By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
On Monday, November 17, Alabama Republican Party Chairman Bill Armistead said that comments made by Obamacare architect, Dr. Johnathon Gruber, about the stupidity of the American people helping pass the controversial Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 reveal the thinking of many liberal elites.
Chairman Armistead said in a written statement, “Last week, an ObamaCare scandal erupted as a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) economist, Professor Jonathan Gruber, was caught on video repeatedly bragging about intentionally deceiving the American people on the details of ObamaCare. Professor Gruber has been described as the “architect” of ObamaCare and has said the “stupidity of the American voter” helped pass ObamaCare. Fox News exposed Gruber and his comments on air last week.”< The ALGOP Chairman wrote, “This MIT professor was paid $400,000 in federal contracts for his work on the bill that put one-sixth of the American economy under government control. Gruber also received money from state contracts. In total, Gruber recieved at least $5,886,150 in taxpayer-funded consulting fees...Professor Gruber’s insulting comments underscore the elitist thinking by many in the Democratic Party and in the Washington beltway establishment. They really do believe in the “stupidity” of the American voter.” As many as five videos have surfaced of Gruber making the “stupid Americans” comments. Chairman Armistead said, “The one truth we were told was by Nancy Pelosi when she said, “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it.” Now we know, and the American people don’t like it. They certainly don’t like being deceived and insulted by elitists in the Democratic Party.” “Strange as it may seem, I believe Professor Gruber has actually done the American people a favor, as he has opened a window into the mind of Democrats in the Obama Administration. He has given us proof of the disdain this administration has for the majority of the American people. They know better than we do. In Professor Gruber’s own words, the American people are too “stupid” to understand their great legislation.” Armistead said, “We can only hope that our new Republican majorities in the House and the Senate will go to work immediately to repeal this deceitful and destructive law. We can only hope that the most recent ObamaCare case going to the Supreme Court will finally bring an end to this law...ObamaCare is either going to die a death of a thousand cuts or it’s going to be a house of cards that will collapse in on itself. This is why Alabama and more than thirty other states chose not to participate. In the end, I believe it will be proven to be a great decision.” On Tuesday, November 18, The Hill’s Elise Viebeck wrote, that President Obama said of Gruber, "The fact that an adviser who was never on our staff expressed an opinion that I completely disagree with in terms of the voters is not a reflection on the actual process that was run...We had a year-long debate. Go look back at your stories. The one thing we can’t say is that we did not have a lengthy debate about healthcare in the United States of America, or that it was not adequately covered. Every press outlet, go back and pull up every clip, every story. And I think it’s fair to say there was not a provision in the healthcare law that was not extensively debated and was fully transparent.” Viebeck is reporting that the Washington Free Beacon has uncovered video showing Barack Obama praising Gruber. Obama said, “Many of them I have stolen ideas from liberally, people ranging from [economist] Robert Gordon to [economist] Austan Goolsbee [to] Jon Gruber," Obama said in the clip. Dr. Gruber served as a consultant during the passage of Obamacare as well as its Massachusetts predecessor under former Gov. Mitt Romney (R). The Second year of Obamacare on the private health care insurance market begins on January 1. The new rates have been announced and most Alabama residents will see their health insurance rates increase. There are average rate increases across 65 of Alabama’s 67 counties. Obamacare remains enormously unpopular with the American people.
