The New Republic’s Brian Buetler, who does not work for The Onion, recently wrote a piece called “The Obamacare Debate Was One of the Most Transparent in Recent Memory.” Initial reviews of the article seem to indicate that he was being serious.
The entire piece seems to be full of hilarious revisionism. For example: when Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber admitted that people from states that didn’t set up subsidies couldn’t receive federal subsidies, Buetler says that was “mistakenly said.” Likewise, people who point to comments from one of the Obamacare architects as an indication of what the Obamacare framers intended are part of a “truther” movement.
As for Gruber’s more recent comments calling American voters stupid and bragging about duping them, that’s not a “significant discovery.” Instead, it’s the “impolitic but ultimately unnewsworthy confessions of a single technocrat.” Move along, folks. Nothing to see here. (RELATED: U Penn Deletes Video Of Obamacare Architect Insulting American Voters)
Buetler even explains how Gruber’s claim that they intentionally misled voters to pass Obamacare was one big lie. “Conservatives have always said the health care law wasn’t debated,” he says, “that it was rammed through, nobody read it, etc, etc. But it actually stands out for how much it was debated, and, for the most part, how transparent that debate was.” (RELATED: Yet Another Video Emerges Of Obamacare Architect Calling Americans ‘Stupid)
Taken together, he says, Gruber’s comments “vindicate the political process that gave rise to the [Affordable Care Act].”