Posted on 11/15/2014 9:09:13 AM PST by Jabba the Nutt
In two videos, Jon Gruber D-MIT told friendly audiences that he had to lie in order to get ObamaCare passed and he took advantage of the stupidity of the American Voter to accomplish his goal.
Let's back up one step. Obama was elected to the Presidency in 2008. In the same election, in the House, the results were 257 to 178 or 59% of the seats were won by Democrats. In the Senate, the Democrats won 59 seats and with Arlen Specter's party switch, the result was 60 to 40, a filibuster proof super majority. This was enough to pass anything they wanted.
Then Ted Kennedy died on August 25, 2009. The special election to replace him was held on January 19th, 2010, when Scott Brown famously was elected as the 41st vote against ObamaCare. The Senate passed ObamaCare 12/23/2009, but Brown's election deprived the Democrats of a guarantee to break a filibuster. This is the political context for Gruber's and all the lies in support of ObamaCare.
In spite of Obama's campaign of lies backed by the media and all the good forces in society, but without opposition of the Pharmaceutical Industry (bought off this time to prevent any 'Harold and Louise' ads) or the Insurance Industry (bought off with the promise of 30 million new customers through the mandate to buy insurance) or effective opposition by the hapless GOP (who's leader's really didn't mind all that much that ObamaCare was passed, as it increased their own power), ObamaCare never managed to gain a majority of Americans to support it.
How can this be? Americans were told, "If you like your plan, you can keep it. If you like your Doctor, you can keep your doctor." Americans were told "You will save $2500 a year." Americans were told that everyone will be covered and that health and financial security would be secure for the first time in our history. These were all lies, now irrefutably exposed by the videos of our pal, Prof. Jon Gruber of MIT. At the time, criticism of ObamaCare was attacked and simply political partisanship extending to personal hatred of Obama based on his race. Remember Speaker Pelosi walking through the crowd of Tea Party protestors with her giant gavel and the false charge of racism that followed with the lies that Black Democrat politicians were spit on and racials slurs were used. These charges were also lies.
If Americans had believed these promises, who could possibly be against a plan that would not change your current insurance or doctor network and with the cherry on top, you would save $2500. There should be 99% support. ObamaCare never gained majority public support. More than half of the American voters apparently weren't so stupid as to believe the Obama/Gruber/Democrat lies.
Now we've reached the point where we can ask, who was Gruber lying to? Gruber said ObamaCare was written in a tortuous way, so that the CBO would not count provisions of ObamaCare as taxes and that they shoved off costs to the States, so that the Federal cost could be kept under a trillion dollars. So, did the CBO believe the lie? I doubt it. The went along with the lie for organizational reasons, Congress was run by the Democrats. They went along because they were required by law to score the bill according the the way it was given them, not as it would actually do in reality. Was the CBO so stupid, that it didn't know it was being lied to? I doubt it.
How about the States? Now, the Gruber and others wrote ObamaCare so that only people, who bought ObamaCare through State exchanges would be able to receive subsidies. The ObamaCaristas thought that ObamaCare would be so popular, that the public, stupid Americans, would then demand that the States establish their own exchanges or the politicians in those States would be punished by the "stupid voters".
Now, did the States believe the Gruber/Obama lies? Only 14 States set up their own Healthcare Exchanges, while 34 States did not. So, State politicians weren't coerced into setting up Exchanges with the lure of free money or the pressure of their constituents. Gruber's lie is another big fail.
In current news, the success of ObamaCare was so important, the minor detail that subsidies only applied to purchasers under the State Exchanges has been ignored and purchasers in all States have received subsidies. These videos of Gruber are going to be part of the case against the Federal Government providing the subsidies. This case has been accepted by the Supreme Court. This Mastermind, Gruber, just couldn't keep his yap shut.
Chief Justice John Roberts famously changed his vote deciding that ObamaCare was unconstitutional, and by re-writing the bill himself, viola, determined what Gruber said was not a tax, was really a tax, thus ObamaCare was a constitutionally authorized tax. Did John Roberts believe Gruber/Obama's lies? Well, no. On one day before the Court, the Obama Administration argued that ObamaCare was not a tax. On the second day, they argued that it was a tax. Gruber knew it was a tax, lied about it to the public, but Roberts didn't fall for the lie. Well, at best, didn't fall for one lie and believed the other lie.
We've seen many videos of Democrat Politicians repeating the Obama lie "if you like your plan...", did they believe the lie? I doubt it.
The mainstream media (what's left of it) picked up and repeated Gruber/Obama lies about ObamaCare. Rush yesterday picked up on Ron Fournier, the AP's Washington DC bureau chief, surprise that Obama lied, that Gruber lied, that the Democrat Party lied, that the Media lied, that indeed ObamaCare was built on a fountain of lies.
So, we are reaching the end of the trail. Yes, Gruber and Obama lied, but the only people who actually believed them and were taken in were the mainstream media and the low information voter types, who only heard about ObamaCare and understood that it meant free healthcare for them, like the free ObamaPhones they had.
The "stupid American voter" took every chance they could to vote against ObamaCare starting in January 2010 with Scott Brown in Massachusetts. Massachusetts!! If they can't fool 'em there with big government, they can't fool 'em anywhere. The blowout mid-term elections in 2010 and 2014 were all about ObamaCare. What about the re-election of Obama in 2012? Romney didn't campaign against ObamaCare and barely had a cross word to say about him. Romney dissed the Tea Party, Palin and conservatives, which gave the GOP the Majority in the House in 2010. If Romney had only received the same number of votes that McCain did, he'd've won. He gave millions of voters no reason to come out and vote for him. You can't expect voters to drag candidates across the finish line by themselves.
RomneyCare was also constructed by Gruber, who also crowed about "ripping off the Federal Government" to the tune of $400 million a year to pay for it. And there's already been speculation that if Romney decides to run in 2016, that this Gruber fiasco could doom him too.
So, what was the purpose of Gruber's lies? I'd say they were basically just cover for the Democrat Members of Congress, talking points for them to repeat. Nancy Pelosi was out there, 'Did you read the analysis written by Jon Gruber?' was a answer to a reporter questioning ObamaCare's financial promises. They could repeat the "if you like" mantra without believing it.
National Healthcare run by the Federal Government has been the Progressive Dream for over a hundred years. The goal for Obama and the Democrat Party was to pass something anything to get the vast expansion of the Federal Government it on the books and the power in their hands. Then they'd fix it as they went along. For that was the purpose, to have the People come crawling to the politician to help them. Obama has unilaterally changed his own law 30+ times to fix it.
He'd have preferred to have a Democrat Congress to do this work for him, but the "stupid American voters" put the kibosh on this, but throwing out the ObamaBots of the Democrat House in 2010 and the Democrat Senate in 2014. That the GOP House has done nothing to stop him is beside the point.
Ron Fournier is only the latest among those who have outted themselves in a self-beclowning ritual about how Obama lied to them. To those, who have spent so much time and work supporting Obama and he re-payed them by lying to THEM!! Black Americans have voted for Obama out of racial solidarity twice at over 95% and these are the same people who have been most damaged by Obamanomics.
Who are the rubes? Those who were never taken in by the lies or those who believed Obama?
The left bought it hook line and sinker.
You raise a good point. Washington is a bubble. Its a self-enclosed talking circle of politicians, bureaucrats and media.
The lie was for others in the bubble. Not that they necessarily believed the lie either, but rather, to have something they could point to and say: “see - look what the experts have created.”
"First, we Gruber and bankrupt Massachusetts,
and then impose Death Panels and Gruber them to Death."
"At the foundation of our civil liberties lies
the principle that denies to government officials
an exceptional position before the law and which
subjects them to the same rules of conduct
that are commands to the citizen."
Justice Louis D. Brandeis
Good point! When the Democrat Party Operatives showed up at Tea Party rally’s as racist, they got thrown out with the rest of the racist.
The TEA Party and Rush Radio is the good force, and anyone who says otherwise is low information (to be polite...).
Correction: Ron Fournier is the Senior Political Columnist and Editorial Director at the National Journal, formerly with the AP.
Someone more educated on the Greek philosophers could correct me, but I think this is right out of Plato, the noble lie. The lie to get people to do the right thing, otherwise they'd be too stupid to do it.
I would only add to the history that the bill was written deliberately in such a fashion so as to prevent a contrary analysis from becoming obvious. Hence, if you want to know what is in it you have to pass it. Nancy Pelosi's remarks was not as fatuous as it sounds if considered from this angle. The whole drama was designed to pass stealth legislation.
Gruber provided the cover for Democrats who could plausibly point to his study and talk about sunshine and unicorns. Obama went on the hustings and did the rest. The point all around was to suspend disbelief as you point out. Some of them like Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama were no doubt explicitly guilty of lying. Most of the rest of the Democrats complied by suspending disbelief. Gruber was there to provide cover and to give the media a plausible hook.
The fact remains that taxpayer dollars were disreputably paid out to provide propaganda to mislead taxpayers. The Democrat elites were certainly possessed of guilty knowledge, the rest of them should have known, no doubt many of them did, some chose not to know.
Don’t forget the guppies on the Supreme Court.
No they didn't. They thought (1) they were exempt and (2) they know what's best for everyone else.
Don't just blame the dems. RINOs in DC were all in, as long as their insurance sponsors got their profits. Romney wouldn't even campaign for 47% of the voters, he was so sure they didn't have the capacity to accept his wisdom.
It's the elite, both political parties. To them we're a cash crop for schemes to enhance their wealth and power. Lying is okay because we're too dumb to understand their superior wisdom.
I don't know how it ends well, unless the new DC crowd takes on the cause of saving the nation and our Constitution. Has there ever in history been an elite that willingly gave up their excess power?
Is anyone denying this when it comes to voters on the left? Obama was elected twice. Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid - re elected, Ted Kennedy - re elected for almost half a century, even after he killed a woman. Hillary Clinton, Fauxcahontas Warren seriously considered as POTUS candidates.
OK you were stupid.
I’m not and wasn’t.
Come to think of it, my disillusionment goes back to George 1 and his out-of-control Department of Education.
I’m not the moron blaming republicans like a democrat dancing monkey.
Job Posting:
Wanted: SC Justice to save us from our political choices
Pay: Back’s a bitch!
He truthfully said that it was important to make the workings of Obamacare non transparent. But why? Who benefited? The answer becomes clearer later when Obama and other Democrat leaders were able to openly lie about keeping your doctor and health care plan. Few could refute them because not enough people knew what was in Obamacare. Palin sounded a warning and was immediately set upon by the boot lickers in the MSM. Betsy Mccaughey knew what was in it but the MSM couldn't have cared less. In addition to having the MSM run interference for him, it was critical to have Obama's base of "stupid voters," Union Leaders, and leftist college professors supporting him.
Now the Gruber tapes have surfaced, and in a few days, the truth about Obamacare has been exposed, and suddenly no one knows who Gruber is.
You don’t think RINO elitists share responsibility for the mess we’re in?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.