Memo to New Hampshire Voters: Scott Brown Voted for Romneycare

The 2014 midterm elections will come down to who was for and who was against Obamacare. As conservatives, we relish this fight because now that the law has unfortunately gone into effect, Americans are now seeing before their very eyes how Obamacare fundamentally changes the health care system in America for the worse. 

Conservatives also wanted to have this national debate back in 2012 with a Republican nominee hammering the issue at every speech and debate. That did not happen, and we are now in the midst of a failed second term of President Barack Obama.

Mitt Romney could not articulate a full-throated argument against Obamacare because of his own health care law in Massachusetts known as Romneycare. The names are similar and so is the policy of mandating citizens buy health insurance. 

Now, Scott Brown, the former Unites States Senator and State Senator from Massachusetts, is rumored to be moving north and has his sights on the United States Senate seat in the great state of New Hampshire. He has not made his decision public yet, but the tea leaves coming out of his camp this week are palpable. One giant issue conservatives should consider is that then-Massachusetts State Senator Scott Brown did in fact vote for Romneycare in 2005.

People may argue that Scott Brown became a United States Senator because he campaigned on his opposition to Obamacare. Citizens United Political Victory Fund actually sent him a check to support his campaign for the 41st vote in the Senate. He was eventually elected on that platform against a horrible candidate. But what did United States Senator Scott Brown do once he was elected to stop the implementation of Obamacare? The simple answer is nothing. He was not a leader against it once he came to Washington. It was almost like he forgot why he was elected to the United States Senate in the first place.

To campaign against Obamacare in 2014, you have to oppose it as a matter of principle. You can’t have supported a similar measure when you were a state senator from Massachusetts and then have done nothing to stop the implementation of it once you were a United States Senator. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and sitting liberal New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen will have a field day with a potential Scott Brown candidacy, and they will use his Romneycare vote to inoculate the vulnerable incumbent from attacks on Obamacare. 

Scott Brown had his chance as a United States Senator from Massachusetts and did nothing to stop the full implementation of Obamacare, and when he was a state senator from the Bay State he voted for Romneycare. New Hampshire Republicans chose a failed presidential nominee in 2012; let’s hope history does not repeat itself.