Krugman: Conservatism is now “a sort of cult”

[DonViejo]

The New York Times columnist assails proud ignorance on the right

BY ALEX HALPERIN

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman went on the attack this morning. Riffing off a speech by Wyoming junior Senator John Barrasso which called Obamacare “unaffordable,” the Nobel Prize winning economist points out that the law seems to be lowering health costs and points out that insurance premiums will be lower than the Congressional Budget Office had originally predicted. ”But Mr. Barrasso’s remarks were actually interesting, although not in the way he intended,” Krugman writes:

My guess, in other words, was that Mr. Barrasso was inadvertently illustrating the widening “wonk gap” — the G.O.P.’s near-complete lack of expertise on anything substantive. Health care is the most prominent example, but the dumbing down extends across the spectrum, from budget issues to national security to poll analysis. Remember, Mitt Romney and much of his party went into Election Day expecting victory….

But that was then. Modern conservatism has become a sort of cult, very much given to conspiracy theorizing when confronted with inconvenient facts. Liberal policies were supposed to cause hyperinflation, so low measured inflation must reflect statistical fraud; the threat of climate change implies the need for public action, so global warming must be a gigantic scientific hoax. Oh, and Mitt Romney would have won if only he had been a real conservative.

It’s all kind of funny, in a way. Unfortunately, however, this runaway cult controls the House, which gives it immense destructive power — the power, for example, to wreak havoc on the economy by refusing to raise the debt ceiling. And it’s disturbing to realize that this power rests in the hands of men who, thanks to the wonk gap, quite literally have no idea what they’re doing.

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http://www.salon.com/2013/09/09/krugman_conservatism_is_now_a_sort_of_cult/

[Berlum]

1. In a sinister manner, the Republican cultists are into the occult

Everything the Repubbies are really up to -- including their phony ass claim to be "conservative" -- is an illusion, hidden, shadowed, or spun.

[kimbutgar]

2. Their quest to "purify" the party of any moderates and those who actually govern with compromise

Is a sure indication they have become a cult. They march in lockstep with their unelected leader rush and their press and tv media continues to stroke hate and animosity against anyone who is not a white Christian male makes them even scarier. The good news there are more of us then them and they are not growing in numbers. The video of a tea party anti immigration rally in Arizona showed a small number of extremists. They are paranoid and ignorant unwilling and defiant in looking at both sides of a situation. Yes I agree with krugman they are cult.

[CTyankee]

3. I love you, Dr. K!

Once again,you are right on the mark!

[polynomial]

4. THE MOON IS FULL

It is with a robust laugh and a hard breath heaving chuckle always Krugman comes up with something on the other side.

Krugman always has had that gift to observe the fifth dimension. Yes those in the Republican Party are possessed by a high powered paranormal polynomial energy field snaking through the human veiled matrix. This is an extraordinary cross breed of X- files and CIA secret master conjuring.

Yet now the Republicans are beginning to remind me of witches and warlocks of the eleventh or thirteenth century. You know water dunking or water boarding, secret gulags torture on the rack and all that Bush Cheney stuff…

This is funny I was listening to a right wing talk show admit they tried to hire priest to sell investment portfolios. Blessed art thou who spends their money on me. A regular Glen Beck commercial.

[Snake Plissken]

5. Sort of a cult?

Everything conservatives believe in is based on mythology, from the weather all the way to economics, even their reasons for starting wars any based on mythology.

Sort of a cult? It is nothing but a cult.