Romney legal adviser didn't get the memo: Romneycare isn't a tax increase

New York GOP Senate nominee Wendy Long With Mitt Romneyland saying Romneycare's offspring isn't a tax, it's amusing to note that one of his legal advisers is saying the exact opposite:

Wendy Long, who serves as a legal adviser to Romney's campaign even as she runs for U.S. Senate against Kirsten Gillibrand, sent out a press release this afternoon questioning whether Gillibrand supports the president's "massive Obamacare tax increase on the middle class."

"For the first time in history our government is taxing us for not doing something," Long asked in the release. "This is a dangerous and unprecedented attack on our freedom. If the government can tax us for not purchasing a product, what is next?"

Long, who has absolutely no shot at winning, has a long history with Romney: She was a legal adviser to his campaign in 2008 in addition to her current role in the same campaign with the 2012 campaign. But while she's prattling forth GOP talking points about how the individual mandate (which was pioneered by Romneycare) is a massive increase (even though it isn't), the Mitt Romney campaign says she's got it exactly wrong.

So here's the question: With Romneyland in complete disarray, unable to stick to a single story about a policy which Mitt Romney pioneered but now rejects, why in the world should anyone believe them when it comes to talking about the benefits that Obamacare delivers? And given that they insist on having this stupid tax debate even though they can't get their story straight, isn't it pretty obvious that they know a debate over the benefits of Obamacare'things like near-universal coverage, guaranteed access to health insurance, and subsidies for those who can't afford it'is a debate that they would lose, and badly?