehrnstrom allowed Chuck Todd to push him off message—and re-ignited the fears that conservatives have long had about Romney’s will and ability to fight. In response, conservatives—who had just coalesced around opposition to what many now call “Obamatax”—exhort: Mitt, start fighting, or give up and let someone else do it.

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