Video: A matter of working on the health care law

>>> a battle over the health care law , one of mitt romney 's own people is now breaking with the republican argument that the mandate amounts to nothing but a new tax on americans . earlier today right on the "daily rundown" said that romney agrees with president obama , it's not a tax, it's a penalty.

>> the governor believes that what we put in place in massachusetts was a penalty and he disagrees with the court's ruling that the mandate was a tax. but, again --

>> he agrees with the president -- but he agrees with the president that it is not -- and he believes you shouldn't call -- the tax penalty a tax, you should call it a penalty or a fee or a fine?

>> that's correct. but the president also needs to be held accountable for his hypocritical and contradictory statements.

>> joining me now is patrick , executive director of the democratic national committee , also president obama 's former political director. good afternoon to you, first of all. has the president's message at some point regarding whether this is a tax or penalty, has the message itself be contradictory? has it been hypocritical at times?

>> the president has been consistent from the earliest days of the struggle to pass the health care act in washington, d.c. and, of course, mitt romney has engaged in all manner of verbal gymnastics from the moment he left the governor's mansion in massachusetts and through his attempts to become the standard bearer of the republican party . first he rejected his signature accomplishment, his really only real accomplishment in massachusetts , and he has spent the better part of the last nine months or so railing against a mandate that he himself lifted up as a national model and now we've got the senior adviser of his campaign running afoul of all the republican party talking points because, of course, they know that mitt romney himself made the most cogent argument ever for why we've got to have the mandate so folks that can be free writers can afford health insurance , choose not to get it who ended up having their health care costs covered by you and i are held accountable. they are all over the place and they're being reckless in their rhetoric from the last year to score political points instead of putting a plan -- putting forth a plan to help the american people .

>> i want to play a snippet of what speaker boehner said on cbs and talk to you on the other side. take a listen.

>> the american people do not want to get on this path. they do not want the government telling them what kind of insurance policy they have to buy. and how much they're going to pay for it. and if you don't like it, we're going to tax you. it has to be ripped out and we need to start over --

>> so you say --

>> patrick , that's the republican -- that's going to be the only way we can repeal it. when democratic candidates were forced to talk about health care it didn't go well.

>> well, i would caution you the conclusions you're drawing from 2010 . and let's remember this was a period when the unemployment rate in the this country was at about 9.5% and that was a dominant issue for americans going to the ballot box . i also hope that speaker boehner and governor romney has the ability to have an honest conversation with the 3.1 million young people who already can stay on their parents' health insurance as a consequence of this bill. the 105 million americans who no longer have a cap on their health care premiums and, of course, the millions of seniors in this country, the 5 million seniors who already have been able to get prescription drug benefits as a consequence being closed in that bill. so i hope as they run around and try to say we've got to replace the president or replace obama care that they have a real thoughtful plan for millions of americans who need access to health care , who have it as a result of the health care act being passed by congress, being signed by this president and now being affirmed by the highest law in the land.

>> patrick , really quickly, last question, and this is for folks who don't follow this as closely as we all do here. tax penalty . why is that language so important?

>> well, let's be very, very clear here about what the supreme court said last week, craig. the supreme court affirmed that this law is constitutional and that the penalty can be assessed to the tax provisions in the u.s. constitution . and this penalty applies to 1% of all americans who can afford health care but refuse to get it. and as a result, you and i are paying for the health care costs. so it's really important that we understand exactly what the supreme court affirmed. it's clear what was in the president's plan. and it's also clear that this is a plan that was modeled on the tax penalty that was leveed in massachusetts by governor mitt romney himself.

>> sounds better than tax.

>> i think it's just important that we speak to the facts and the truth of exactly what's in these provisions, craig.

>> thank you so much for your time, i appreciate you.

>> thank you.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/48047874/

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