[skully]

SCOTUS ruled that it was Constitutional only as a tax. So for all legal purposes it's a tax(really its a punitive tax). If you, I or Obama want to call it something else, that's fine, but it's still a tax.

If the Admin. want to call it a mandate/penalty, they should be asked why they support an Unconstitutional law.

The law was intended to be a tax all along, it never would have passed as one, so they called it a mandate to more or less get it through Congress. Knowing they already had 4 votes on SCOTUS to support it, no matter what it was called; all they needed was to convince 1 of the other 5 to go along. In rode Benedict Roberts(apologies to Benedict Arnold) to save the day.

So now the Admin. is trying to have it both ways. They're calling it a penalty now, so they don't have to defend passing the largest tax increase in the history of the world 4 months before the election. They hope if they say it enough, they'll convince enough people that it is so. They're counting on the stupidity of the American electorate.

[ngat]

Yes, but they do have a backup plan to keep the federal law regulating all medical treatment in place even if they lose the election. It’s called Romney. It’s also called “repeal and RELACE”.