June 02, 2014 09:33 AM UTC

Still waiting for an article quoting Beauprez on why he flipped on the individual mandate

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• by: Jason Salzman

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

The primary season has illuminated some big flipping and flopping by Republican candidates, leaving lingering questions in the minds of the three people following this stuff.

One of the strangest unanswered questions is: Why did gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez first support and then oppose the “individual mandate,” which is, of course, the key provision of Romneycare and Obamacare? It requires everyone to get health insurance.

The issue came up in April on KVOR’s Jeff Crank show. Crank is an anti-Obamacare freak, so even if he knew about Beauprez’s flip, you wouldn’t expect Crank to tell his listeners that Beauprez was once a fan of the foundation of Obamacare:

BEAUPREZ: To Obamacare, specifically, Jeff, count me in the camp that says we still need to repeal it and replace it. But I’m also realistic enough to know that that’s not likely to happen, even if we do take over control of the United States Senate, we’ll still have Barack Obama there and I doubt he’s inclined to repeal the whole bill – to sign off on that. So, we’re probably a couple years away with a new president before we can get it done. What we can do, and what I look forward to doing, is everything within a governor’s power and the state’s power to push back, especially on this Medicaid bomb that is coming our way. We are going to have to stand firm on that because it is going to break the states. We’ll be going down the path of the Californias and the city of Detroit if we’re not careful and get our arms around this. I think the real push can come from a collaboration of governors. And I look forward to working with many of them that I already know out here: Butch Otter, I served with—he’s in Idaho; Gary Herbert in Utah; Matt Meade, a great guy in Wyoming; Susana Martinez; Mary Fallon, and on and on. Bobby Jindal’s been an absolute champion, just out with his own new healthcare plan that talks about a real healthcare reform—what it would look like. And not surprisingly, he expands on free-market principles: HSAs, more consumer choice, putting decisions in the hands of consumers, not just pushing tens of millions of people on to traditional Medicaid, as he puts it.

Even if the GOP fire against Obamacare is dying, you’d think reporters would do Republican voters a favor and seek an explanation from Beauprez on how he went from point a) praising Romneycare and saying a mandate buy health insurance is like a law requiring you to buy auto insurance to point b) denouncing Obamacare, saying we need “more consumer choice,” and essentially leaving the poor to scrap for healthcare. What’s the evolution of Beauprez’s thinking here?

If this isn’t information that a Republican primary voter would want to hear in 2014, what is?