But now that Romney is the settled-upon GOP nominee, with the Supreme Court set to hand down its ruling on the Affordable Care Act any day now, an interesting thing has been happening.

In some ways, it seems that the cognitive dissonance of trying to pretend that a fundamentally conservative law is actually a Trotskyite takeover is starting to catch up with some Republicans.

"As Washington faces the very real prospect of the Supreme Court striking down all or part of Health Care Reform, Republicans are deciding there are many parts of the bill they want to keep after all," Josh Marshall wrote on his Talking Points Memo blog on June 6, in a post titled Learning to Love 'Obamacare'.

Indeed, it seems that allowing parents to keep their adult kids on their policies, and prohibiting denial of coverage for preexisting conditions, are even popular among GOP constituents. Which shouldn't be too surprising since Romney once espoused them.

[Political Malpractice: The very partisan strategy around men's reproductive health.]

“It would be hard to write a 2,700-page bill and not have something in there that you like,” said Rep. Phil Roe (pictured at top left), MD (R-TN).

Despite maintaining that “the whole bill needs to be replaced,” Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) said “there are some things that have been instituted that a lot of folks have begun to rely upon and plan – make their family plans – based upon. Twenty-six-year-olds being on their parents’ insurance is one of them.” (Price pictured at right)

Even Romney's own campaign staffers are finding things to like in Obamacare.

Michael Leavitt, the former governor of Utah and HHS Secretary under George W. Bush, has been named to head Romney's transition team. No particular surprise there. Like Romney, Leavitt is a Mormon and, like Romney, a devout conservative.

But some on the right are blanching at the fact that Leavitt is a big fan of one of the key provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

"Leavitt has said some relatively positive things about certain elements of Obama’s health reform law, suggesting earlier this year that 'Obamacare' empowers the HHS secretary 'to do certain things that are clearly aimed at trying to move us in the right direction,'" Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns wrote on Politico earlier this month.

Specifically, Leavitt likes health insurance exchanges (HIX). “We believe that the exchanges are the solution to the small business insurance market,” Leavitt's chief aide, Rich McKeown, told Politico. The site pointed out, however, that HIX aren't just a "matter of principle for Leavitt – they’re also a cash cow." What’s more, Politico reported, the size of his health consultancy, Leavitt Partners, "doubled in the year after the bill was signed as they won contracts to help states set up the exchanges funded by the legislation."

Despite these very rational reasons for supporting just one pillar of a very unpopular law, that position has "gotten us sideways with some conservatives," McKeown admitted to Politico.

"Leavitt’s status as one of the few Republicans supporting Obamacare implementation has been a matter of significant concern for those on the right, as he and his consultancy represent the most prominent figures in the party urging states to bow to Washington’s wishes," wrote RedState.com columnist Ben Domenech. "Thankfully, most Republican legislatures and governors have rejected Leavitt’s approach outright.”

[Podcast: The uncertain future of health insurance exchanges.]

Leavitt (pictured at left), wrote the Washington Examiner's Philip Klein, is "exactly the type of Republican the Tea Party was founded to oppose.”

The Cato Institute's Michael D. Tanner, meanwhile, wrote about l'affaire Leavitt in a column with an ominous headline: "Dark clouds hang over Romney campaign."

Still, for another perspective, there are those who for the life of them can't figure out what all this hue and cry is about. "It makes absolutely no sense," Greg Pason, national secretary of the Socialist Party USA told the AP earlier this month. Obamacare, "is anything but socialist,” Pason said. “It's bailing out for-profit companies."

Romneycare’s road to vogue
I was living in Massachusetts when Romneycare was signed into law. It was not popular. At least not at first. At least not with those Bay State residents, often young people, who suddenly realized that they'd be forced to buy health insurance with their meager incomes, or else be fined.