The $10,000 Bet Mitt Romney Will Want to Take Back

Mitt Romney is very wealthy. The Boston Globe pegged his net worth at somewhere between $190 million and $250 million. So it was probably a bad idea for him to respond to a challenge from Texas Gov. Rick Perry at Saturday’s GOP debate by offering to wager $10,000—more than a lot of Americans have in their savings accounts right now—that he had never supported a national individual mandate. Here’s video, via TPM:

To make matters worse, Romney didn’t just give President Obama grist for a campaign ad—he’d also lose the bet. Romney did, at least until recently, believe that his Massachusetts health care plan offered a model for the rest of the country.

Update: On further review, it’s not clear whether Romney would lose the bet, since he didn’t specifically call for a federal mandate in his (since-revised) book. But Perry’s right that Romney supports mandates on principle, and he has, in other forums, endorsed their implementation at the federal level.

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DEFEND THE TRUTH. DEFEND JOURNALISM.

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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