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Are Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney the same? Vice President Joe Biden seems to think so.
"This is a Republican fight, but substantively, I don't see any fundamental difference between the men," Biden told CBS News Wednesday, the morning after President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address.
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"Newt Gingrich is a talented guy. You know, the guy is really good -- he's a great debater," Biden said, casting the two candidates as distinct in style but not substance. "But the bottom line here is, there is no fundamental difference between Newt Gingrich and Gov. Romney on the things we care about -- on the whole issue of how we deal with foreign policy, on how we deal with the domestic policy."
As much as many Republican voters and the candidates have painted the 2012 primaries as a battle of opposing ideologies, Biden is right. In terms of backgrounds and rhetorical styles, Gingrich and Romney are vastly different, but in terms of platforms, they are more similar than they care to admit. Gingrich may be seen as the conservative alternative to Romney, but Romney's stated platform is dollar-for-dollar as conservative as Gingrich's -- conservatives just perceive Gingrich as stronger because they don't have an image of him as a "flip-flopper" or a "Massachusetts moderate," and because he has been more adept than Romney at publicizing his conservative views.
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Gingrich, 68, is far more bombastic, less polished and less canned on the stump, but a side-by-side comparison of his and Romney's platforms shows more similaries than differences. The differences they have tend not to be stark: sometimes, for example, Romney, 64, will mention something in his platform that Gingrich doesn't mention, but that doesn't mean Gingrich opposes it. They have substantial differences of opinion on some aspects of entitlement reform, abortion policy, education and immigration, but for the most part, they agree on fundamental principles and policies.
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Note: Issues on which Gingrich and Romney differ substantially are highlighted in red. Both candidates have "flip-flopped" on certain issues over the years, but only their current positions are listed here.
ENTITLEMENT REFORM
Gingrich: Block-grant Medicaid funding to the states; allow seniors to opt out of Medicare and/or Social Security; maintain existing benefits; do not raise retirement age.
Romney: Block-grant Medicaid funding to the states; allow seniors to choose between Medicare and private insurance; reduce benefits for wealthy recipients; raise the retirement age.
HEALTH CARE REFORM
Gingrich: Repeal the 2010 health care law; allow seniors to opt out of Medicare; block-grant Medicaid funding to the states; make insurance affordable through tax credits and deductions; prohibit insurers from canceling sick people's policies or charging them more; limit malpractice lawsuits; expand untaxed health savings accounts; allow people to buy insurance across state lines; set up state "High Risk Pools" to cover people too sick to buy insurance; fund more medical research.
Romney: Repeal the 2010 health care law; allow seniors to opt out of Medicare; block-grant Medicaid funding to the states; make insurance affordable through tax credits and deductions; extend employer tax breaks to individuals who buy their own insurance; prohibit discrimination based on pre-existing conditions; limit malpractice lawsuits; expand untaxed health savings accounts; allow people to buy insurance across state lines.
JOBS AND TAXES
Gingrich: Let taxpayers choose between current tax rate and 15 percent flat rate; reduce corporate tax rate to 12.5 percent; eliminate capital gains tax and estate tax; make Bush tax cuts permanent; repeal Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley laws and other regulations; break up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
