Tale of two Jonathans
One Jonathan thinks American voters are too stupid to see deceptions in Obamacare. Another Jonathan assumes new legislators who oppose the Obamacare Private Option must be ignorant of the facts.
Jonathan Gruber
Jonathan Gruber was one of the architects of Obamacare (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act). Gruber is a MIT professor and received hundreds of thousands of dollars as a consultant on the development of Obamacare. Several videos recently surfaced of Jonathan Gruber explaining how deception and the stupidity of American voters helped get Obamacare passed. Here a link to one of those videos. [Watch]
Jonathan Dismang
Jonathan Dismang was one of the architects and sponsors of the Arkansas Private Option, which is Medicaid Expansion under Obamacare. Medicaid Expansion is one of the key pillars of Obamacare. Dismang is now the President Pro Tempore of the Arkansas State Senate.
Jonathan Dismang doesn’t appear to hold the intelligence of new legislators and voters in very high regard.
The following appeared after Scott Flippo (an opponent of the Private Option) scored a primary runoff victory over another Private Option architect, John Burris.
“Before Tuesday’s election, the incoming president of the state Senate [Dismang] said he hoped Flippo would keep an open mind and look at all of the issues surrounding the private option before it comes up for another vote next year.
“I understand that this is his central plank, but at the same time there’s a difference between campaigning and legislating,” said Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Beebe, who also helped develop the compromise expansion plan.”[i] (Emphasis added)
In a recent interview it appears Dismang insinuates that new legislators who campaigned to defeat the Obamacare Private Option must not be informed and may change their minds once he enlightens them.
“On the Private Option, Arkansas’ use of Medicaid expansion dollars through a private health insurance exchange, Dismang, one of the key architects of the plan, said there will be significant conversations with new members who campaigned to defeat the program.
“I think we’re just at a point where we have so many new members and this is a pretty complex subject. I know that the up-or-down, yes-or-no [vote] is typically what’s out in the conversation, but really it is complex. It will impact a lot of different things. Right now, I think it is too early to really say what direction those members – those new members – would like to take,” said Dismang.”[ii] (Emphasis added)
[i] http://thecabin.net/andrew-demillo/2014-06-14#.VGyrEovF-So
[ii] http://talkbusiness.net/2014/11/dismang-medicaid-will-move-in-a-more-conservative-direction/#sthash.LCcgzHos.dpuf