Rachel Maddow Discovers a Little Willard Romney Portrait Nugget Tonight

It would seem that Willard Romney is quite the proud papa Mormon for delivering ROMNEYCARE to Massachusetts. So much so that HE felt it was important enough to include an image of his Health Care Reform folder next to a picture of his wife.







On tonight's TRMS: (transcribed by me)



Here is Rachel:



Rachel Maddow:


"...This is Mitt Romney's official portrait for his time as Governor of Massachusetts.

You see in terms of the props here, there is some indeterminate painting behind him.

Trying to figure out what that is today,....maybe its a boat, or a fish or something....



Then he has a lamp, you got a flag, you got a picture of his wife,.....AND, WAIT A SECOND..

WHATS THAT OTHER THING?


Hey, nothing is done by accident.....oh yea, a LITTLE FOLDER on his desk next to him that has a MEDICAL SYMBOL with the snakes on it, the CADUCEUS.


Thats what his official portrait is. His portrait summed up his time in office as two things:


- Being married to Ann Romney (remember the Massachusetts Gay marriage problem happened under him)....


And also...


THAT BILL,...PASSING HEALTH REFORM.



THATS IT!!


MARRIED!


HEALTH REFORM!


PHFFT!....









From MSNBC LEAN FORWARD:
(Thu May 24, 2012 7:30 PM EDT)






Before Romneycare was a bad word, governor's portrait bragged about Massachusetts healthcare


We don't often see the intersection between art and national politics. But a closer look at former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's official painted portrait reveals a startling clue about how the Republican candidate once felt about his signature policy achievement—universal healthcare.



The investigative team at PoliticsNation has been busy researching Romney's seldom-discussed, missing years as governor of the Bay State. During the GOP primaries, Romney faced intense scrutiny from his party's base for his background as a moderate New England Republican. Conservatives reserved their greatest skepticism for Romney's healthcare legacy in Massachusetts, namely the individual insurance mandate that served as a blueprint for President Obama's healthcare reform.



While Romney constantly defended his policy as "right for Massachusetts," he rarely raised the issue himself. And yet when he sat for his official portrait, which still hangs in the state house in Boston, he chose to have his healthcare achievement forever enshrined in his legacy. A closer look at the portrait reveals a folder featuring the caduceus, the traditional staff-and-serpents symbol for healthcare. It's one piece of his record that Romney will never be able to erase.



http://leanforward.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/24/11866594-before-romneycare-was-a-bad-word-governors-portrait-bragged-about-massachusetts-healthcare?lite