Rand Paul Attacks Romneycare

The Union Ledger reports:

With his father on the verge of running for President, Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul today questioned the Republican credentials of potential adversaries Mitt Romney and Donald Trump during a visit to New Hampshire.

In an interview, Paul, an eye surgeon by profession and staunch conservative by ideology, said government-mandated health care programs are "an anathema" to basic constitutional principles.

"Romneycare,'" Paul said, "was such a bad model for 'Obamacare.' Once you allow that the state is going to mandate and decide what insurance has to sell, it really is such an anathema to capitalism and to freedom and individual liberty, that I don't know how a good solid Republican conservative could sign a piece of legislation like that."

Paul said it will be an albatross for Romney during the nomination campaign "if I have anything to say about it."

Romney, Paul said, "has to explain why he supported that, and it's not a passing issue, it's one-sixth of our economy. He could say the Democrats made it worse, but he signed the bill.

"It's a horrific piece of legislation that presaged what we got from 'Obamacare,'" Paul said.