It appears that friends (albeit a dwindling number) of MIT professor Jonathan Gruber may soon have to put his face on milk cartons to locate the economist. After a series of frank but embarrassing statements on the strategies behind the Administration’s passage of the Affordable Car Act (ACA), Gruber has moved from the status of “disfavored” to “disavowed” to “disappeared.” This week, Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi expressed a complete lack of knowledge of who Gruber is, was, or will be — even though she previously cited his work and he was paid $400,000 as one of the architects of Obamacare and has made over $2 million from HHS. Such roles are often difficult for scholars in moving between the political and academic worlds, but it is rare to find an academic become such an issue in a national debate.
Gruber had already previously attracted controversy with statements where he endorsed the theory at the heart of the recent decisions in Halbig and King by challengers to the ACA: to wit, that the federal funding provision was a quid pro quo device to reward states with their own exchanges and to punish those that force the creation of federal exchanges. That issue will now be decided by the United States Supreme Court. Gruber caused uproar when, after he had denounced the theory as “nutty” during the arguments in Halbig and King, he was shown later to have embraced that same interpretation. Gruber has become a major liability in the litigation. Gruber then was back in the news with an equally startling admission that the Obama Administration (and Gruber) succeeded in passing the ACA only by engineering a “lack of transparency” on the details and relying on “the stupidity of the American voter.” Now a new videotape has surfaced from Gruber speaking at the University of Rhode Island in 2012 and expressing the same contempt for the intelligence of citizens — suggesting again that they were hoodwinked to “the lack of economic understanding of the American voter.” In another view taken from at an October 2013 event at Washington University in St. Louis, Gruber also refers to the “Cadillac tax,” and says “They proposed it and that passed, because the American people are too stupid to understand the difference.” His comments of working in Massachusetts (with Mitt Romney) are no less insulting to an array of people.
That is when the Beltway machine kicked into high gear to erase all memory of a professor named Gruber. If this trend continues, we will need dental records just to confirm his identity.
The Washington Post noted after Pelosi’s press conference that she cited Gruber’s work by name in support of Obamacare:
PELOSI: We’re not finished getting all of our reports back from CBO, but we’ll have a side by side to compare. But our bill brings down rates. I don’t know if you have seen Jonathan Gruber of MIT’s analysis of what the comparison is to the status quo versus what will happen in our bill for those who seek insurance within the exchange.
Her office also relied on Gruber when fighting to pass the law.
Before he was “disappeared,” he was widely cited as an architect of the act. The New York Times said in 2012:
After Mr. Gruber helped the administration put together the basic principles of the proposal, the White House lent him to Capitol Hill to help Congressional staff members draft the specifics of the legislation.
Nevertheless, the White House used an anonymous official to disavow Gruber’s role as an architect of the Act and insist that he never “worked in the White House” — a comment that may refer to the location of his actual desk.
He was widely sought as one of the architect of the law, which ultimately proved his undoing since many of these comments came in the same 2012-13 period. Supporters of the White House have even challenged the $400,000 figure paid out for Gruber. However, the Washington Post not only affirmed the figure used by Republicans but found that he had received $2 million on various contracts. Pretty good for a guy who must not now be named.
The tempest swirling around Gruber is difficult to watch. He is an accomplished scholar with a long list of accomplishments to his credit. The frankness with which he has spoken is a signature of an academic, though his view of the intelligence of the American people is quite shocking. It will remain a cautionary tale for those traveling between the academic and political worlds.
@Pogo
A sneer is all they have. Just like in The Emperor’s New Clothes, the little kid who saw a naked emperor was sneered at. After a while, however, the truth came out. Like it is now. Here is a good read by a Democratic activist, Burke Beu, who saw the light about Obamacare:
More at this link:
http://online.wsj.com/articles/burke-beu-this-democrat-is-giving-up-on-obamacare-1415919619
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
The movie MASH was funny.
The first few seasons of the TV series MASH had some good moments, too, but it was watered down.
Then MASH became a vehicle for leftism ant-war propaganda.
Then it wasn’t funny.
Over time, it became a Social Justice Warrior TV show.
Then it was excruciatingly bad.
Then came Colbert.
“Evidently, some people have no sense of humor.”
And how they get their own TV shows remains a mystery.
I hope Democrats/leftists/Obama Admin supporters are just tickled pink to know the high esteem in which they are held by their betters.
Gruber is not calling me or any other conservative stupid – we’ve understood the dangers of this “law” from the beginning (remember the town halls and demonstrations in 2010?) I believe some Dem politicians basically called those attending the town halls stupid, too.
I have written over the last five years no less than 10 letters to the editor of my local paper warning fellow citizens about the pitfalls, the lies and the true motivations behind Obamacare.
I hate to say I told you so (and I mean that, because a lot of people have been hurt and many, many more will be in the future), but, I told you so.
Swarthmoremom,
Evidently, some people have no sense of humor.
DBQ, Okay, but your sentence makes no sense. “Comedy Central may be where you choose to get your news and your political talking points from comedians.”
In olden times, comedy was funny.
And health care was care.
Now both are politics.
@ SWM
Comedy Central may be where you choose to get your news and your political talking points from comedians.
I prefer the WSJ, Forbes, Financial Times, IBD, Washington Times, various on line publications. If I want entertainment and laughs I will turn on Netflix or Amazon streaming videos.
http://www.ft.com/home/us
SWM, is that your response? Seriously?
It’s all Democrats can do here, is ‘refute with a sneer’?
“Let’s give them healthcare”
Because that’s the biggest lie of all, and Colbert is still peddling it. So are you.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/colbert-gruber-democrats-obamacare”
Reacting angrily on Thursday night to the latest series of caught-on-tape comments made by one of the architects of Obamacare, comedian Stephen Colbert said he couldn’t believe “elitist” Democrats had the nerve to give Americans healthcare.
The host of “The Colbert Report” took a hard look at the comments made by Jonathan Gruber, an MIT professor who helped design the Affordable Care Act. Gruber was recorded saying the confusing language of the law, particularly regarding taxes, was one of the things that helped it pass.
“A-ha! I knew it!” Colbert said. “Obamacare is funded by taxes, unlike every other part of the federal government. I mean everybody knows the F-35 fighter jet program is paid for with candy sales.”
Colbert then challenged Gruber’s comments about “the stupidity of the American voter.”
“If you want to see how stupid Americans are just look at who they elected last Tuesday,” Colbert said, referring to the GOP’s nationwide sweep during the midterms. “In your face! These are smart guys!”
Colbert finally brought his attack on Democrats home by pointing out their biggest flaw.
“Yes, contemptuous Democrats looked down on the American people from their ivory towers and thought, ‘What a pathetic horde of dullards. Let’s give them healthcare.’ It’s shameful! It’s shameful! For shame!”
Watch the video below, courtesy of Comedy Central:
So Jon Gruber was:
1. hired by Obama and the Democrats
2. paid by the Democrat-led government
3. to figure out how to deceive the CBO into scoring various taxes as not being taxes at all
4. to figure out how to deceive the American public about costs, taxes, and coverage.
5. and afterwards gloated about doing it.
anon “progressives should just leave the country.” So now we are back to the Vietnam War era.
Botoxmania?
Max-1,
Beltway amnesia???
progressives should just leave the country. Move to Canada where they can have the type of country they want ready made. Let em take the illegals with em too
Trooperyork,
Early onset… Perhaps ?
This sound familiar?
To initiate the Russian economic recovery, on 21 February 1920, he launched the GOELRO plan, the State Commission for Electrification of Russia ), and also established free universal health care, free education systems, promulgated the politico-civil rights of women.[168] and also legalised homosexuality, being the first country in the modern age to do this.[169
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin
Karen S.,
I see you’re trying to play games with me. Nice try. Keep it up. Maybe you’ll get an award from some non-progressive group.
😉
“…how Nancy Pelosi doesn’t know who this guy is when she cited his work…”
He Grubered.
She Grubered.
They Grubered.
We have been Grubered.
We will be Grubered.
Trooper – no, they won’t, but people like them will still blindly vote for her, every time.
This is not the first time she’s been caught lying. She comes from my state of CA, which is rapidly descending into Chicagoland/Detroitland. Her history has been well documented, and yet it changes nothing at the polls.