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http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-23/white-house-lies-again
White House Lies (Again): Jonathan "Stupidity Of The American People" Gruber
Called "Our Hero"
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Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/23/2015 12:45 -0400
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Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
Jonathan Gruber, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist
whose comments about the health-care law touched off a political furor,
worked more closely than previously known with the White House and top
federal officials to shape the law, previously unreleased emails show.
The emails show frequent consultations between Mr. Gruber and top Obama
administration staffers and advisers in the White House and the Department
of Health and Human Services on the Affordable Care Act. They show he
informed HHS about interviews with reporters and discussions with lawmakers,
and he consulted with HHS about how to publicly describe his role.
The White House has described Mr. Gruber as having a limited role in
crafting the law. President Barack Obama in 2014 said Mr. Gruber was “some
adviser who never worked on our staff.” Mr. Gruber told Congress last year
he disagreed with the widespread characterization of his role as the “
architect” of Mr. Obama’s health-care plan.
“Thank you for being an integral part of getting us to this historic
moment,” according to Sept. 9, 2009 email to Mr. Gruber from Jeanne Lambrew
, a top Obama administration health adviser who worked at HHS and the White
House. In a November 2009 email, she called Mr. Gruber “our hero.”
– From the Wall Street Journal article: MIT Economist Jonathan Gruber
Had Bigger Role in Health Law, Emails Show
Pretty much anyone reading this post will be intimately familiar with
Jonathan “stupidity of the American voter” Gruber. In case you need a
refresher, here’s an excerpt from last fall’s piece, Video of the Day –
Obamacare Architect Credits “Lack of Transparency” and “Stupidity of the
American People” for Passage of Healthcare Law:
An architect of the federal healthcare law said last year that a “lack
of transparency” and the “stupidity of the American voter” helped
Congress approve ObamaCare.
He suggested that many lawmakers and voters didn’t know what was in the
law or how its financing worked, and that this helped it win approval.
“Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage,” Gruber said. “
And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but
basically that was really, really critical for the thing to pass.”
Although the mindset above clearly represents the Obama Administration’s
opinion of the unwashed masses, it naturally went into damage control mode
after Mr. Gruber’s comments went viral, insisting that the economist played
only a very minor role in crafting and selling Obamacare. Similar to most
things that come out of Obama’s mouth, this was a boldfaced lie.
The Wall Street Journal reports that:
Jonathan Gruber, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist
whose comments about the health-care law touched off a political furor,
worked more closely than previously known with the White House and top
federal officials to shape the law, previously unreleased emails show.
The emails, provided by the House Oversight Committee to The Wall Street
Journal, cover messages Mr. Gruber sent from January 2009 through March
2010. Committee staffers said they worked with MIT to obtain the 20,000
pages of emails.
The emails show frequent consultations between Mr. Gruber and top Obama
administration staffers and advisers in the White House and the Department
of Health and Human Services on the Affordable Care Act. They show he
informed HHS about interviews with reporters and discussions with lawmakers,
and he consulted with HHS about how to publicly describe his role.
The administration has sought to distance itself from the economist in
the wake of his controversial statements in a 2013 video, where he said the
health law passed because of the “huge political advantage” of the
legislation’s lacking transparency. He also referred to the “stupidity of
the American voter.”
Republicans seized on the comments as evidence that supporters of the
law purposely misled the public about its costs. Mr. Gruber received nearly
$400,000 from HHS for his work focusing on health-policy computer models,
according to public records.
Cronyism pays very, very well in America.
The White House has described Mr. Gruber as having a limited role in
crafting the law. President Barack Obama in 2014 said Mr. Gruber was “some
adviser who never worked on our staff.” Mr. Gruber told Congress last year
he disagreed with the widespread characterization of his role as the “
architect” of Mr. Obama’s health-care plan.
“His proximity to HHS and the White House was a whole lot tighter than
they admitted,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah), chairman of the House
oversight committee. “There’s no doubt he was a much more integral part of
this than they’ve said. He put up this facade he was an arm’s length away
. It was a farce.”
Mr. Chaffetz on Sunday sent a letter to HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews
Burwell requesting information justifying the department’s sole-source
contract with Mr. Gruber for his work on the health law.
Mr. Gruber declined to comment.
One email indicates Mr. Gruber was invited to meet with Mr. Obama. In a
July 2009 email, he wrote that Mr. Orszag had “invited me to meet with the
head honcho to talk about cost control.”
“Thank you for being an integral part of getting us to this historic
moment,” according to Sept. 9, 2009 email to Mr. Gruber from Jeanne Lambrew
, a top Obama administration health adviser who worked at HHS and the White
House. In a November 2009 email, she called Mr. Gruber “our hero.”
Mr. Gruber also informed HHS about interviews he had with health policy
reporters such as Ezra Klein, previously of the Washington Post and now with
Vox Media. In a November 2009 email, Mr. Gruber let a top HHS official know
the conversation went well and the story would post soon.
Mainstream media on the case as usual.
In a Sept. 23, 2009, email, Mr. Gruber emailed Ms. Lambrew saying “
pharma is going to be a huge winner from this bill—maybe $15 billion/year
in incremental revenue. Any way to go after them harder for financing?”
You want to know who wasn’t a huge winner? The stupid American voter. |
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