Citizen Journalist: How One Man Exposed Obamacare

By all accounts, Rich Weinstein is the most unlikely person in America to ignite a firestorm that threatens to topple Obamacare.  The unassuming Pennsylvanian is an investment adviser.  He is not a reporter, yet he exposed the underhanded tactics used to bamboozle the public on health reform.  

In a San Antonio radio interview, Weinstein recounted how his journalistic journey began when his health insurance was cancelled and he was forced to enroll in Obamacare.  He decided to research the law.  The more he learned about his new health care coverage, the more dismayed he became.

His legwork on the internet revealed provisions buried in the law's 2,000-plus pages that had escaped media attention.  Then he uncovered a bombshell: a video of one of Obamacare's architects disclosing that the bill's obfuscation was deliberate and that passage of the law required opacity.

"Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage," bragged Jonathan Gruber, an MIT economist.  "And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to getting the thing to pass."

The bombastic tirade was a gift that Weinstein decided to share with the news media last year.  Not one media outlet, including The Washington Post, thought it was newsworthy.  It wasn't until the video was posted online that the media could no longer ignore the powerful unmasking of political chicanery.

Gruber, after being taken to the woodshed by Democrats, quickly apologized on President Obama's personal television network MSNBC, explaining that he had been "speaking off the cuff."  But then four more damning videos surfaced and Gruber crawled into academic hiding.

But this is not just a story about a crusade by a citizen journalist. Weinstein's lone effort to shine a light on the president's signature health care reform is an indictment of the nation's media for their failure to do their own investigation of the behind-the-scenes political shenanigans.

Those paragons of journalistic principle, The New York Times, The Washington Post and ABC, NBC and CBS news, allowed their own fawning support of President Obama to cloud their news judgement. They joined hands to ensure their reporting would burnish the image of the health care law.

Now they all look foolish.  As do Democrats, who are now scrambling to cover up the deliberate con they hatched to pass the president's health law.  In one toxic interview, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi huffed that she had not heard of Gruber and that he had nothing to do with the law.

But some enterprising reporters found videos of Ms. Pelosi suggesting that Gruber was THE expert on health care statistics.  Other journalists discovered the California representative had also featured Gruber's role in shaping Obamacare on her own website in 2009.  So much for transparency.

Embarrassed by Weinstein's journalism, the news media has adopted a policy of pooh-poohing Gruber's remarks as idle chatter about routine political back room maneuvering.  The Washington Post set the tone with a blog report that Gruber's offhanded comments were much ado about nothing.

"…Gruber's comments, while damning, aren't exactly the most fertile political territory," an arrogant Post columnist opined.  "That's because, while "stupidity of the American voter" is a pretty strong soundbite, Gruber's connection to the law takes some explaining."

In other words, The Washington Post also believes most people are too stupid to ferret out the linkage between Gruber and Obamacare, although there is public evidence that Gruber served as a technical consultant to the Obama Administration and helped craft the new health care law.

Gruber's skulduggery was handsomely rewarded by the federal government.  In 2009, he pocketed nearly $400,000 through contracts with the Department of Health and Human Services.  Yet Pelosi and presidential spokesman Josh Earnest continue to insist Gruber played no role in Obamacare.

Public logs, readily available to journalists, document that Gruber was a regular visitor to the White House and Congress.  Records show Gruber made 19 visits to the White House and Capitol Hill from 2009 to June of this year.

Despite this evidence, President Obama has distanced himself from Gruber, calling him "some adviser, who never worked on our staff." He may not have been a staff member, but Gruber was paid by the very government that the president serves as chief executive.

The only stupid Americans in this saga are The Washington Post, Democrats, Jonathan Gruber and Nancy Pelosi.  Most average people now understand they were duped by the president and his Democrat allies in order to saddle Americans with inferior government-dictated health care.

It took an ordinary citizen named Rich Weinstein to divulge the sleazy deception.  He is the only hero in this political tragedy.  The elitist Washington Post probably considers him stupid, too.