This is what passes for a modern day tarring and feathering. MIT professor, self-described “key architect” of Romneycare and paid consultant on Obamacare Dr. Jonathan Gruber testified this morning before the House Oversight Committee. The entire session lasted four hours, as each member of the committee got to have his or her say at Gruber, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, and was forced to listen to hipster Obamacare groupie Ari Goldman talk about his “thrills” at getting health insurance.

First, Professor Gruber made his opening statement, which said, in part:

I am a Professor of Economics at MIT. I am not a political advisor nor a politician. Over the past decade I have used a complex economic microsimulation model to help a number of states and the federal government assess the impact that various legislative options
for health care reform might have on the state and federal health care systems, government budgets, and overall economies.

I did not draft Governor Romney’s health care plan, and I was not the “architect” of President Obama’s health care plan. I ran microsimulation models to help those in the state and federal executive and legislative branches better assess the likely outcomes of various
possible policy choices.

After the passage of the ACA, I made a series of speeches around the nation endeavoring to explain the law’s implications for the U.S. health care system from the perspective of a trained economist. Many of these speeches were to technical audiences at
economic and academic conferences.
Over the past weeks a number of videos have emerged from these appearances. In excerpts of these videos I am shown making a series of glib, thoughtless, and sometimes downright insulting comments. I apologized for the first of these videos earlier. But the ongoing attention paid to these videos has made me realize that a fuller accounting is necessary.
I would like to begin by apologizing sincerely for the offending comments that I made. 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 in any situation. I sincerely apologize both for conjecturing with a tone of expertise and for doing so in such a disparaging fashion. It is never appropriate to try to make oneself seem more important or smarter by demeaning others. I know better. I knew better. I am embarrassed, and I am sorry.