Romney Laughs Off Previous Support For A National Romneycare As An ‘An Exaggeration’

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has not taken too kindly to journalists who ask him about his record, especially regarding his Massachusetts health care plan. In what he characterized as an “overly aggressive” interview on Fox, Romney chided Brett Baier for noting that he often suggested his state health care plan was a model for the nation. “You’re wrong, Brett,” Romney barked. Washington Examiner reporter Byron York offered Romney a second chance to explain the benefits of his health care plan. Instead, he tried to laugh off the relevance of his signature achievement as an “exaggeration“:

BYRON YORK: Governor, on health care, you’ve often said that the health care plan that you’ve created in Massachusetts would be a good model for some other states. You said, “Maybe not every state, but most.”

ROMNEY: I don’t think I said “most,” but –

YORK: On “Meet the Press” in 2007.

ROMNEY: Oh did I? Did I make that exaggeration? [Laughs].

YORK: So, what are some of the states that today would benefit by adopting the system that you created in Massachusetts?

ROMNEY: In its entirety? Not very many. Because it’s not even perfect for Massachusetts.

In his defense, the numerous flip-flops make it hard to keep track. But Romney has definitively stated numerous times in the past that his health care plan would be a good model for the entire country. Via American Bridge:

At end of the day, Romney’s refusal to stand by his own support for his own policies offers another layer of backpedaling that only further undermines his candidacy. As the Washington Post’s Greg Sargeant notes, Romney ends up describing “his own past assertion about the success of his signature accomplishment — one that’s now politically inconvenient for him — as an ‘exaggeration’” that’s not even fit for his own state.