Jonathan Gruber: Republicans are whipping up the hysteria

[Onlooker]

This story is being played up all across the United States in both the MSM and the right-wing media.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/11/12/meet-jonathan-gruber-the-man-whos-willing-to-say-what-everyone-else-is-only-thinking-about-obamacare/

Jonathan Gruber might not be a household name, but in the world of health care policy, he's a pretty big deal. And now he's also known as the guy who's credited "the stupidity of the American voter" for the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

But this story has some big holes

If you go to Google and type:

Jonathan Gruber obamacare (or any variant, such as john gruber ACA)

Then go to advanced search and specify a custom To date:

2013

You will get under 200 hits.

Now do another search:

Jonathan Gruber stupid video obamacare

You get about 4.5 million hits.

In other words, the right wing has taken a fairly obscure Obamacare player and turned him into the architect of Obamacare and made his boneheaded remarks about the stupidity of the American voter into something so big that his name went from generating dozens of hits (in relation to Obamacare) to millions of hits. The right wing media does an incredible job whipping its based into an absolute frenzy, and the MSM follows suit.

Now, Gruber's point was simply this: If the legislation said that the healthy people will pay for the healthcare of sick people, the bill never would have passed, even though that's exactly how all insurance works. Using the Republican logic, we should call on them to rewrite the tax law so that it says, "People who live off investments will pay lower taxes than people who work for a living." That wouldn't pass either.

The right wing knows how to whip up hysteria -- be it ISIS, Ebola, kids bringing disease from South America, the knockout game, etc. This Jonathan Gruber issue is just another example of the way they manipulate their mindless base.

[pampango]

1. Nice post. Of course, you can use "Republicans are whipping up the hysteria" for

just about any policy that republicans support or oppose.

[B2G]

2. I don't know why some here are so invested in defending him

On Jonathan Gruber and Disclosure
Jan 9, 2010

The New York Times has an editor's note today:

"On July 12, the Op-Ed page published an article by Jonathan Gruber, a professor of economics at M.I.T., on health insurance and taxation. On Friday, Professor Gruber confirmed reports that he is a paid consultant to the Department of Health and Human Services, and that his contract was in effect when he published his article. The article did not disclose this relationship to readers.

"Like other writers for the Op-Ed page, Professor Gruber signed a contract that obligated him to tell editors of such a relationship. Had editors been aware of Professor Gruber's government ties, the Op-Ed page would have insisted on disclosure or not published his article."

In November this blog, too, cited Gruber's work with no disclosure (and no knowledge) that he had nearly $400,000 in lucrative contracts with the Department of Health and Human Services.

Gruber has been a go-to voice for reporters seeking a respected academic view on health care reform costs — and as far as I can tell, few if any knew that in March he was awarded a $95,000 contract with HHS and in June a $297,600 contract with HHS for providing "Technical Assistance in Evaluating Options for National Healthcare Reform."

A Dec. 28, 2009 Washington Post op-ed by Gruber made no such disclosure. The piece, titled "'Cadillac' tax isn't a tax — it's a plan to finance real health reform" makes that case, strongly opposed by labor unions, that the Senate health care bill's proposed "40 percent assessment on insurance plans with premiums of more than $8,500 for singles and $23,000 for families … would reduce the incentives for employers to provide excessively generous insurance, leading to more cost-conscious use of health care and, ultimately, lower spending."

This is the same "Cadillac tax" proposal that President Obama is pushing House and Senate health care reform negotiators to include in the bill — and yes, it's the same one he opposed on the campaign trail, noting in October 2008 in Newport News that some workers have "given up wage increases in exchange for a better health care."

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2010/01/on-jonathan-gruber-and-disclosure/

[Hoyt]

3. Sadly, Republicans aren't only ones using this to get at Obama.

[Zorra]

4. This is only the infancy of the RW MSM propaganda assault. They own the media,

and they now feel they've been mandated to lie about everything with impunity.

[Mass]

5. Gruber's main crime is a lack of empathy with people.

Unfortunately, this lack of empathy is rampant in some corners of the democratic elite (hence the absence of reflection concerning these election results. The post-mortem seems to be: people are stupid, so keep the same leadership team, pander to the left by adding Liz Warren to the leadership, and next time, we will be able to win on Hillary's coattails).

I do not know how often I cringed when hearing Democrats talk about poor people or the middle class. Even when their solution were good (or definitively better than the GOP's) they were presented with condescension.

[Onlooker]

6. The problem is not Gruber

Gruber merely made some boneheaded comments about ACA. The problem is that the right is getting away with turning Gruber into some sort of superstar. Prior to this story, Gruber generated a couple hundred hits in Google search. Now he generates 4.5 million. That means that the right wing has taken one individual among hundreds who were involved with Obamacare, found stupid things he said, and have turned it into a national scandal. The way the right gets away with this is unbelievable. It's one of the reasons that the Republican base is so frenzied and irrational. The Dems should be saying, "Jonathan who?"

[Nuclear Unicorn]

8. How does an MIT professor and consultant to governors and the President make boneheaded comments?

The Dems should be saying, "Jonathan who?"

Pelosi tried that lie.

Academic Built Case for Mandate in Health Care Law

Published: March 28, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/29/business/jonathan-gruber-health-cares-mr-mandate.html?_r=2&hp=&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=2&adxnnlx=1415918716-kPuwtAY73cqMABycZ+kCdA

When the issue is someone claiming an integral part of a law's passage relied on assumptions the American people are stupid and should be lied to, trying to bury it with yet more lies and assumptions that they can be easily duped by disowning Gruber will only exacerbate the situation.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

7. "Jonathan Gruber stupid video obamacare You get about 4.5 million hits. "

What is the relevancy of that statement? How many millions of hits are there for "Romney video 47 percent"? Is it the left wing whipping up hysteria?

He said. He meant it. If he's embarrassed by it that's not the fault of the people who watch the videos.

Apparently there are yet more videos to come. I recommend studying up on The Streisand Effect.