The wonk at the center of the Grubergate story

“I have this interview show in which I interview policy wonks, some of whom, like Avik Roy, are conservative,” he said in an interview. “It’s a little insulting to say that my videos have been uncovered. From my point of view, I’m trying to publicize them. And this particular clip was cited by Paul Krugman!”

Indeed it was. Back in April, when the video was fresh and Gruber was not yet appearing on a thousand wanted posters, Paul Krugman citedthe “awesome in its evilness” line in his print New York Times column. (Krugman added that Gruber was “normally a very mild-mannered guy.”) That was the coverage Pollack was hoping for; less so the cameo in a rolling scandal.

“I must say I could do without some of the anti-Semitic hate mail that’s coming in,” said Pollack. “I feel really bad for Jon Gruber, who’s the subject of this Internet gang-tackle. People are putting awful comments on healthinsurance.org, and it takes about six seconds for the ‘Jew’ stuff to come up. I just wish I didn’t look so dorky.”

According to Pollack, none of the new spelunkers of his video have talked to him. “No one’s asked if I had any evidence to make the claims,” he said. “There’s no actual reporting going on.” But when I asked if he thought race was one factor leading states to deny expansion, he stuck to his argument.

“Look, race is not the only factor in the politics of Medicaid, and my real comment was not about race,” he said. “It was about the politics of impunity. It’s considered an actively positive thing that to withhold a benefit from poor person, and the impact of these policies on poor people on states and counties is pretty devastating. That said, around 80 percent of the adults who’ve been shut out of the Medicaid expansion live in the Southeast, and 43 percent live in just Florida, Georgia, and Texas. It is entirely correct to say politics of race has played a role in politics in America.”

Pollack was happy to have the debate, and until this week, it was a perfectly normal thing for progressive wonks to do. Yet absent Grubergate the wonks might be talking about Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s second annual open enrollment period.

“The actual experience of health reform right now is pretty important for most people,” Pollack said. “Those are the stories I’d like to see uncovered. Is it changing lives? What are the experiences of people under health care reform? Every second we spend arguing about Grubergate is a second that’s wasted.