Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich admitted on 'Meet the Press' on Sunday that GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney had “changed” positions on taxes during his debate against President Obama, reports ThinkProgress.org.
Last Wednesday night, Romney said: “I don’t have a $5 trillion tax cut. I don’t have a tax cut of a scale that you’re talking about.”
Back in February during a GOP primary debate, Romney said: "We're going to cut taxes on everyone across the country by 20 percent, including the top 1 percent."
Obama senior campaign adviser Robert Gibbs recalled that quote on 'Meet the Press': "Standing on the stage with you in Arizona this is what Mitt Romney said. Number one, I said today we’re going to cut taxes on everyone across the country by 20 percent, including the top 1 percent.’"
"Mr. Speaker, you mentioned that your opponent, Mitt Romney, had a problem with being dishonest in the primary. My question is, was he dishonest when he said that?”
Gingrich admitted: “I think it’s clear he changed.”
Gibbs answered; “We don’t disagree that he changed."
Some of you on this board have claimed Romney hasn't changed his position. Why does Gingrich think he has?
Here was another big "change" that turned out not to be a change after all, but simply misleading.
Romney, in debate:
ROMNEY: Well, actually it's -- it's -- it's a lengthy description. But, number one, preexisting conditions are covered under my plan. Number two, young people are able to stay on their family plan. That's already offered in the private marketplace. You don't have to have the government mandate that for that to occur.
But let's come back to something the president and I agree on, which is the key task we have in health care is to get the cost down so it's more affordable for families. And then he has as a model for doing that a board of people at the government, an unelected board, appointed board, who are going to decide what kind of treatment you ought to have.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/pre ... HNRO03A_ik
His plan does not cover preexisting conditions, as his own campaign admitted after the debate. And how in the heck are you going to keep costs down if you're going to expect health insurance companies to continue covering young adults? The mandate isn't popular, but that's how any of this is affordable, because it expands the base of healthy insured people.
So Friday, after the debate, Romney advisor Eric Fehrnstrom had to deal with the fallout.
Eric Fehrnstrom, a top aide to Mitt Romney, suggested in a Thursday interview with CNN that the GOP presidential candidate's health plan may achieve his goal of covering individuals with pre-existing conditions through "state initiatives and money."
When pressed whether Romney would require states to include a pre-existing conditions stipulation in their legislation, Fehrnstrom answered: "We will give the state initiatives and money so that they can manage these decisions on their own. But, of course, we'd like them to see them continue that pre-existing band for those who have continuous coverage."
So Romney's plan is to "like" the states to figure this out somehow?