Yesterday on MSNBC, Chuck Todd pressed Mitt Romney senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom to explain why Obamacare’s individual mandate is a tax but Romneycare’s individual mandate is a penalty. Fehrnstrom declined. Instead he claimed that both the Obamacare mandate and the Romneycare mandate were penalties. This directly contradicts the message of every Republican that will be running down ballot from Rommney this fall. This is not a minor problem.

Republicans have been running hard against Obamacare ever since it was passed and it has worked wonders for them. New polling may show that Chief Justice John Roberts decision upholding Obamacare’s individual mandate has made the law more popular among Democrats, but independents are still strongly against it. This is not an issue Republicans can afford to abandon.