Romney Attacks Obamacare As 'Unmitigated Mess'

By Heather — February 14, 2014

Steve Benen hit the nail on the head with how I feel every time I see Mitt Romney on television attacking President Obama as well: Mitt Romney would like your attention now:

Dan Hicks once asked, “How can I miss you when you won’t go away?” I find myself having a similar thought about Mitt Romney.

Last May, the failed presidential candidate was reportedly “restless” and decided he would “re-emerge in ways that will “help shape national priorities.’”

As we discussed at the time, failed national candidates, unless they hold office and/or plan to run again, traditionally fade from public view, content with the knowledge that they had their say, made their pitch, and came up short.

But Romney has decided he wants to keep bashing the president who defeated him. [...]

First, if anyone should avoid the subject of honesty in the public discourse, it’s Mitt Romney. Ahem.

Second, if it seems as if Romney can’t stop talking, it’s because the former one-term governor keeps popping up – a lot.

As Steve went onto note, it wasn't that long ago that Republicans were running as far away from Romney as possible following his loss to President Obama, Now we can't get him off of our television screens.

Josh Marshall said at the time the GOP pushback amounted to “Lord of the Flies” treatment, which seemed like an apt comparison.

And yet, here we are, and Romney’s still talking. Whether anyone is enjoying what they’re hearing is unclear.

It's clear that the powers that be over at Fox love him, because we're seeing segments like this one at every turn: Mitt Romney: ObamaCare Implementation an 'Unmitigated Mess':

MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS HOST: A brand new Fox Poll just out suggesting Americans have little hope that the healthcare law will help them. And don't believe the law would have passed if Americans had been told the truth about it. This week, we asked how families are paring under the health care law and a whopping 90 percent said their family is either the same or worse off than before it passed. The president has of course struggled to maintain his credibility on this law, thanks to his repeated assertions about how you would be able to keep the plan you had if you liked it, including the assertion he made in the first the presidential debate in October of 2012.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: And let me tell you exactly what Obamacare did. Number one, if you got health insurance, it doesn't mean a government takeover. You keep your own insurance. You keep your own doctor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now the CBO says up to 20 million people will lose their insurance as Obamacare goes into effect next year. This is why the American people don't want Medicare -- want Obamacare. It's why republicans said do not do this.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

KELLY: Well, earlier I had the chance to sit down with former Governor Mitt Romney.

MITT ROMNEY, FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR: Megyn, good to be with you.

KELLY: What a moment, you know, and now in retrospect that takes on that insignificance. You knew and so many knew what was likely happen under this law and now, the American people had found out and you see the dismay in the polls, over the fact that, you know, the plans are being canceled. The doctors are being lost. Hospital coverage is being lost and so on. Let me start with this, do you believe the American people should trust this president?

ROMNEY: Well, I think they -- they have lost the confidence they had in him. I think one of the great things you have as a leader of the country is the confidence of the people and the beliefs that what you're telling them is the truth. And I think that during the campaign and the months afterward, the president consistently said that if people had insurance they like, they could keep it. They could keep their doctor, prices are not to go up. These things turned out not to be true and I think the -- the breach of that promise is something very seriously eroded the president's capacity to lead at a very critical time.

KELLY: And now, as you know, Obamacare's problems continue to pop up day by day, the president now -- I think the executive actions you taken on Obamacare up to 28 moves he has made and around congress, that doesn't involve them extending the employer mandate and so on. And there's a question being asked not just by conservatives but by liberals, we had Jonathan Turley, a very left-leaning professor of law, who supports the president on the program last night who suggested this is becoming a lawless presidency, your thought.

ROMNEY: Well, it's a real mess. Look, the implementation of Obamacare is one part of the problem. I think the bridge of promise and the whole structure of the house put together is the biggest problem. But the implementation having been an unmitigated mess and the people who need relief from the imposition of Obamacare are the American families and that is the group that deserves to get some relief from this act. And I think it has been very disappointing and very revealing to see the president go through and make -- make these changes, which is a very tacit, and in fact, explicit recognition that the law isn't working and that this administration has not done the job they promised they would do.

KELLY: Many people feel the only real chance of reversing this law now is to elect a republican president. And to have the republicans win control of the senate and do it legislatively in the next presidential election. I know you have been asked, including recently whether you would consider a third try at the presidency. And there are polls including out of New Hampshire that place you as a frontrunner, you said no, that you are not going to do it. Let me ask you this, are there any circumstances under which you would consider running?

ROMNEY: Well, I'm not running and I can't imagine any circumstances that would get me to run again and the reason is very simple. And that is, I think the best chance we have of taking back the White House is what someone who has not yet run in the way I did last time around, someone who brings a new vision and is able to communicate that to the American people in a way that leads to a victory. And so, I'm going to be supporting a republican nominee in 2016. And I believe it is critical for many, many reasons. Obamacare being one of them, so I will be fighting for that person. And I think someone besides me is more likely to be happy to be the winner and that is why I'm going to be stepping aside for him.

KELLY: What is the one piece of advice you would give to the GOP nominee having gone up against the democratic machine?

ROMNEY: Well, start early, work long and hard, make sure that your message is communicated as early as possible so the democrats can't vilify you before your words are even out of your mouth. Make sure you don't make mistakes like I did. Learn from the mistakes.

KELLY: Make no mistakes.

ROMNEY: Make no mistakes.

KELLY: Tough to do.

ROMNEY: It is pretty hard in this world.