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| Mitt Romney wobbles over healthcare position – US politics live | Mitt Romney wobbles over healthcare position – US politics live |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| 11.26am: While the WSJ op-ed board is indulging its teenage snit with Mitt Romney, their counterparts at the New York Times are worrying about the hole in healthcare coverage that the supreme court decision has opened up. | |
| Specifically, the NYT identifies the gap between the very poor – who qualify for existing Medicaid – and those who qualify for new subsidies: | |
| In states that choose not to expand Medicaid, substantial numbers of the very poor could be left out of coverage. The reform law provides tax credits to help people with incomes between 100 percent and 400% of the federal poverty level (about $23,000 to $92,000 for a family of four) buy private insurance. But the bill's drafters made no provision to provide subsidies for anyone below the poverty line because they assumed that those people would be covered by expanded Medicaid. | |
| But now that the expansion is no longer mandatory, the poorest adults — those without children and parents with incomes below the poverty line but above Medicaid eligibility (typically well below the poverty line) — could land in the gap, ineligible for both Medicaid and for tax credits to buy private insurance. | |
| 10.51am: Because of actual news, Mitt Romney vice presidential speculation has fallen off the political news agenda. Until now, that is, as Real Clear Politic's Erin McPike sets it off with a piece reading the entrails from the Romney camp: | |
| [It] is reasonable to assume there are at least three data points Romney is considering as he mulls his vice presidential pick. The first is readiness for office, which is a qualification he has said publicly that potential choices must meet. The second is chemistry with the candidate and his wife, a quality his aides have indicated is important. And the third is an ability to fly solo – to campaign on behalf of Romney without him being there. This is a metric that has not been addressed by the campaign, but judging by Team Romney's actions, it's clear that it's a paramount concern given some of the events the campaign has staged with top surrogates – and it likely reveals who is no longer in the running. | |
| McPike thinks that under those lights, Tim Pawlenty, Rob Portman, Paul Ryan and Bobby Jindal are the current front-runners, while Kelly Ayotte and Bob McDonnell are long shots. Not on the list? Chris Christie or Marco Rubio. | |
| 10.32am: Bloomberg's Josh Barro puts his finger on the confusion surrounding Mitt Romney's "tax or penalty" confusion over the supreme court and the healthcare individual mandate. | |
| Antonin Scalia thinks the mandate is not a tax. Why is everybody urging Romney to disagree with Scalia? | |
| Barro's right: there's no reason for Romney to shrug his shoulders and say "well the supreme court says it's a tax," since he wouldn't take that position on other issues, such as abortion. | |
| 10.17am: More on the Wall Street Journal editorial today that is making waves. The editorial itself is an incoherent jumble of digs at the Romney campaign and Romney's candidacy – a candidacy that the WSJ's op-ed board never supported with any enthusiasm. | |
| Here's a couple of the choicest quotes: | |
| This latest mistake is of a piece with the campaign's insular staff and strategy that are slowly squandering an historic opportunity. Mr Obama is being hurt by an economic recovery that is weakening for the third time in three years. But Mr Romney hasn't been able to take advantage, and if anything he is losing ground.... | |
| Meanwhile, the Obama campaign is assailing Mr Romney as an out-of-touch rich man, and the rich man obliged by vacationing this week at his lake-side home with a jet-ski cameo. Team Obama is pounding him for Bain Capital, and until a recent ad in Ohio the Romney campaign has been slow to respond. | |
| Here's an alternative proposition: Mitt Romney is more or less endorsing every policy that the Wall Street Journal is urging upon him here – "the differences with specificity on higher taxes, government-run health care, punitive regulation, and the waste of politically-driven government spending" – and it's not working. So the WSJ blames the messenger for riding a jet-ski. | |
| 9.45am ET: Good morning, and welcome to today's live politics coverage. Here's Ryan Devereaux with a summary of today's developments: | 9.45am ET: Good morning, and welcome to today's live politics coverage. Here's Ryan Devereaux with a summary of today's developments: |
| • Mitt Romney is having a tough 4 July week after reversing his campaign's position on whether the charges related to the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act amount to a tax or penalty. Eric Fehrnstrom, an aide for Romney, previously said he considered it a "penalty", despite the supreme court ruling that it was a tax. But he changed his stance in a hastily arranged Independence Day interview with CBS, which fueled accusations that he is willing to change his views for political expediency. | • Mitt Romney is having a tough 4 July week after reversing his campaign's position on whether the charges related to the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act amount to a tax or penalty. Eric Fehrnstrom, an aide for Romney, previously said he considered it a "penalty", despite the supreme court ruling that it was a tax. But he changed his stance in a hastily arranged Independence Day interview with CBS, which fueled accusations that he is willing to change his views for political expediency. |
| • The Wall Street Journal has published a scathing editorial over the Romney tax v penalty troubles. "This latest mistake is of a piece with the campaign's insular staff and strategy that are slowly squandering an historic opportunity," the Journal says. The editorial goes on to say Romney's "Obama isn't working" strategy is far from adequate. It appears the WSJ is following the same tough-love approach to the Romney campaign embraced by its owner, Rupert Murdoch. Last weekend Murdoch took to Twitter to make much of the same argument. | • The Wall Street Journal has published a scathing editorial over the Romney tax v penalty troubles. "This latest mistake is of a piece with the campaign's insular staff and strategy that are slowly squandering an historic opportunity," the Journal says. The editorial goes on to say Romney's "Obama isn't working" strategy is far from adequate. It appears the WSJ is following the same tough-love approach to the Romney campaign embraced by its owner, Rupert Murdoch. Last weekend Murdoch took to Twitter to make much of the same argument. |
| • In the same interview, Romney said he believed the motivation behind Supreme Court justice John Roberts' crucial decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act was political. Romney said: "It gives the impression that the decision was made not based upon constitutional foundation, but instead political consideration about the relationship between the branches of government." | • In the same interview, Romney said he believed the motivation behind Supreme Court justice John Roberts' crucial decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act was political. Romney said: "It gives the impression that the decision was made not based upon constitutional foundation, but instead political consideration about the relationship between the branches of government." |
| • Barack Obama is launching a two-day bus tour of Pennsylvania and Ohio today. In something of a throwback to old-fashioned electioneering, the 250-mile "Betting on America" tour will take the president through northern Ohio and western Pennsylvania, where he will defend his economic policies and his decision to bail out major auto makers, while casting doubt on his rival's business record. | • Barack Obama is launching a two-day bus tour of Pennsylvania and Ohio today. In something of a throwback to old-fashioned electioneering, the 250-mile "Betting on America" tour will take the president through northern Ohio and western Pennsylvania, where he will defend his economic policies and his decision to bail out major auto makers, while casting doubt on his rival's business record. |
| • Ann Romney says her husband is considering choosing a woman as a running mate in his bid for the presidency. In the CBS News interview she said: "We've been looking at that and I love that option as well." Having a woman as his running mate could help the former Massachusetts governor, who has struggled to garner support from female voters. | • Ann Romney says her husband is considering choosing a woman as a running mate in his bid for the presidency. In the CBS News interview she said: "We've been looking at that and I love that option as well." Having a woman as his running mate could help the former Massachusetts governor, who has struggled to garner support from female voters. |