Paul Krugman : Ending the Fraudulence

[Gasping4Truth]

...

So is the nightmare finally coming to an end? Yes, I think so. I have
no idea whether Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor, will bring
more indictments in the Plame affair. In any case, I don't share
fantasies that Dick Cheney will be forced to resign; even Karl Rove may
keep his post. One way or another, the Bush administration will stagger
on for three more years. But its essential fraudulence stands exposed,
and it's hard to see how that exposure can be undone.

What do I mean by essential fraudulence? Basically, I mean the way an
administration with an almost unbroken record of policy failure has
nonetheless achieved political dominance through a carefully cultivated
set of myths.

The record of policy failure is truly remarkable. It sometimes seems as
if President Bush and Mr. Cheney are Midases in reverse: everything
they touch - from Iraq reconstruction to hurricane relief, from
prescription drug coverage to the pursuit of Osama - turns to crud.
Even the few apparent successes turn out to contain failures at their
core: for example, real G.D.P. may be up, but real wages are down.

The point is that this administration's political triumphs have never
been based on its real-world achievements, which are few and far
between. The administration has, instead, built its power on myths: the
myth of presidential leadership, the ugly myth that the administration
is patriotic while its critics are not. Take away those myths, and the
administration has nothing left.

...

http://select.nytimes.com/2005/10/31/opinion/31krugman.html&OP=88d2d9dQ2F20Q27l2Q3EoQ3AQ5EQ5EQ3E2Q25Q22Q22x2!Q222j!2Q5EQ249.9Q5E.2j!YQ3AhQ603Q5B.DTQ3E3Q2F">TimeSelect link

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[murielm99]

1. That sums up Dubya's whole life.

He has screwed up everything he has touched. He is nothing but a failed businessman with a rich father and friends who bail him out of his latest mess.

Who will bail him out this time?

[Lancer]

2. Krugman—and I'm one of his biggest fans

—misses the mark here IMO:

So the long nightmare won't really be over until journalists ask themselves: what did we know, when did we know it, and why didn't we tell the public?

I think it's too easy to lay the blame for not exposing the Bush administration's failings solely at the feet of the media.

All the information anyone needed to know in order to make an intelligent decision about who to vote for in 2000 was made crystal clear during the campaign itself. The average voter did not have to rely on pundits to make that choice. C-SPAN, the Republican convention and Dubya's stump speeches—not to mention his lifelong record of failure—was a blueprint for the disaster to come. And last fall the evidence was all around us that a 2nd term would be a disastrous presidency the likes of which this country has never seen.

It's also too easy to say that SCOTUS and Diebold made our choices for us. I don't deny the role they played, but sadly for all of us, there's not a damn thing we can do about it now. Except insure that it won't happen again, and that will be a Herculean task given who's holding the reins.

[Uncle Joe]

6. I think Krugman hit the nail on the head.

While I agree that ultimate responsibility rests with the American Voter from an idealistic standpoint.

I believe the average American Voter makes their decisions based on the opinions of the people they trust, in this case the corpwhorate owned MSM. They are too busy being concerned with running their own lives and for the most part do little actual research in to the vital issues of the day that they perceive do not effect them. I am in no way suggesting the American People should not do their own home work regarding the candidates, however I believe the corpwhorate owned MSM is primarily responsible for the coup of 2000.

The corpwhorate owned MSM actually began the 2000 Presidential discussion in March of 1999 if not earlier when they began to slander Al Gore there by eroding his credibility with the American People, at the same time they gave Bush a free pass, not questioning any of his bogus statements during the campaign or the debates. The Daily Howler has an excellent archive of the corpwhorate owned MSM's treachery to the American People just go their site and google "War Against Gore" or "2000 debates", it's like they say "perception is everything".

Another example is Global Warming, while the real scientific community through out the planet has already come to the conclusion that it is real and humankind is having an adverse effect. The corpwhorate owned MSM gives equal credence to the polluting industries own think tanks as if the debate were not for the most part settled.

[rfranklin]

3. Paul is very polite to use the term "crud"

We know that everything Bush touches turns to shit.

[Dudley_DUright]

4. I doubt if the NYTimes style manual allows the word "shit" to be used,

but we all know what he really meant. ;-)

[freesqueeze]

5. "First, politicians will have to admit that they were misled."

Ahhh, c'mon, Krugman. Since when has anyone in DC done that?!?



http://www.freesqueeze.com/blamegame.htm

[yellowcanine]

7. Not to mention the flatulence. Let's end that also.