Yesterday, former New York Governor George Pataki (R-NY) officially launched Revere America, an organization dedicated to repealing health care reform. Pataki also backed off his claim that the mandate in Massachusetts’ health care law is “unconstitutional,” telling the Boston Herald that he “misspoke” and really knows nothing about the Massachusetts plan:

“I misspoke,” said Pataki, calling a Herald reporter to clarify his point about an hour after saying the Massachusetts health-care individual mandate crafted under Romney is “unconstitutional.”

In his second call – made after a story was published on bostonherald.com and after a Herald reporter sought comment from Romney – Pataki insisted his comments were about President Obama’s reforms and said he has no idea whether Romney’s and Obama’s plans are alike.

“The only thing I’ve done is read newspaper reports, and in the reports they’ve said (the two plans) were similar,” Pataki said. “I used to be a governor, and when people from out of state came in and told me what New York should do, I didn’t like it. This is a decision for the people of Massachusetts.”

Pataki also appeared C-SPAN’s Washington Journal and accused Democrats of ignoring public opinion and passing health reform without “even following the rules of the Senate.” He said Revere America will be going to be in all 50 states to mobilize the grassroots and “get over a million e-mail addresses of people who would support us in working to repeal ObamaCare and work with us to replace it with true health care reform.”

Asked how he could build support for a campaign to repeal legislation that would lower the deficit, reduce health care spending, and secure and expand coverage, Pataki explained that he would perpetuate misinformation to build on existing public perceptions. “They say it’s going to reduce the deficit. The objective analysis I have seen is that it will increase the deficit by at least a half trillion dollars and probably a lot more over the course of the next decade,” Pataki said. “And the American people know they’re wrong on that. They say they’re going to drive down health care costs, but I think the American people know that this is going to increase health care costs.” Pataki also regurgitated the now debunked claim that the law would require 16,000 IRS agents, claimed that the reform process was “totally done in the dark” and said he doubted anyone read the health care bill before voting for it.

Former Gov. George Pataki (R-NY), who is heading up an effort to petition the government to “repeal and replace” the new health care law, took a shot at Mitt Romney today, telling a Connecticut newspaper that Massachusetts’ health care reform law contained an “unconstitutional” individual mandate:

Former New York Gov. George Pataki blasted the Bay State’s health care reform created under former Gov. Mitt Romney today, telling the Herald it’s “unconstitutional.” He also conceded that Romney is “probably the (Republican) front runner” in the 2012 presidential election.

“I think the idea of what they call an individual mandate … is not just wrong, in all likelihood it’s unconstitutional,” Pataki told the Herald in a telephone interview today [...] Pataki, who would not rule out a 2012 presidential run, is kicking off his push to repeal health care reform at the Paul Revere park on Sunday. He’s started a non-profit called “RevereAmerica.org” and plans to tour campaign hot spots like Iowa and California. “We want to mobilize people who understand our freedom is at risk again and we have to wake up and reclaim our government,” said Pataki. He’s pushing to rake in $15 million for the campaign along with millions of signatures from congressional districts to show politicians where the average American stands.

Pataki’s comments come as a growing number of conservatives are beginning to question Romney’s ability to successfully distance himself from national health care reform, given its similarities to the Massachusetts plan. Since President Obama signed the reform bill, Romney moved quickly to condemn the new law as an abuse of federal power, arguing that health care reform is a right reserved for the states. He has also defended the success of his own, very similar, proposal. Many conservatives, however, don’t believe that voters will make the distinction.

Early last month, The Club for Growth mocked Romney for calling his plan “the ultimate conservative plan” and the CATO Institute has now put together a video explaining the fundamental similarities between RomneyCare and ObamaCare.

The conservative American Spectator is also warning Republicans that a Romney presidential bid could undermine any effort to repeal the national law. “Romney would not be able to credibly campaign against the national health care law,” Phillip Klein wrote today on the AmSpecBlog. “And as a result, were he the Republican nominee, it would kill the movement to repeal ObamaCare.”

Romney himself may even agree with Pataki. He has repeatedly praised the individual mandate for insuring 98% of all Massachusetts residents, but has also argued that the measure violates the sovereignty of the states. “I think it’s unconstitutional on the 10th Amendment front,” he said last week.

Yesterday, former Gov. George Pataki (R-NY) announced that he will head a new organization to lead the charge for repealing health care reform. Pataki’s group, Revere America, will launch a nationwide petition drive to “repeal and replace” the health care reform legislation in Boston on April 18 – the 235th Anniversary of Paul Revere’s ride — after which Pataki will “embark on a cross-country tour that will ultimately take the Revere America petition drive to all 50 states.” “Revere America is being launched to counter the forces of liberalism by advancing common sense public policies rooted in our traditions of freedom and free markets, and that will once again make America secure and prosperous for generations to come,” Pataki said.

Pataki appeared on Morning Joe today to explain what those “common sense public policies rooted in our traditions of freedom and free markets” actually are. Here is Donny Deutsch challenging Pataki to name five Republican health care ideas that could replace the existing law:

PATAKI: First of all, we can lower the cost of health care by having true medical malpractice reform….Second of all, we can allow people to purchase across state lines.….Third, put in place health care accounts where you have health savings accounts so you can follow the model that many companies have used where they have comprehensive health care coverage that has a high deductible…. Four, put in place some off the very good things that are in the bill like pre-existing conditions and lifetime caps. And five, undo the taxes that have — are going to be suffering under this new health care bill.

Watch it:

If I’m hearing him correctly, Pataki actually only has 3 ideas to reform the health care system and all three are already part of the bill in one form or another. While the malpractice reform provisions could be stronger, the bill does fund state-based demonstration projects to determine the best way to lower malpractice costs. Americans can buy health care across state lines if their state forms a compact with other states and expects actually expect more people to opt for HSAs under the new health care law (taxes for health savings account withdrawals before age 65 for nonqualified medical expenses will increase from 10 percent to 20 percent, beginning in 2011.)

To be clear, these provisions are not exact replicas of Republican proposals. They’re compromises designed to attract Republican support and appease conservative Blue Dogs. (Which, incidentally, is the very kind of bipartisan approach to politics that Republicans have been demanding since they found themselves in the minority.)

Pataki isn’t arguing that we should repeal this bill and replace it with some new innovative proposal to increase access to coverage and lower health care costs. He wants to repeal a fairly conservative reform bill and replace it with its slightly more conservative uncle. That, to me, sounds like a waste of time that only a man who’s hoping to run for future office would be willing to engage in. But more broadly, if all of the repealers’ ideas are already in law, what does it say about their efforts and…well reform itself?