The New York Times is fundamentally and incorrigibly dishonest. In this "news" story, the "reporter" says that Mitt Romney now claims that the ObamaCare mandate is a tax. This is supposed to show that Romney, who had claimed that it's a penalty (rather than a tax), is a flip-flopper. If you read the story, however, you realize that Romney said no such thing. What he said is that the Supreme Court ruled that it's a tax. In other words, Romney is saying this:
We can quibble all day about the meaning of "tax" and whether the mandate is a tax. The fact is, the Supreme Court just ruled that it's a tax. If Barack Obama thinks it's not a tax, then he differs with the Court. Keep in mind that Obama, and not the justices of the Supreme Court, is running for office, and thus has a motive to mislead voters.
It's a good thing Romney didn't tell the reporter that in Roe v. Wade (1973), the Supreme Court ruled that a woman has a constitutional right to abort her fetus. The New York Times headline would be, "Romney Says Women Have Constitutional Right to Abort."
Addendum: Romney misspoke when he said that "the Supreme Court" ruled that the ObamaCare mandate is a tax. Only one of the nine justices—Chief Justice John Roberts—ruled that the mandate is a tax (and therefore constitutional under the Tax Clause). So really Romney is pitting Obama ("not a tax!") against Roberts ("a tax!"). The implication is that, on this issue, Roberts is authoritative. It's as though Romney were asking Americans the following question: "Do you believe Obama, who has a motive to mislead voters into thinking that what is a tax is not a tax, or Roberts, who has no motive to mislead anyone one way or another?"
Addendum 2: Oops! In Part IV of her opinion, in which Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan joined, Justice Ginsburg wrote that she concurred in the "determination" by Chief Justice Roberts that the mandate is a tax (and therefore constitutional under the Tax Clause). So Romney is pitting Obama against five justices, not just one. Romney is saying, in effect, "Obama says it's not a tax, but a majority of Supreme Court justices disagree with him. Decide for yourself who is correct, and keep in mind that Obama has a motive to deceive you."
