Great theater:
MITT ROMNEY: I know Newt Gingrich. And Newt Gingrich is a friend of mine. But, he and I are not clones, I promise. (LAUGH) That— that is not the case. So this Newt Gingrich thing, we gotta get that out of our mind altogether— Newt and Romney thing, sorry. Let— let me say this about— about health care. One, I didn’t send a team of anybody to meet with Barack Obama. I wish he’d have given me a call. I wish when he was putting together his health care plan, he’d have had the courtesy and— and perhaps the judgment to say, “Let me— let me talk to a governor. Let’s talk to somebody who’s dealt with a real problem that— that understands this topic,” and get on the phone.
I’d have said (BACKGROUND VOICE), “Mr. President, you’re going down a very, very bad path. Do not continue going down that path because what you’re gonna do is you’re gonna raise taxes on the American people. You’re gonna cut Medicare. Let’s not forget, only one president has ever cut Medicare for seniors in this country, and it’s Barack Obama. We’re gonna remind him of that time and time again.
And finally, the plan we put in place in Massachusetts, it deals with the 8% of our people who didn’t have insurance. The 92% of people who did have insurance, nothing changes for them. If I’m President of the United States, we’re gonna get rid of ObamaCare and return, under our constitution, the 10th Amendment, the responsibility and care of health care to the people in the states.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: I wanna bring Governor Perry— (APPLAUSE) you’ve heard this argument, I wonder which side you come down on.
RICK PERRY: Yeah, well, I— I’m— I’m stunned, ‘cause— the fact of the matter is, you know, Michele kinda hit the nail on the head when we talked about the individual mandate. Both of these gentlemen have been for the— individual mandate. And I’m even more stunned, Mitt, that you said you wished you could’ve talked to Obama and said— “You’re goin’ down the wrong path,” because that is exactly the path that you’ve taken Massachusetts. The Beacon Hill study itself said that there’s been 18,000 jobs lost because of that individual mandate.
The study continued to say that there’ve been over $8 billion of additional cost. I wish you coulda had the conversation with the people of Massachusetts a long time before that phone call would’ve been with— the— President Obama, ‘cause the fact of the matter is, you’re for individual mandate. And you can get up and stand— up and talk about, you know, “I’m against it now. And I’m gonna— rescind ObamaCare. I’m gonna repeal ObamaCare.” But the record is very clear. You and Newt were for individual mandates. And that is the problem. And the question is then, “Who can stand on the stage, look Obama in the eye, and say, ‘ObamaCare is an abomination for this country,’?” And I’m gonna do that. And I can take that fight to him and win that fight.
DIANE SAWYER: Governor Romney, (INAUDIBLE). (APPLAUSE)
MITT ROMNEY: A good deal of what you said was right. Some was wrong. Speaker Gingrich said that he was for a federal individual mandate. That’s something I’ve always opposed. What we did in our state was designed by the people in our state for the needs of our state. You believe in the 10th Amendment. I believe in the 10th Amendment. The people of Massachusetts favor our plan three to one. They don’t like it, they can get rid of it. (COUGH) That’s the great thing about (COUGH) a democracy, where individuals under the 10th Amendment have the power to craft their own solutions.
By the way, the— the problem with President Obama’s plan is it does three things we didn’t in my opinion, among others. I understand we disagree on this. But among others, one, it raises taxes by $500 billion. We (NOISE) didn’t raise taxes. Two, it cuts Medicare by $500 billion. We didn’t do that, either. And three, it doesn’t just deal with the people that don’t have insurance. It’s a 2,000-page bill that takes over health care for all the American people. It is wrong for health care. It’s wrong for the American people. It’s unconstitutional. And I’m absolutely adamantly opposed to ObamaCare.
And if I’m the President of the United States, I will return to the people and the states the power they have under the constitution and they can craft the solutions they think are best for them. And my view— you had a mandate in your state. You mandate that girls at 12 years old had to get a vaccination for— for a sexually-transmitted disease. So it’s not like we have this big difference on mandates. We had different things we mandated over. I— I wanted to give people health insurance. You want to get young girls— a vaccine. There are differences.
......GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Governor Perry.
RICK PERRY: I’m— I’m— (THROAT CLEARING) I’m listenin’ to you, Mitt, and I’m hearin’ you say all the right things. But I read your first book and it said in there that your mandate in Massachusetts which should be the model for the country. And I know it came out of— of the— the reprint of the book. But, you know, I’m just sayin’, you were for individual mandates, my friend.
MITT ROMNEY: You know what? You’ve raised that before, Rick. And— you’re simply wrong.
RICK PERRY: It— it— it was true then. (CHUCKLE) It’s true now.
MITT ROMNEY: That— now, this— Rick, I’ll— I’ll tell you what. (CHUCKLE) 10,000 bucks— (APPLAUSE) $10,000 bet?
RICK PERRY: I’m not in the bettin’ business, but, okay.
MITT ROMNEY: Oh, I— I’ll—
RICK PERRY: I’ll show you the— I’ll— I’ll— I’ll show you the book.
MITT ROMNEY: I wrote— I’ve got the book. And—
RICK PERRY: And we’ll show— (LAUGH)
MITT ROMNEY: And I— and I— and I wrote the book. And I haven’t— and chapter seven is a section called The Massachusetts Model. And I say as close as I can quote, I say, “In my view, each state should be able to— to fashion their own program for the specific needs of their distinct citizens.” And then I go on to talk about the states being the laboratories of democracy. And we could learn from one another. I have not said, in that book, first edition or the latest edition, anything about our plan being a national mo— model imposed on the nation.
The right course for America, and I said this durin’ the debates the last time around, I’ll say it now and time again, is to let individual states— this is a remarkable nation. This idea of federalism is so extraordinary. Let states craft their own solutions. Don’t have ObamaCare put on us by the federal government.
If you watch the clip above, Rick Perry says, "BUT I'll show you the book..." He did NOT not "okay."
Cute ABC....