Quote of the Day:
It’s not exactly the Ems Dispatch (the diplomatic cable Bismarck doctored to provoke the 1870 Franco Prussian War). But what the just-resurfaced Gruber Confession lacks in world-historical consequence, it makes up for in world-class cynicism.
—Charles Krauthammer on the Gruber Confession
Krauthammer of course is writing about the video of MIT professor Jonathan Gruber, an architect of ObamaCare, admitting that the lack was deliberately lacking in transparency to get it through Congress. There is a three letter word for what Gruber and his ilk did: they lied to the public to get ObamaCare passed.
Gruber admitted on the video (it is now videos) that the authors of ObamaCare manipulated the Congressional Budget Office, which would provide cost-estimates, and promoted the talking point that ObamaCare would not cost us anything.
Krauthammer writes:
Remember: The whole premise of Obamacare was that it would help the needy, but if you were not in need, if you liked what you had, you would be left alone. Which is why Obama kept repeating — Politifact counted 31 times — that “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan.”
But of course you couldn’t, as millions discovered when they were kicked off their plans last year. Millions more were further shocked when they discovered major hikes in their premiums and deductibles. It was their wealth that was being redistributed.
But Gruber didn’t just admit to hoodwinking (there is a three letter word fof this) the public to foist a vast, jerrybuilt, expensive health coverage system upon us, he called the American voter “stupid.” This sentiment should not be dismissed as merely a facet of Mr. Gruber’s unfortunate personality.
Last night on Fox, George Will traced the pedigree of this progressive notion back to New Republic founder to Herbert Croly, who wrote that “the average American individual is morally and intellectually inadequate to a serious and consistent conception of his responsibilities as a democrat.”
Meanwhile, Democrats are scampering around attempting to disavow Gruber, whom they suddenly hardly know, while Rich Lowry thanks him for his wholly unanticipated candor. The subhead on Lowry’s column sums up why the Obama administration and its allies (including Mr. Gruber who received $400,000 for consulting on ObamaCare) felt they had to be less than candid with the American people to pass ObamaCare:
Obamistas believe they had to lie to pass Obamacare because Americans are stupid.