At Hot Air, Noah Rothman asks, "Has Gruber-gate scuttled Mitt, 2016?" Here's the short answer: oh yes, absolutely. If you don't believe that, just watch the first 25 seconds of this video, put together by the Obama campaign in 2012:

As Rothman says:

Romney ... has not been asked to confirm or deny his association with the presently toxic Gruber. Perhaps that is because there is not much for him to deny; Gruber's work in crafting the Massachusetts health care reform law, much like Obamacare, is well-documented.

Rothman also posts this quote from a 2011 piece written by Forbes's Avik Roy:

Gruber also had some unkind words for his former pupil, Mitt Romney. There's "zero difference" between Romneycare and Obamacare, he told Pillifant. "This is, to my mind, the most blatantly obvious case of politics trumping policy I’ve ever seen in my life. Because this is an idea, that four or five years ago, Republicans were touting. A guy from the Heritage Foundation spoke at the bill signing in Massachusetts about how good this bill was."

But, what about when Romney says his law is different from Obamacare? "The problem is there is no way to say that, because they're the same f***ing bill. He just can't have his cake and eat it too. Basically, you know, it's the same bill. He can try to draw distinctions and stuff, but he's just lying. The only big difference is he didn't have to pay for his. Because the federal government paid for it. Where at the federal level, we have to pay for it, so we have to raise taxes."

In 2012, Republicans forgave Romney for Romneycare (and lulled themselves into thinking that it was significantly different from Obamacare) because Mitt denounced Obamacare so relentlessly. But the association with Gruber -- now History's Greatest Monster, according to the right -- revives all the old anger about the Massachusetts law. And don't imagine that GOP voters will ever forget how much they hate Gruber -- these are people who are still angry at Jane Fonda.

If Romney were to try to run again, the clip above means he wouldn't get out of the early primaries. So g'bye, Mitt. Nice knowing you.

[Photo Credit: DonkeyHotey]

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Crossposted from No More Mister Nice Blog