SUCH HUMILITY – AT 10:52 A.M. ET:   Jonathan Gruber, the academic, and one of the architects of Obamacare, appeared before Congress today and immediately tried to walk back his comments insulting the American people.  From the Washington Times: 

Jonathan Gruber, the man at the center of Obamacare’s troubled public image, apologized to Congress for “glib” and “thoughtless” comments about the stupidity of the American voters and how the health overhaul passed, arguing he is no political expert and shouldn’t have posed as one in speeches around the country.

“It’s never appropriate to try to make oneself seem more important or smarter by demeaning others. I knew better. I know better. I’m embarrassed, and I’m sorry,” Mr. Gruber, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told the House oversight committee chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican.

Mr. Gruber tried to walk back the imprint his comments, captured in YouTube clips that went viral and reignited many concerns about Obamacare, as Republicans prepare to take full control of Congress in the new year.

Mr. Issa played the clips on large TV screens in the hearing room prior to testimony.

In one, Mr. Gruber said the health care bill was written in a “tortured” way to ensure the Congressional Budget Office didn’t score the individual mandate as a tax, even though the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately upheld the mandate as constitutional under Congress’s taxing power.

“Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage,” Mr. Gruber said. “And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to get the thing to pass.”

COMMENT:  I don't know how you really walk back comments like that.  And no one can really believe that this arrogant, self-satisfied man is truly serious.  I don't think Mr. Gruber will be in great demand by the political class.

December 8, 2014