Perry Tries To Deflect Criticism By Calling Romney Program "Socialist"

I think it's beginning to dawn on Rick Perry that he made a huge mistake by attacking Social Security -- calling it an unconstitutional "Ponzi scheme". He and his campaign managers are trying to backtrack on that position now by saying all he really meant was that the program needed to be fixed to protect the elderly. That's really not flying too well -- how do you fix something that's unconstitutional except to get rid of it?

So Perry is now bringing out the heavy artillery to try and change the discussion. He's tossing around the "s" word, which Americans have been conditioned to fear and go screaming into the night upon hearing. That word is "socialism", and he's trying to tie the word to Mitt Romney (the biggest capitalist in the presidential race). This doesn't make any sense on the face of it, but when you consider what he thinks Romney has done that socialist it makes even less sense.

When he was governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney signed a health care bill into law -- a bill that served as a model for the health care reform passed on the federal level. The Massachusetts law, like the federal law, contained a mandate for the state's citizens to buy private health insurance policies. Defending the mandate Romney said:

“I know some people say, ‘gee, your Massachusetts health care plan isn’t conservative.’ I say, ‘oh yes it is, because right now in this country people who don’t have health insurance go to the hospital if they have a serious illness and they get treated for free by government. My plan says no they can’t do that, no more free riders. People have to take personal responsibility.”

But that is the very thing that Perry is calling socialist. At a speech yesterday in Iowa Perry said:

“. . .the model of socialized medicine has been tried before…whether it was in Western Europe or in Massachusetts. . .”


"In Massachusetts the costs have increased by more than $8 billion, that’s what that socialized individual mandated health care bill they put in place in Massachusetts did. Those who had insurance are now paying the price for an individual mandate for those without insurance who must join the system. Private insurance premiums in that state have gone up by more than $4 billion. The problem with state-sponsored health care is if you cannot contain it just within the borders of your state."


Now Perry is either the stupidest candidate in the presidential race (a distinct possibility) or the biggest liar in the race (also very possible) -- or maybe both. The people in Massachusetts are not being forced to buy government insurance but private insurance. While it may be a mandate, it is mandated capitalism -- not mandated socialism. Perry doesn't oppose the Texas state mandate to buy car insurance from private companies, or think it is socialism. Why does it become socialist when it is health insurance bought from private companies? Obviously it doesn't.

Now it is true that insurance premiums have risen in Massachusetts -- currently at a rate of 6.3% a year. But that looks good when compared to Texas where the premiums are higher and rising at a faster rate -- currently at 7.4% a year. Maybe Perry thinks people won't notice that if he yells "socialism" long and loud enough. And that is not the only advantage Massachusetts health care has over Texas health care. Consider the following:

NUMBER OF UNINSURED
Massachusetts...............323,500
Texas...............6,200,000

PERCENTAGE OF UNINSURED
Massachusetts...............5.3%
Texas...............27.2%  

NUMBER OF UNINSURED CHILDREN
Massachusetts...............51,400
Texas...............1,300,000

PERCENTAGE OF UNINSURED CHILDREN
Massachusetts...............3%
Texas...............18%

INFANT MORTALITY RATE
Massachusetts...............5.0
Texas...............6.3

Viewing those statistics it becomes obvious why Perry wants to use the scary "s" word. A simple comparison shows that Romney has done a much better job with health care in Massachusetts than Perry did in Texas, and Perry doesn't want people making that comparison. If Romney's health care program in Massachusetts is socialism (which it certainly is not) then Texas could use a double-dose of it.

Perry looks bad enough when talking against the very popular Social Security and Medicare programs (which are socialist programs), but he looks even worse when the Texas and Massachusetts health care programs are compared. I am left to wonder why anyone could think Perry is qualified to be president.