It's ON: Smart-ass Econ professor confronts DU critics

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

Okay, you guys... who here has been been over posting comments on the Conscience of a Liberal blog? (The part about "DU critics" is a joke because these comments cited are so similar to so many DU posts)

Not guilty as charged
Paul Krugman
March 20, 2009, 4:27 pm

Um. Several of the comments on my AIG post run along these lines:

"Where were all of you so-called experts when Bush was running the economy in the ground via obscene spending on Iraq and the most massive redistribution of wealth in our history, the “Trickle Down” theory of tax cuts for the richest 2% of the population?"
…

"Isn’t it easy to blame the new cooks for stuff that happened over the last 8 years? Where were you then? No complaints from your site because everything was run so smoothly?"

I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. But failing to complain over the last 8 years wasn’t one of them.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/not-guilty-as-charged/

[EFerrari]

1. Krugman was one of Bush's earliest and most vocal critics.

:shrug:

[enough]

2. That is exactly why I take what he says now seriously. (nt)

[Wetzelbill]

3. I always post over there, I commented on that blog too.

Paul was all over Bush when almost nobody else was. Paul and Molly Ivins were the only sane voices around for years. At least the most vocal and recognized.

[Uzybone]

4. I don't think thats the issue

I haven't seen anyone on DU slamming Prof Krugman for keeping silent during the Bush years. We all know he was a lonely voice in the wilderness calling for reason.

[Phx_Dem]

5. Never heard of that blog.

But anyone who says Krugman never criticized Bush wasn't paying attention.

[BlooInBloo]

6. Who the hell is stupid enough to criticize Krugman on THAT score?

:rofl:

[chill_wind]

7. : - )

K & R

[Sebastian Doyle]

8. Paul needs to take that just one step further.

It's not 8 years, it's 28. He alludes to that reality by using the words "Trickle Down" and admitting it's a socialist (to quote Ravi Batra) redistribution of wealth to the ultra rich.

But damn it Paul, Chimpy didn't start this. His daddy did, with Ronald Reagan as a puppet frontman. And it never stopped. Sure, Clinton might have made the rich pay a little more, for a while. But all the other shit he did paid them off in different ways.

Hmmm.... Geithner, Summers, and Rubin out. Reich, Batra, and Krugman in? Now there's a plan.

[amborin]

9. Krugman constantly bashed Bush for past 8 yrs...K bemoaned the war, inequality, etc....

and---i can remember when DU liked him

but once K supported Hillary Clinton in the primaries, DU turned on Krugman

not all DU, of course, but seems like many here

maybe it's just all due to the "shoot the messenger" syndrome

[Frank Booth]

10. Paul Krugman's tears cure cancer.

Too bad he has never cried.

[Reterr]

11. How stupid

Krugman was criticizing Bush when Bush had an 80% approval rating. He was criticized then for it by morons like Andrew Sullivan and Mickey Kaus, some of who finally had the great moral courage to turn against Bush when he had a 20% approval rating.

Krugman is a good egg and a smart one. It is possible to like Krugman and Obama. This is a stupid fight-I think Obama should get Krugman on board as a policy adviser.

As for DU...:eyes:. Let the adults settle this among themselves. There are some great posters on DU and DU has some great resources (LBN, E&E and many sub forums) but GD, GD: P are just shout fests.

I honestly don't even understand how so many of the posters on here spend as much time here as they do. I have a few bouts of posting, but I have been here since 06 and can't seem to quite get up to 1000 posts. I can see if you are retired how you can spend this much time here, but if you are under 60 I just can't see how they do it. How do these people fit a career, friends, actual activism, really a life outside the internet in :shrug:....

[iamthebandfanman]

12. i dont trust economyths(ha ha) in general

i dont care what party they favor.


but, yeah... i didnt know people from DU were making those claims, but if they did they were just as bad as the Morans