Jonathan Gruber, architect of RomneyCare and former cheerleader-in-chief for Obamacare sat down in front of legislators Tuesday to repeatedly, profusely and without shame, apologize for for his public statements questing the intelligence of Americans for passing Obamacare.
Gruber started off his statement by begging forgiveness from members of Congress in a media-filled room:
“Don’t make me beg here, because I will do it. I am so sorry, I am so go**amn sorry! Look I’m freaking out here! I killed them! I killed them all! I’m so f***ing stupid! I don’t know what I’m doing and everybody hates me!”
No sorry, that was MacGruber begging forgiveness.
Jonathan Gruber’s tone was similar as he told a fiery room:
I would like to begin by apologizing sincerely for the offending comments that I made. In some cases I made uninformed and glib comments about the political process behind health care reform. I am not an expert on politics and my tone implied that I was, which is wrong. In other cases I simply made insulting and mean comments that are totally uncalled for in any situation. I sincerely apologize both for conjecturing with a tone of expertise and for doing so in such a disparaging fashion.
The MIT economist is referring to statements he made including blaming the passing of the Affordable Healthcare Act on “the stupidity of the American voter.”
While congressional leaders didn’t hold back in their contempt for Gruber with their questioning, one of the better moments of the day occurred immediately following the hearing.
Phil Kerpen, head of the group American Commitment, was first to approach Gruber at the close of the hearing and . . . well you can hear it directly from Kerpen:
Right after hearing I shook Gruber’s hand, looked him in the eye, and said: “Thank you for helping us destroy the shitty law you passed.”
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) December 9, 2014
We asked Kerpen his thoughts on the hearing and he told us, “It was surreal seeing a Harvard PhD, MIT full professor, infamous smartest-guy-in-the-room say over and over again that all of his statements about Obamacare were ‘glib conjectures’ and that he put down others to try to appear smart. And it was hard not to laugh when he repeatedly refused to answer how much he was paid by taxpayers to lie to us.”
Expect more from Gruber in the coming weeks along with his suggested cameo on Saturday Night Live giving the the king of glib conjectures, MacGruber, a run for his money.
