White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest dismissed the growing number of Jonathan Gruber comments about the misleading nature of the Obamacare political debate to help it getting it passed.
ABC News White House reporter Jon Karl noted during the White House press briefing today that videos of Gruber’s comments have been a “hit series” online especially among Republican lawmakers and Obamacare opponents.
Earnest hinted that some Republicans were only focusing on the videos because they believed it was “politically advantageous.”
“My suspicion is that they do so because it’s easier to talk about six and eight year old videos than it is to talk about how smoothly the opening of the second opening enrollment period has gone so far,” Earnest replied.
But most of the Gruber videos are only one to three years old. The most controversial video of Gruber citing the “stupidity of the American voter” is from an event in 2013.
Earnest reminded reporters that Gruber was only an advisor to the White House, whose expertise was focused on the economics of Obamacare, not the political aspects.
He also pointed out that Gruber worked in a similar role for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s health care plan.
“That was the role that he played here,” Earnest said. “It also is why its pretty clear that he views he’s articulated don’t reflect what actually happened when it comes to the passing or implementation of this law.”
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