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Jonathan Gruber: Obama personally asked me to help disguise unhelpful Obamacare facts
Hotair ^ | 11/17/2014 | Guy Benson

Posted on 11/17/2014 10:00:19 AM PST by SeekAndFind

That’s not quite his verbatim quote, but it’s pretty darn close:

CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO

“The problem is it’s a political nightmare, and people say ‘no, you can’t tax my benefits’…so what we did a lot in that room was think a lot about well how could we make this work? … And [Obama] is really a realistic guy. He was like, ‘look, I can’t just do this.’ He said ‘it’s just not going to happen politically. The bill will not pass. How do we manage to get there through phase-ins and other things?’ And we talked about it. He was just very interested in that topic.”

And why was Obama so keen on obscuring the nature of his signature law’s taxes? Perhaps because he’d just recently spent months relentlessly hammering John McCain over a proposal to tax health benefits “for the first time.” So he needed MacGruber to swoop in and help craft a strategy of evasion and deflection. Noah mentioned over the weekend that in his response to Grubergate, Obama insisted that he’d never misled the public on Obamacare (which virtually nobody really buys at this point, and for good reason) and disavowed Gruber’s seemingly endless damning comments. One formulation that stuck out to me was his assertion that Gruber “was never on our staff.” This is exceedingly weak spin. The video above contains evidence that the president was personally huddling with Gruber on the Obamacare sales pitch, charging him with fashioning accounting tricks that might provide a politically-necessary fig leaf — which Paul Ryan dismantled at the pre-passage “health care summit.” It’s impossible for the White House to just divorce itself from this guy. He was very much their guy. Not only did they furnish Gruber with $400,000 for his services, they made him a leading point person for “drafting the specifics” of the law with Congress. Via the New York Times:

Along with these credentials, Mr. Gruber’s position as an adviser to the influential Congressional Budget Office also left him perfectly positioned to advise the White House on health reform. “The most important arbiter of everything was the C.B.O.,” said Neera Tanden, who was a senior adviser for health reform at the Department of Health and Human Services. The C.B.O.’s assessment of a bill’s efficacy and costs strongly influences political debate, but the office does not publicly reveal how it calculates those numbers. “We knew the numbers he gave us would be close to where the C.B.O. was likely to come out,” Ms. Tanden said. She was right. 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.

That 2012 profile also quotes Gruber cheerfully describing himself as a “card-carrying Democrat” who routinely holds election night “victory parties” with friends. (How did this year’s celebration go, I wonder?) Obama can try to pull a Pelosi with Gruber. Good luck with that. Alternatively, he can keep lying about not having lied, but only the hardest-core of partisans will believe him. Even Obamacare supporters like Ron Fournier are throwing in the towel, conceding that the law was constructed on a “foundation of lies.” Indeed.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cborico; gruber; grubergate; gruberingdemcongress; gruberrico; liarcbo; liargruber; liarobama; obama; obamacare; obamacarerico; obamagruber; obamagruberingusa; obamalyingpos; obamarico; reidrico; wow
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To: RedMDer
B T T T ! ! ! ©

81 posted on 11/17/2014 12:38:45 PM PST by onyx (Please Support Free Republic - Donate Monthly! If you want on Sarah Palin's Ping List, Let Me know!)
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To: Sybeck1

Does this sound a bit like an IMPEACHABLE OFFENSE? How many more are their out their? My bet—loads.


82 posted on 11/17/2014 12:39:33 PM PST by Forward the Light Brigade (Into the Jaws of H*ll Onward! Ride to the sound of the guns!)
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To: VideoDoctor
There is a log of every visitor to the White House and the Oval Office. Unless, of course, the WH computer has suffered an IRS-style hard-drive failure.
83 posted on 11/17/2014 12:42:04 PM PST by riverdawg
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To: MrB

Not even a smidgen.


84 posted on 11/17/2014 12:44:21 PM PST by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal the 16th Amendment)
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To: noinfringers2

I like the new word. I don’t know much about Roberts. The point I was trying to make and not really well is in some ways Roberts help give Obama the rope he hangs himself with.


85 posted on 11/17/2014 12:46:17 PM PST by fatez (Ebola, Obama's solution for shovel ready jobs... Bring out your dead!!!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Gruber wasn’t on Obama’s staff, he was a high paid consultant, which simply means that he wasn’t full time.


86 posted on 11/17/2014 12:49:04 PM PST by Eva
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To: SeekAndFind

so if a passed law is based on falsehoods, lies and misdeeds, Would the same law be null and void? How can a law be enforced if it is based on lies?


87 posted on 11/17/2014 12:50:00 PM PST by hondact200 (Candor dat viribos alas (sincerity gives wings to strength) and Nil desperandum (never despair))
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To: Sybeck1

I am not sure that is such a good thing, Gruber is a ot smarter than the average Congressman.


88 posted on 11/17/2014 12:50:41 PM PST by Eva
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To: Political Junkie Too

There is a company already like that. It is called Chrysler!


89 posted on 11/17/2014 12:52:51 PM PST by hondact200 (Candor dat viribos alas (sincerity gives wings to strength) and Nil desperandum (never despair))
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To: onyx

Thanks. Pretty damning stuff.


90 posted on 11/17/2014 12:55:33 PM PST by RedMDer (May we always be happy and may our enemies always know it. - Sarah Palin, 10-18-2010)
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To: fatez

Roberts had to do some fishy work to get his children from a European orphanage into the USA. It is story akin to a Shakespearian tragedy.


91 posted on 11/17/2014 1:00:13 PM PST by noinfringers2
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To: SeekAndFind

Obama, lying yet again


92 posted on 11/17/2014 1:00:47 PM PST by rightistight
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To: MrB

And why should people sign up for this fraudulent and deceptive insurance scheme? I hope this gets a lot of attention.


93 posted on 11/17/2014 1:10:54 PM PST by hsmomx3
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To: Grampa Dave

Thanks for posting those!!!!


94 posted on 11/17/2014 1:23:44 PM PST by Ann Archy (ABORTION....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Beagle8U

Gruber has given us a TWOFER.......Obama and Romney will NEVER be looked on the same way!!


95 posted on 11/17/2014 1:25:59 PM PST by Ann Archy (ABORTION....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: SeekAndFind

The MSM is a club that includes elites like Gruber. FoxNews had a article today on Gruber but as has become so typical they muzzle the sheep (aka public) from speaking out about it as comments.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/11/17/gruber-seniors-do-terrible-job-choosing-health-care-plans/


96 posted on 11/17/2014 1:27:42 PM PST by apoliticalone (Politicians work for their own self interest and their puppeteers not average Americans)
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To: MrB
Sounds like a CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD to me. Hello, Congress? Hello...
97 posted on 11/17/2014 1:31:39 PM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: SeekAndFind

Gruber had better stay far away from Ft. Marcy Park and he needs to stay off any flights into Croatia...


98 posted on 11/17/2014 1:33:47 PM PST by Gritty (Obama wants to wage war by measuring it out in teaspoons - Ralph Peters)
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To: SeekAndFind

More fraud by the hero of Benghazi and another impeachable offense


99 posted on 11/17/2014 1:35:54 PM PST by morphing libertarian
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To: sr4402

From your mouth to my Lord’s ears. And I can assure you that He is aware of every word, every thought, every nuance and every wink and nod.

I don’t know who said this, but I believe it applies here: “The wheels of God grind slow, but they grind exceedingly fine.” Tricky Dickie made some bad choices, and paid dearly for them.

I pray that while the wheels are grinding, the Clintons and all the others who have skated so far, along with the Obolas, the Pelosi ilk, the Reid ilk, Soros and his ilk, and all the rest who have thus far been allowed to skate, get their comeuppance in one fashion or another.

And only an Act of God can really make that happen.


100 posted on 11/17/2014 1:36:16 PM PST by Tucker39 (Welcome to America! Now speak English; and keep to the right....In driving, in Faith, and politics.)
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