Take-no-prisoners radio host Mark Levin is congenitally incapable of mincing words, and his visceral reaction to top Obamacare consultant Jonathan Gruber's jaw-dropping admission of the law's inherent deceit is wholly in character.
How much longer, Levin asks, are Americans willing to tolerate a thuggish government "growing more tyrannical every day"?
Levin on his radio show Wednesday night prefaced his remarks by playing audio of Obama's numerous empty promises about the so-called Affordable Care Act, and a clip of remarks by Donald Berwick, appointed by Obama in 2010 to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. During an event two years earlier marking the 60th anniversary of Britain's socialized health care system, Berwick claimed that "any health care funding plan that is just, equitable, civilized and humane must -- must -- redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and the less fortunate. Excellent health care is by definition redistributional."
Levin could barely contain his disgust when it came to Gruber (audio) --
LEVIN: So far you heard Donald Berwick, who flat-out stated that the purpose of government-run health care is to redistribute wealth, is to redistribute services. Then you heard Obama lie about every aspect of this law that they were constructing and promoting, every piece of it -- you could keep your doctor, you could keep your policy, your costs will go down $2,500 a year per family, it would reduce the annual deficit and the overall debt -- just absurd.
Now you're going to hear from Gruber, Professor Gruber again with one additional audio, telling you, bragging about how he lied, how Obamacare as told to you was a fiction, and how the statute itself, its complexity, its length, was used to bamboozle you. And I want to add this -- not only was the President of the United States behind this, the entire Democrat party, the entire media, they were all behind it. They were all behind it. Jonathan Gruber -- pro-fessa, MIT.
And by the way, the man who uncovered this is a patriot citizen outside of Philadelphia. If you go to my social sites, marklevinshow/facebook, marklevinshow/twitter, I link to a story by Bloomberg News about this gentleman. He lost his health care and literally, in his basement, maybe it's his mother's basement, he wanted to know who the people were who were the architects behind this and he started to dig and dig and dig and he listened to these long speeches. He's the one that came up with this! Not a single major news service -- because they didn't care. They're cheerleaders -- they are Praetorian Guard media. I told you, the media created Obama, they're not going to destroy him. You've heard some of this but again, I'm making the case, one step at a time.
We have Berwick who says, look, this is about redistribution. We have Obama lying through his teeth. Now we have Gruber saying of course they're lying through their teeth. That's the only way they could get it passed!
GRUBER: This bill was written in a tortured way to make sure CBO did not score the mandate as taxes. If CBO scored the mandate as taxes, the bill dies, OK? So it was written to do that. In terms of risk-rated subsidies, if you had a law which said healthy people are going to pay in, it made explicit that healthy people pay in and sick people get money, it would not have passed, OK? ... Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage and basically, you know, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to getting the thing to pass and, you know, it's the second best argument. Look, I wish (fellow panelist Mark Pauly, University of Pennsylvania economist) was right, we could make it all transparent, but I'd rather have this law than not.
LEVIN: I said the other day that these pieces of you-know-what masterminds, who have tenure at universities, the last refuges of the old Soviet Union, and their political puppets, they should thank God every single day that we are a peaceful, law-abiding people because this is what revolutions are made of, ladies and gentlemen. I'm not kidding. This is what sparks rebellions, when the government ceases to be representative and the government is the problem. It's tyrannical. And I'm telling you right now, our government is tyrannical and it's growing more tyrannical every day. It's becoming more and more a police state. And I must tell you, I'm becoming more and more the rebel. And I am intolerant of passive and timid men and women who seek our votes and then go to Washington, D.C., and make peace with tyranny.
This man, Jonathan Gruber, should lose his job as a professor. In the old days he would have been tarred and feathered, the old days they would have put him up in one of those racks and thrown tomatoes at him. Instead I'm sure he has tenure, have a nice pension, he'll have nice health care, this shameless self-promoter.
Donald Berwick, not incidentally, ran for governor of Massachusetts this year and lost in the Democrat primary. While the White House and Nancy Pelosi are desperately distancing themselves from Gruber -- despite overwhelming evidence that he played a pivotal role in crafting Obamacare -- don't be surprised if Gruber is also eventually touted by liberals as a candidate for office. After all, he's got their playbook down pat.
