stuck in the mittle

RNC Recycling Old Editions of Romney’s Book

The lucky not-so-few journalists at the Republican National Convention in Tampa (including Intel Dan) were all gifted a bag of mostly useless free stuff upon entry that includes a hardcover copy of Mitt Romney’s book No Apology. In addition to being a thrilling collector’s item, the old version of the book also contains an Easter egg, reports Philip Klein for the Washington Examiner, in the form of a since-scrubbed line about Romney’s health-care law in Massachusetts.

In the edition of the book handed out today, at the end of a section on his health insurance policy, Romney writes, “We can accomplish the same thing for everyone in the country, and it can be done without letting government take over health care,” which could be interpreted as dangerously in line with our Socialist in Chief. The new softcover version of the book just says, “And it was done without government taking over health care,” making no inclusive promises to “everyone” (and no apologies).

Back in the glory days of the primary debates, Rick Perry argued that the altered line was meant to hide the fact that Romney once supported the individual mandate, a claim Romney denied so fervently that he was willing to bet $10,000 on it. Romney’s comeback was so out of touch that it overshadowed the substance of the argument entirely, trading one gotcha for another, neither of which were more than a tiny bump on his road to the nomination. Today, Perry gets his karmic payback, although at this point, he’d probably just prefer the ten grand.

RNC Recycling Old Editions of Romney’s Book