After each of the last two GOP debates (1, 2), I noted that no Romney rival managed to spell out the structural similarities between Romneycare and the Affordable Care Act. Now Perry has an ad that kin of does the job -- or rather, delivers a functional equivalent that appeals to Republican primary voters' emotions:
Mind you, the ad does not really spell out -- except for a brief allusion to exchanges -- how the ACA mirrors Romneycare. What it drives home is that Romney regarded them as similar and hoped that his program might be replicated nationally -- and also, of course that he's now lying about that.
Once again, Republican candidates will not say, Romneycare does x, y and z and so does Obamacare. Any dispassionate summary of the plans' core features might de-demonize the ACA, if only for an instant. Better to show Romney on the side of the devils than to put the devil's food out on the table.
The ad does spotlight Romney's hypocrisy rather beautifully. As someone nauseated by Romney's overcompensating charges that Obama "betrayed his oath to the nation" by passing a healthcare plan that he'd campaigned on, that had won sixty Senate votes, and that was modeled on Romney's plan, I find it very gratifying. May this celebrity deathmatch go to the finish!
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