My Apologies To The Corporate Media

The other day I was critical of the Mainstream Press for not pointing out that conservatives who were once for the individual mandate are now opposed to ObamaCare, even though its central feature is an individual mandate. Well, David Gregory, on this morning's Meet The Press, pointed out to guest Newt Gingrich that Gingrich himself has a history of supporting the individual mandate. This exchange followed:

GINGRICH: Well, I agree that all of us have a responsibility to help pay for health care. And I think there are ways to do it that make most libertarians relatively happy. I have said consistently we ought to have some requirement that you either have health insurance or you post a bond, or in some way, you indicate you’re going to be held accountable.

GREGORY: But that is the individual mandate, is it not?

GINGRICH: It’s a variation on it.

GREGORY: So you won’t use that issue against Mitt Romney?

GINGRICH: No.

I've had my problems with Gingrich over the years, but I'll give him credit for not trying to run away from his record like so many other Republicans are doing with regard to Health Care Reform. You did the honorable thing this morning, Newt, and I applaud you for it.

Needless to say, members of the radical right aren't all that happy with Gingrich right now. This is from RedState.com:

Newt Gingrich appeared on Meet the Press this morning and said two things that won’t exactly endear him to the Tea Party crowd or the reform minded movement sweeping the GOP.

First, he endorsed the individual mandate and said he would not bash Mitt Romney over the individual mandate.

Second, he went after Paul Ryan’s proposal to reform Medicare. Your mileage may vary on Ryan’s plan, but he is both offering up one and using the free market, individual choice approach favored by conservatives.

Newt was not happy with the approach.

Gingrich is already going to have to overcome the apprehensiveness of evangelicals and women in the primary. To also have to overcome the free marketers’ concerns may prove problematic.

Gingrich's opposition to Ryan's proposal to gut Medicare should not be a problem for him, given the number of Republicans who are running away from Ryan like they'd run away from the plague.

But Newt's support for the individual mandate is another story because it now appears that there will be a debate amongst the 2012 GOP presidential candidates as to whether the individual mandate is the right approach. Doesn't the mere existence of such a debate seriously undercut the GOP argument that Obama is a socialist for signing a HCR bill which featured the individual mandate? The folks at Roaring Republican seem to think so:

Republican’s have major problems in 2012, not the least of which are our candidates. With Huckabee out, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich seem that much closer to headlining and that isn’t good for conservatives of any variety, especially on health care.

Romney made a name for himself with a signature Massachusetts health care reform that forced taxpayers to purchase care, known as an individual mandate. The measure is a centerpiece of the Obama federal plan and may prove to be the downfall of the entire legislation if the Supreme Court finds it unconstitutional. Not great for Romney, even worse for Newt Gingrich. Why?

In the past Gingrich has repeatedly supported an individual mandate, a point he reconfirmed this morning on Meet The Press. *** Essentially then, Gingrich and Romney have removed the lynchpin of the conservative argument. It is OK for the federal government to force individuals to purchase a private product. So then what is next? Carbon offsets? Forced higher education spending? Electric cars? Housing? Insulation? Where do we go from here?

Good question. One of the GOP strengths in the last two years has been its universal opposition to health care reform generally and its universal rejection of the the individual mandate specifically. It got so bad for Romney, in fact, that he actually had to argue the other day that the RomneyCare mandate was somehow different from the ObamaCare mandate. But Gingrich's re-embrace of the individual mandate this morning makes Romney look a lot less like a radical leftist than he did yesterday.

My conclusion? Today was a very good day for both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.