romney wsj respYou didn't think Mitt Romney would let yesterday's incredibly hostile Wall Street Journal editorial go by without a response, did you?
In a letter to the editor published in today's paper, Romney writes that he "wasn't surprised" to see the editorial but in a response that is far more succinct than his health care speech Thursday, he quibbles with their "distortions" in characterizing the law he passed as governor of Massachusetts.
Among other things, he says that "it's simply wrong" that individual mandates prompted the state's health care costs to "skyrocket," though he acknowledges medical costs in Massachusetts remains high.
Still, Romney doesn't answer the paper's toughest critique: that his endorsement of individual mandates is a violation of conservative principals. On Thursday, the paper opined the position essentially qualifies him to be "Obama's running mate."
But 2012 hopeful glosses over those comments and says he agrees with the Journal that Obama's health care law should be repealed and that the federal government should permit states to guide their own solution.
"A one-size-fits-all plan that raises taxes and ignores the very real differences between states is the wrong course for our nation," he writes.
(Photo of Romney: Carlos Osorio/AP)