Romney 2009: Obama should look to our mandate in Massachusetts in crafting his plan

Is the Obama campaign dropping the opposition research early or is this coming from conservatives who are sick and tired of  the Romney spin and lies about his record?  Your guess is as good as mine but since this hits conservative websites pretty quick, I am thinking the people who put together the opposition research package against Romney that McCain released may be behind a lot of this.  Personally think the Obama side is asking why all this is coming out now?

Now in Romney's own words, in video and in an oped in USA Today, in 2009 he says that Obama should look to our mandate in Massachusetts in crafting Obamacare.  This video of Romney's remarks comes from Hot Air:

Mitt Romney's Advice For ObamaCare: Look At RomneyCare

 Andrew Kacynski , Buzz Feed Staff  

Posted Mar 2, 2012 5:35pm EST

Mitt Romney was once touting his plan to Obama as a model for health care reform. 

He didn't mention keeping it at the state level.

Republican Presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney often fends off the attacks comparing the similarities between the plan he signed in Massachusetts in 2006 and ObamaCare by saying he took a federalist approach. The former Massachusetts Governor says his plan was done on a state level, where the central theme to both plans, the individual mandate, was a actually a conservative approach. 

But in a July 2009 op-ed in USA Today Romney thought the President could learn a thing or two from the plan he signed into law in Massachusetts, including using the individual mandate as an incentive for people to buy insurance. 

The op-ed no longer appears on the USA Today website but is archived on the Mitt Romney fan site "Mitt Romney Central" and is accessible on the former Governor's old website via the web archive.Health care cannot be handled the same way as the stimulus and cap-and-trade bills. With those, the president stuck to the old style of lawmaking: He threw in every special favor imaginable, ground it up and crammed it through a partisan Democratic Congress. Health care is simply too important to the economy, to employment and to America's families to be larded up and rushed through on an artificial deadline. There's a better way. And the lessons we learned in Massachusetts could help Washington find it.Romney continues further down in the op-ed bringing up the individual mandate dreaded by conservatives. 

Our experience also demonstrates that getting every citizen insured doesn't have to break the bank. First, we established incentives for those who were uninsured to buy insurance. Using tax penalties, as we did, or tax credits, as others have proposed, encourages "free riders" to take responsibility for themselves rather than pass their medical costs on to others. This doesn't cost the government a single dollar. Second, we helped pay for our new program by ending an old one — something government should do more often. The federal government sends an estimated $42 billion to hospitals that care for the poor: Use those funds instead to help the poor buy private insurance, as we did. 

Update Although the original online version of the op-ed doesn't appear on USA Today's website, a version was archived in an obscure corner of the site for the print edition of the paper.

If this isn't enough we have the Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on January 28, 2012 giving us the details of what Romney is planning with Romneycare thanks to Gateway Pundit:

We’re Screwed… Florida AG Pam Bondi Says Mitt Wants Romneycare In Every State (Video)

Posted by Jim Hoft on Saturday, January 28, 2012, 10:21 AM
The cat’s out of the bag…Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Romney supporter, went on The Record last night. The Florida Republican told Greta Van Susteren that Mitt wants Romneycare in every state.She also said she would be on Romney’s Health Care Advisory Team when he’s president.

Will someone please tell me why this Massachusetts liberal is running as a Republican?  In 1992 when he ran against Ted Kennedy he ran to the left of him at the end.  He has always been a flip flopper so no one can say with certainty how he would govern because no one knows including Romney himself IMHO.

Before Romney ran as a Republican (opportunist) he voted for Paul Tsongas in the Democrat primary and thus became a registered Democrat.  That means in 1992 when President Bush #41 was up for reelection that Romney voted for the Democrat in the primary as he was still registered as an "unenrolled voter" which meant he could vote in either party for President in the primary as they have an open primary.

In 1976 Romney registered as an "unenrolled voter" and stayed that until 1992 when he voted for Tsongas and became a Democrat which he switched back before deciding to become a Republican to take on Ted Kennedy for Senate that year.

Four years before Reagan Bush ran in 1980, Romney registered as an independent voter.  IMHO the only reason he registered as a Republican was so he could run as opposition to Ted Kennedy.  Why is he a Republican?  Opportunity to take on a established Democrat in the general not in the primary seems to be the answer.  Also may be the reason why he he has trouble touting his core values as a conservative because he is NOT a conservative and never has been.

When Romney brags about vetoing bills in MA, you have to keep in mind that he knew each and everyone would be overridden by the liberal MA legislature so the vetoes were hollow and meant nothing.  Did Romney think he could fool Republican voters as he had decided to run for President?  Looks like everything Romney does is calculated to the extent that his core values outside the Mormon Church are nil.

Why did Bush 41 push Mitt Romney so hard when he had to know that Romney became an independent in 1976 when Gerald Ford ran against Jimmy Carter.  Romney stayed as an independent when Reagan/Bush won two terms and Bush 41 won a term on his home.   Romney must have done a real snow job on Bush 41 for him to pull all the strings for Romney when Romney never supported him.  Shows the shallowness of Romney and the fact he will say and do anything to get elected include cheating which we have been seeing.

If you want Obama lite, vote for Romney because you will have helped elect a liberal Republican with a background that is not only liberal but closer to Democrat than Republican.