Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) said last night that President Obama was “possibly lying to the American people” when he told George Stephanopolous that his healthcare mandate was not a tax.
West also said on Fox’s “On the Record” that Mitt Romney needs to brand it as a tax.
“I think Governor Romney needs to understand that this is now a unconstitutional penalty maybe in the case if they had ruled as far as the commerce clause,” West said. “But when you start to understand the ruling that came down from the Supreme Court — and actually, the precedent that it now establishes whereby the federal government can, as I said, mandate a certain type of behavior or mandate a certain type of action and they can actually tax you for not — for your inactions.”
The congressman added “that’s the incredible thing that we must all understand. So the solicitor general argued for it to be a tax. The Supreme Court said that it’s a tax. And I believe that President Obama has been misleading.”
“I think that the governor probably needs to look at who he has within his circle of advisers and probably get him to — get them to provide the right type of counsel and advice,” West said. “And probably, the governor should take the opportunity to go down and do as I did today — I had a roundtable with about 10 doctors up in Port St. Lucie who are orthopedic specialists. And they clearly said, this is how we see this, and this is how we understand the ramifications of the Affordable Care Act on our business, as well as on the medical industry and the medical practitioners that are out here.”
“…What seems so ironic, that 236 years ago right about this time, Thomas Jefferson was sitting down and writing the Declaration of Independence,” West continued. “And he talked about the inalienable rights of the individual that come not from man or government, it comes from a creator. And when he lists those grievances against King George III, one of those grievances was the imposition of taxes without their consent. And this is exactly where we are 236 years later.”
The congressman also said he didn’t want a “do-over” on calling House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “delusional.”
“I will continue to stand by the comment that I said based upon some of the responses that she was making and the struggling that you saw her this past Sunday to try to change the decision of this Supreme Court to fit her own descriptions,” West said.
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