Krugman: Pathetic Centrists

[pa28]

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/06/pathetic-centrists/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto&_r=0

So progressive Democrats have seized on an op-ed by the group Third Way — an op-ed attacking Elizabeth Warren and Bill de Blasio for their terrible, horrible economic populism — as a way to start reclaiming the party from the “centrists”. And it’s working: the centrists are very much on the run.

The centrists are very much on the run. I very much like that idea.

[Wounded Bear]

1. This country desperately needs a sudden lurch to the left....

Desperately.

[Enthusiast]

12. Desperately is right. It's a crisis..............nt

[ctsnowman]

21. X 1000

[rhett o rick]

2. Centrists, arent they the ones trying to discourage the left from looking ahead to 2016? nm

[Scuba]

3. How dare you think about anyone but Hillary anyway!??!

[rhett o rick]

4. Huh? Is this Scuba The Centrist speaking? Do you have multiple personality disorder like someone

else we know and love? Well I guess we cant have too Manny.

[socialist_n_TN]

20. I THINK that was.....

I read it as such anyway.

[Doctor_J]

37. yes, and self-described "liberals" are now supporting mandatory private health "insurance"

the country is off the track

[rhett o rick]

38. Are you referring to the ACA? nm

[Doctor_J]

43. Yes I am

Sanders and Krugman and others who know better have been forced on board. And regardless of the prevailing party line, this is not a step toward SP

[bvar22]

5. Centrists?..... Oh, he means Reagan Democrats...or moderate Republicans.

IIRC, Krugman has a few NeoLiberal sins for which he needs to seek forgiveness,
like pimping Free Markets and Free Trade back in the Clinton days,
but who am I to hold a grudge?

[pa28]

6. Like Robert Reich, Krugman has his share of neoliberal sins.

However, I think they both see the big picture now.

[bvar22]

9. I think so too.

I'm glad that a Progressive Revival seems to be taking root.
The smart ones will get behind Warren and the handful of real Democrats left in our Party.

[lumberjack_jeff]

14. I think the political map is divided up all wrong.

A Warren candidacy will bring middle and working class men back to the party, because there is neither party is actually working for working class interests - at least not if it conflicts in any way with the interests of Wall Street.

"Populist" has proven to be a winner. Economic populism will be both a winner and help the great majority of americans too.

[ProSense]

7. They've been

pushing the meme for years. Krugman:

But anyway, they declare that Medicare is the bigger issue. So what’s this about “staunch refusal” to address Medicare? The Affordable Care Act contains lots of measures to limit Medicare costs and health care more generally — it’s Republicans, not progressive Democrats, who have been screaming against cost-saving measures (death panels!). And health cost growth has slowed dramatically, feeding into much better Medicare projections. Here’s how the CBO projections have changed since Obama took office:



So what does Third Way think it would mean to “address the Medicare crisis”? They don’t say. But my strong guess is that they mean raising the Medicare age; living in their cave, they probably haven’t gotten the memo (literally) from CBO concluding that raising that age would hardly save any money.

It’s just so tired and tiring. If being a “centrist” means fact-free denunciations of progressives for not being willing to cut entitlements, who needs these guys?

[RainDog]

8. k&r n/t

[Demeter]

10. From his lips to God's ear

and the electorate's.

[WillyT]

11. HUGE K & R !!! - THANK YOU !!!

[Laelth]

13. I like this part:

If being a “centrist” means fact-free denunciations of progressives for not being willing to cut entitlements, who needs these guys?

Who, indeed?



-Laelth

[pa28]

15. UPDATE: Third way says Warren's backing of SS expansion was "final moment".

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/06/jim-kessler-elizabeth-warren_n_4400713.html?1386371778

Jim Kessler, senior vice president for policy and a co-founder of Third Way, said Friday morning that Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) backing of a plan to expand social security compelled him and the president of the group to hit back with a Wall Street Journal op-ed lambasting the plan and economic populism.

"The impetus was really -- we saw after the most recently, this push that okay, it's time to really move the national Democratic party to a much more liberal agenda, in this case, Senator Warren was the standard bearer -- she's on the cover of a lot of magazines," he said in an interview on Sirius XM with Ari Rabin-Havt. "We were a bit alarmed by that."

Get it? The conversation is supposed to be about cutting Social Security and anything else is alarming liberal activism that earns a well deserved scolding from very serious people.

[KoKo]

32. This statement makes me want to put "Warren for President/2016"

in my Sig Line. I love her spunk but think she's more valuable in the Senate where she can push and vote for Progressive Ideals. But, maybe we Progressive Dems should push her to run if it scares the stuffing out of the Third Way!

Go Elizabeth and Bernie Sanders plus Alan Grayson. Keep Speaking Out!

[annabanana]

33. "very serious people" can

kiss my ass

[KoKo]

34. This statement makes me want to put "Warren for President/2016"

in my Sig Line. I love her spunk but think she's more valuable in the Senate where she can push and vote for Progressive Ideals. But, maybe we Progressive Dems should push her to run if it scares the stuffing out of the Third Way!

Go Elizabeth and Bernie Sanders plus Alan Grayson. Keep Speaking Out!

[Whisp]

16. anyone who disses Warren like that, for those reasons

better fucking run. And same for de Blasio.

How disgusting.

The right has had their way since Carter was ousted out by Reagan and his lies on the Iran hostages. We finally get a chance at a left turn now with Obama and they want to step in and fuck it up again.

fuck you. fuck you very much.

[russspeakeasy]

23. allow me to add just one more "fuck you very much".

[Doctor_J]

17. Since Prof. Krugman has become a cheerleader for Heritage Care,

this particular post is disingenuous.

[truebluegreen]

18. You must not read him very often,

since his position is that single payer would be best, but "Heritage Care" than nothing.

[Drunken Irishman]

29. So has the guy in your avatar...

He voted for it - and supports it.

lol

[jsr]

19. Recommend

[ctsnowman]

22. If a candidate truly

addresses economic security they will win in a landslide. But it can't be just BS talking points, they are going to have to actually say their plans out loud. "Free trade" won't be part of it.

[Doctor_J]

36. There was a candidate who did that in 2008

"Public Option", "Comfortable Shoes", "My opponent bellieves in the chained CPI, I don't", etc. Then he got elected and all that stuff was forgotten. That's why no one voted in 2010, and why our elections are so poorly attended

[ctsnowman]

39. Agreed

People didn't cry in the park that night because they thought we needed warmed over con policies from the 90s.

Peace.

[99Forever]

24. This;

"If being a “centrist” means fact-free denunciations of progressives for not being willing to cut entitlements, who needs these guys?"

Turd Way, go away.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

25. Funny how the "Liberal Media" tells America that the Right Wing have the "serious" solutions.

[AZ Progressive]

26. Centrists are the ENABLERS of the Right Wing Abuse on this country.

They share part of the blame for the destruction that Right Wing Ideologies have done to this nation.

Their intentions may not be bad but are highly naive and ignorant, and are destructive as a result. Its like letting the wolf in, "give the wolf a chance."

Fuck, there were people who said before George W. Bush was selected: "Give Bush a chance." Remember how well that went.

[duffyduff]

42. The billionaires, Wall Street crooks, and neoliberal policymakers

OWN most of the Democratic Party these days, including the White House. These politicians know EXACTLY what they are doing; they are carrying out a neoliberal agenda that threatens to destroy this country.

The radical right would have been totally marginalized in this country if the Democratic rank and file would have woken up to what was happening to their own party.

[AZ Progressive]

27. The Third Way is our REAL enemy, they neutered Democrats from being able to fight Republicans

FUCK THEM FUCK THEM FUCK THEM

I WANT THE OLD DEMOCRATIC PARTY, THE PARTY THAT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT BUILT.


Third Way: "Just shutup and accept trickle down economics"

Third Way: "Just shutup and accept free trade"

Third Way: "Just shutup and accept big corporations"

Third Way: "Just shutup and accept that social programs are going to have to be cut"

Third Way: "Just shutup and accept the way the system is"


They are allies to the Republicans (and thus the enemy) as far as I'm concerned.

[Doctor_J]

35. True that. The Repukes were always the enemy of American. The Turd Way

turned OUR party into accessories

[duffyduff]

41. They are worse than the GOP because people KNOW the GOP is nuts.

The Third Way is part of the neoliberal game that most of our politicians in D.C. subscribe to in one way or the other.

People look at how batshit the GOP is and say, "Oh, look how HORRIBLE they are!" Then they turn around and vote for these neoliberal fakers posing as Democrats who put through the same damned thing as the GOP would pull. Actually, it's more likely those things would go through because of these fakers since people are so conned by the "D" after their names.

The Democratic Party isn't the same party it was even ten years ago thanks to these fakers. It's sickening.

[polichick]

28. No wonder they're trying to fast-track the TPP - their days are numbered.

[villager]

30. Why do we keep calling these rightwingers "centrists?"

There are rightwingers who now call themselves "centrists," and far-right/cryptofascists who are "conservatives."

These labels are all wrong, and part of the ambient "untruth" that's poisoning the country (fairly deliberately, it seems...)

[duffyduff]

40. They aren't "centrists"--they are hard right

They just don't come across as batshit crazy as most of the GOP, but in some ways they are worse because they are slick operators who desire a neoliberal agenda that is arguably worse.

[hfojvt]

44. it seems like wishful thinking

and also counter-productive rhetoric. Pathetic or not, progressive Democrats STILL need centrists in order to win elections. We need LOTS of centrists. We especially need them to NOT flip to the other side.

[Jefferson23]

45. Highly recommend....big time.

Thanks for posting pa28