The appearance of Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber before the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday revealed an "arrogant" bureaucrat full of "self-righteous smugness,'' says Rep. Doug Collins, a Georgia Republican.
"It was the face of what we have fought against many, many times in this administration," Collins, a member of the committee, said Tuesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
"That sort of self-righteous smugness that comes from … [those] who believe that government is the answer to everything and that anybody who disagrees with him is simply in the way of their utopian world.
"It was just amazing to see him sit there and consistently not answer questions."
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Gruber, an economist and MIT professor, sparked a furor when he was quoted as saying the "stupidity of the American voter" helped pass the healthcare law.
Hauled before Congress, Gruber apologized, stating: "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."
"It just showed him for basically the arrogant elitist that he is and basically the deception … we all knew was going on in dealing with a very flawed healthcare law they were desperate to pass," Collins said.
"The interesting thing though is how he wouldn't answer simple questions. Here's a guy who can do economic micro plans for a complicated healthcare law, but couldn't remember how much he was paid. I finally asked him, well did you file a tax return?
"I mean, if you won't tell us how much you're paid which is part of the requirements before testifying before a committee."
But Collins believes Gruber's appearance was useful in exposing the truth.
"The veil was pulled away from him, we saw the wizard and the wizard saying, yup we did it and we got caught," Collins said.
"Even those who like the concept of healthcare and like the concept of the government being more involved are … frustrated with the system … with the payments …. with the administration's ineptness in rolling this out and the lack of transparency.
"They're finally seeing it for what it is and that was the administration basically taking on the big insurance companies and helping them … They found out that their leader was basically in bed with the insurance agencies."
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