we have jonathan gruber here to speak. jonathan's an award-winning mit health economist and director of the health care program of the national bureau of economic research, one of the longest titles and one i'd hate to have myself. he was a key architect, one of the things i ran into him or at least heard of him a hot when he was working up in massachusetts helping the massachusetts people put together their reform. he has also work with the the administration and congress when they developed the health care reform legislation that was passed about two years ago. he's also co-editor of the journal of public economics and associate editor of the journal of health economics. he's published more than 125 articles, has edited six research volumes, he's author of public finance and public policy and, which is a leading text. whew. which is why he probably speaks with great authority about the law. and what he has done is written a book called "health care reform: what it is, why it's necessary and how it works." i think it is a

the mandate i talked to jonathan gruber who worked for obama and romney on both their health care plans, he says as a legislative instrument, the mandate is basically identical between the two. we're arguing a thing of semantics here. the actual legislation they introduced with respect to the mandate is virtually identical. call it a tax, a penalty, whatever. it's the same. >> it's actually enforced the same way, in massachusetts on your tax return you have to submit -- >> yes. i grew up there. >> they have to put the proof of health insurance file it with their tax return. >> i think that's right. actually, the only argument that romney had and he made it maybe a couple years ago, but he really abandoned it, was the tenth amendment issue, sort of a states rights kind of issue. abandoned that and then the supreme court ruling made that null anyway. but that would be the only area of nuance he has to go because they are so similar. >> yeah. i think that sam made the real relevant point and that is, that eric did not say this is the campaign's position. >> right. >> he said the governor b

mit economics professor jonathan gruber was the author of the massachusetts healthcare law spearheaded worked with both obama and romney on their healthcare plans. here's what he told me the other night on current tv. he said the affordable care act is a more ambitious version of governor romney's plan. at the core, they're the same plan. they have three-legged stool. reformist markets individual mandates so everyone who participates and subsidies to make health insurance affordable. the same guy helped write both plans says they're the same plans. mitt romney, you got a wedge issue with no wedge. sit down! you can see that interview on current.com under viewpoint. >> amazing. >> john: frank, you were saying something interesting before the break. >> what was that? >> john: i believe it was about mitt romney. about your favorite republican talk point on the president. >> well, the -- i was talking about the teleprompter, right? and mitt romney, he doesn't need -- he is a teleprompter. actually tell prompters have more soul that mitt romney does. >> john: teleprompters are people my fri