It Just Doesn't Get Any Better Than This

It turns out that even Newt Gingrich was for the individual health insurance mandate before he was against it:

In his post-congressional life, Gingrich has been a vocal champion for mandated insurance coverage -- the very provision of President Obama's health care legislation that the Republican Party now decries as fundamentally unconstitutional. ***

In a June 2007 op-ed in the Des Moines Register, Gingrich wrote, "Personal responsibility extends to the purchase of health insurance. Citizens should not be able to cheat their neighbors by not buying insurance, particularly when they can afford it, and expect others to pay for their care when they need it." An "individual mandate," he added, should be applied "when the larger health-care system has been fundamentally changed."

And in several of his many policy and politics-focused books, Gingrich offered much the same.

In 2008's "Real Change," he wrote, "Finally, we should insist that everyone above a certain level buy coverage (or, if they are opposed to insurance, post a bond). Meanwhile, we should provide tax credits or subsidize private insurance for the poor."

In 2005's "Winning the Future," he expanded on the idea in more detail: "You have the right to be part of the lowest-cost insurance pool and you have a responsibility to buy insurance. ... We need some significant changes to ensure that every American is insured, but we should make it clear that a 21st Century Intelligent System requires everyone to participate in the insurance system." ***

I think it speaks volumes that two of the most radical right-wingers in our country -- Newt Gingrich and Jim DeMint -- actually supported mandated insurance coverage for the United States. As noted last Sunday, DeMint even went so far as to state that RomneyCare is "something that I think we should do for the whole country."

If I was Obama, I wouldn't hesitate to mention this fact every time he discusses health care reform. After all, these guys are trying to paint ObamaCare as the most radical law ever passed in this country, which I find hilarious given that DeMint and Gringrich both supported mandated insurance coverage as recently as 2007!

I wonder what happened in 2008 to make these two extremists so radically flip-flop on this issue?