Posted on 11/18/2014 7:24:31 PM PST by T Ruth
The Overlooked Irony of Jonathan Gruber's Candid Statements
MIT Professor Jonathan Gruber has been captured on a number of video recordings stating that the Democrats relied upon and exploited the “stupidity of the American voter” to pass Obamacare. But American voters are not really stupid – not most of them anyway. Even the average Democrat voter is not stupid. Rather, Democrat voters are badly misinformed because they rely on the leftist media for information and opinion. So what Gruber and the Democrats really exploited was not the stupidity of the American voter, but corrupt and dishonest reporting by leftist journalists.
Proof is that it was corrupt journalism which was what the Democrats really took advantage of is that voters who relied on the alternative media – internet news outlets, Rush Limbaugh, FreeRepublic, etc. – were not fooled. It was only Democrat voters who were fooled. The average reader of the NYT votes like an idiot precisely because he reads the NYT. His view of reality is distorted by the lies he reads and the unavailability to him of facts the NYT considers “inconvenient.” The same goes for CBSMSNBCABCWaPo, etc., etc.
The world is too complex for the average citizen to be fully informed on the details of every important issue. The fact that the average voter does not know, to take one of Professor Gruber's examples, the incidence of taxation on employer-provided health insurance, is not a reflection on the intelligence of the voter, but a reflection on the state of the press. The role of the press should be to report and disclosure the nature of the issues which the country faces. As is well known, the dominant, corporate, leftist press did not merely fail to report accurately on Obamacare, but affirmatively misled the public and suppressed the truth.
So this is the overlooked irony of Professor Gruber's disclosures: although he asserts that the Democrats exploited the stupidity of the average (Democrat) American voter, what they really exploited was the dishonesty of the monolithic leftist press.
some were stupid to truly believe them.
others were such newbies they were just naive/ignorant and believed them.
others were simply misled by diect lies, and believed them.
others wanted to believe what they suspected/knew were lies, hoping they would somehow work out.
then there was the rest of us who knew it as soon as it cameout of their mouths.
Well said.
.... Even the average Democrat voter is not stupid .....
I beg to differ. There isn’t a single stance taken by the democrat party that can stand even a whiff of scrutiny. Have you debated a liberal lately?
Thanks.
I agree that one cannot carry on a rational discourse with liberals, but if I want to use language correctly, it is not (in most cases) because they are stupid. Rather, it is because they are ignorant and depraved.
bump
I admit I’m taking a very narrow view, but I judge liberals based on one of my sisters. It is impossible to even engage in the most simple debate with her because she either defaults to a bizarre Koch Brothers rant or denies that facts are facts. Democrats have been so throughly gruberized that facts, logic, and common sense do not matter.
Think about it. Harry Reid stood on the Senate floor (immunity) and said a little fairy told him Mitt Romney did not pay taxes for 10 years. No proof. Nothing. Democrats, including my sister, believed that as if gospel. Not even a whiff of scrutiny.
I’m not saying you have to be stupid to be a liberal, but it sure helps. This is only directed at rank and file gruberized liberals. The professional liberals are evil not stupid.
Your #9: Agreed.
Our constitution is almost done absorbing and passing the Baby Boomer phenomenon, which has ruled every major action the US grubermint has undertaken since 1940.
You can gaze upon the high-water marks the Boomer generation has had on every American industry... now it’s medicine’s turn.
“Our constitution is almost done absorbing and passing the Baby Boomer phenomenon, which has ruled every major action the US grubermint has undertaken since 1940.”
—
I think you might mean 1945.
.
Not a single Republican senator or Congressman voted in favor of that monstrosity called Obamacare. It must be make perfectly clear that democrat Phd com man Gruber, called stupid not all the American voters, but just the democrat voters that put the “Liar in Chief” in the White House, in spite of his Marxist anti-American back ground, and all the Democrats legislators co-conspirators with the president and the MSM in the greatest deception against the American people in the history of the United States.
According to Obama, the MTI professor, a frequent visitor to the White House, was just an adviser. For his “invaluable advise and services” to the Obama administration professor Gruber received over 5.9 million dollars... Stupidity to the to nth power.
“what they really exploited was the dishonesty of the monolithic leftist press”.
Monolithic leftist press describes it aptly but I like to call it the Obama Lapdog Media.
Exactly right. And anyone paying attention at the time KNEW that Obamacare was a con job. We knew it. Said so. Documented our concerns. And nobody listened. The advocate media failed.
Gruber changes the calculus. The informed were right. The “stupid” got conned. What happens next will determine if our republic is sustainable.
It's a more colorful label, but still accurate.
The very first Baby Boomer did not turn 21 until 1967 (1946 + 21). The voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 in 1971.
Liberals want to believe the lies. And the DNC is only too happy to keep providing them.
We keep talking about the stupidity of the American people... The American People knew. They elected a Republican Senator in Massachusetts for crying out loud. This thing was passed by dishonest politicians making bribes, breaking rules. This thing can be clearly laid at the Democrat’s feet.
and there are the ones who wanted their FREE healthcare.
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