Jonathan Gruber is an MIT economics professor who is heavily involved in crafting public health policy and is widely called one of the key architects of Obamacare — the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
For his work as a “technical consultant” on Obamacare, Gruber was very well paid, to the tune of almost $400,000 ($392,600 to be exact), according to Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), on Fox News’ “On the Record” on Nov. 12, 2014.
On Nov. 11, 2014, news came of Gruber being caught on video saying that, to ensure its passage, Obamacare was deliberately and intentionally written in a confusing way so as to conceal the law’s true costs from the American people who are too stupid to understand the law.
So Gruber went on MSNBC, claiming that his comments were “off the cuff” and should be disregarded. And he expects us to believe his lie because, after all, Americans are really really stupid. The only problem is that we have video evidence of him making those arrogant and contemptuous remarks, which you can see and hear for yourself by going to my post “Obamacare’s architect says Americans are too stupid to understand it“.
Gruber is now politically radioactive. So Democrat politicians are doing their darnedest to distance themselves from him. Congresswoman (and still head of House Democrats) Nancy Pelosi actually claimed she did not know who Gruber is although she once had touted his work. Like Gruber, Pelosi also thinks we are stupid.
Obama, too, is denying he’s ever known Gruber.
On November 15, 2014, while he was in Brisbane, Australia for the G20 Summit, a reporter asked him about Gruber.
Reporter: “At your Burma town hall a couple of days ago, you tried to inspire young leaders by saying governments need to be held accountable and be responsive to the people. I wonder how you square that with your former adviser Jonathan Gruber claiming you were not transparent about the health law because, in his words, the American voters were stupid. Did you mislead Americans about taxes, about keeping your [health] plan, in order to get the [Obamacare] bill passed?”
Obama: “No, I did not. Uh, uh. I just heard about this. Uh, I get world-briefed before I come out here. Uh. the fact that some adviser who never worked on our staff, uh, expressed an opinion that, uh, I completely disagree with, uh, in terms of the voters, is no reflection on the actual process that was run.” Obama then said every detail of Obamacare was “fully debated on” and insisted it was “fully transparent.”
By referring to Gruber as “some adviser who never worked on our staff,” Obama is:
- explicitly denying Gruber had worked on Obamacare and was paid for his work by the federal government (“never worked on our staff”); and
- implicitly saying he doesn’t even know who Jon Gruber is (“some adviser”).
You see, like Gruber and Pelosi, Obama also thinks the American people are stupid — so stupid that we can’t unearth evidence that directly contradicts his denial.
But some not stupid American(s) did.
Here’s video evidence of then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) at a Brookings Institute forum on April 5, 2006, referring to Jon Gruber by name, calling him one “of the brightest minds” from whom he had “stolen ideas”.
Obama said, “You [Brookings Institute] have already drawn some of the brightest minds from academia and policy circles, many of them I have stolen ideas from liberally, people ranging from Robert Gordon to Austan Goolsbee; Jon Gruber; my dear friend, Jim Wallis here, who can inform what are sometimes dry policy debates with a prophetic voice.”
In fact, Gruber had attended 5 meetings on Obamacare at the White House in 2009, including one with Obama present, as you can see in the video below, which also includes Pelosi and Senators Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and Max Baucus (D-Montana) extolling good ol’ “Americans are too stupid to understand Obamacare” Gruber.
Simply put, Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Baucus, and Gruber are sociopaths. Only sociopaths can lie so shamelessly, easily, and without remorse.
H/t ZeroHedge
See also:
- Lies are a hallmark of evil
- Obama, the President of Lies
- Obama Lies Thru His Teeth. This My Friends Is The Beginning Of Something Big
- We Are So Screwed: Obama’s Budget Lies
- Two-Faced Obama Lies Again
- Obama’s Immigration Lies
- Lies, Lies, Lies
- How politicians are like serial killers
~Eowyn
