Has anyone ever told you that Romney used to be a left-wing Republican in 1994 who “ran to the left of Ted Kennedy?” Well, don’t believe it. I dug up some old footage of the 1994 debate between Mitt Romney and Ted Kennedy. Not only has Mitt Romney been consistent on opposing federally mandated health care, he took the fight to Ted Kennedy on the issue, and beat him up pretty badly about it. The transcript is below.
Romney: “I do not believe in a government takeover of the health care system, which was part of your plan. I don’t believe the American people – or even the Democratic congress – were willing to accept a government takeover health care plan, and that’s the error I think you made.
APPLAUSE
Romney: “I do not think it’s a good idea to have the federal government take over our health care system! I don’t think it’s a good idea for the government to place global budgets on a state to say how many teaching universities we’re going to have that teach medicine, how many students get to be in which specialty, how many get to be general practitioners. I don’t think it’s a good idea to have price controls set on the economy. And that was a major part of your plan.”
Kennedy: “Do you think we have too many specialists now?”
Romney: “Do I think we have too many specialists now? You know what?”
Kennedy: “Do we? Do you or not?”
Romney: “Senator, let me tell you something. I don’t think it’s the – let me tell you. Do I think so? Yes. Do I think that’s relevant? No. Do you know why? Because the free-market economy is the best at setting how many specialists we have, not some bureaucrats in Washington!”
APPLAUSE
MassCon,
Thank you for taking the time to look at that debate. The things you’ve pulled from it have been eye opening to me. People take one or two clips from it to paint Mitt as a liberal, but when you listen to the whole debate, a very different picture is cast.
Speaking of which, do you know anywhere where the whole footage is posted? I know you posted a few clips on YouTube, but I’d love to watch the whole thing.
The entire debate can be seen here:
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/61101-1
Also, for others viewing, my YouTube channel is posted below, and I’ve taken 4 of what I think are the best clips from the debate and uploaded them to this page, under “Uploads” :
http://www.youtube.com/user/2012Romney?feature=mhee
Great post MassCon, it’s great to have someone inside Massachessets who can articulate Mitt’s positions.
Thanks a lot for the opportunity to post this, Spencer! I look forward to posting more!
Dunno if this is your first post, but just want to say congratulations for having your own post on some cool Mitt blog!
MassCon, Great site. Love the post. I will have this as a favorite!
Awesome!
The more people that see this post, the better.
Mitt has made his pitch. It’s up to us to clear up the misconceptions.
The number ONE issue keeping people away from Mitt is the (false) perception that he was liberal until he ran for president.
NOT TRUE.
Spread this article around, Mitt-Heads!
This is a handsome, well-apointed blog. Congratulations!
Loved the clarifications on Mitt’s healthcare policies.
Thanks SixMom, let me know if you are interested in contributing as an FPP. MassCon is a very welcome addition!
Nice job, MassCon!
Good find. Congrats on the FPP!
People are passing this post all over the internet. I see it on Facebook posted on different Romney groups.
After following Romney since the last cycle I finally decided to watch the entire (infamous) Romney-Kennedy debate. I think it puts a lot of the garbage that floats around about Romney into perspective. He is not to the left of Kennedy. He is supremely consistent on Health insurance issues. The rationale for his abortion change is placed in context (it went from an emotional family issue to a reasoned, executive one). He explains his gay rights comments. He has battled liberal talking points about being an evil rich guy for a long time. He has also become much more polished at debating.
It’s called “snippeting” when someone takes (Perry is infamous for doing this) takes little snippets to try to manipulate what a candidate really said in order to make him look bad. We’re in for a long fight this year.