Throw Out the Individual Mandate Says...Howard Dean

As a progressive, you know when you've lost Howard Dean, you've got a problem. Although Dean of course favors a government run single-payer program instead of ObamaCare, he's still siding with the majority of Republicans, some Democrats and most Independents when it comes to the individual mandate: throw it out.

"I don't give a damn about the individual mandate," the former Vermont governor told progressive activists during a panel discussion at Tuesday's Take Back the American Dream conference in Washington, D.C. "It was a foolish thing to do anyway, and I hope it does get thrown out." Dean's remarks followed an audience member's criticism of the Affordable Care Act for not being a single-payer system.

"I don't want to rest of the bill thrown out," he said, adding, "We didn't get what we wanted, but there are some things we can build on."

There is a good chance that if the individual mandate gets thrown out, the entire ObamaCare law will essentially collapse on itself because the individual mandate is the way lawmakers planned to pay for the bill.