Krugman is at his wit’s end:
In my next life I want to be a conservative policy scammer. Think of how much nicer it would be. Instead of constantly being accused of having evil motives, I’d be presumed to have noble intentions no matter how much the actual content of my policy proposals was at odds with such claims. Instead of being accused of saying bad things I never said, I’d be given credit for supporting good things I’ve never supported. Life would be great!
***The defenders of Ryan come, I’d argue, in two types.
One type is the pseudo-reasonable apparatchik. There are a fair number of pundits who make a big show of debating the issues, stroking their chins, and then — invariably — find a way to support whatever the GOP line may be. There’s no mystery in their support for Ryan.
The other type is more interesting: the professional centrist. These are people whose whole pose is one of standing between the extremes of both parties, and calling for a bipartisan solution. The problem they face is how to maintain this pose when the reality is that a quite moderate Democratic party — one that is content to leave tax rates on the rich far below those that prevailed for most of the past 70 years, that has embraced a Republican health care plan — faces a radical-reactionary GOP.
Mr. Brooks, since you are too stupid to figure it out on your own- this is a direct response to this asinine column. Krugman is calling you out, you feckless loser.
rikyrah
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA
just say grifter.
schrodinger's cat
Is the professional centrist, Friedman? It would irresponsible not to speculate.
eemom
where’s my fucking hat tip??
Oh, that’s right…..Cole has never heard of hat tips.
Alexandra
‘Feckless’.
Nice.
eemom
where’s my fucking hat tip??
Oh, that’s right…..Cole has never heard of hat tips.
Tony J
If ever a post called for that majestic “Paul Krugman… is tired of trying to reason with you people” picture, this is it.
Bobo better be checking under his car with a mirror from now on.
gogol's wife
@schrodinger’s cat:
Yes, on a previous thread (the subject was introduced by eemom), I was wondering whether Brooks was the apparatchik or the centrist, and was given the answer “yes.” He certainly fits both categories. Friedman is more the “centrist.”
Tony J
If ever a post called for that majestic “Paul Krugman… is tired of trying to reason with you people” picture, this is it.
Bobo better be checking under his car with a mirror from now on.
Mike E
Ah, the banality of evil in its full glory. There will always be somebody to
line their pocketsadvance that ball forward.gogol's wife
@schrodinger’s cat:
Yes, on a previous thread (the subject was introduced by eemom), I was wondering whether Brooks was the apparatchik or the centrist, and was given the answer “yes.” He certainly fits both categories. Friedman is more the “centrist.”
Tony J
If ever a post called for that majestic “Paul Krugman… is tired of trying to reason with you people” picture, this is it.
Bobo better be checking under his car with a mirror from now on.
beltane
@schrodinger’s cat: There are so many professional centrists in the media that it is almost unfair to single out Friedman.
I do like the term Professional Centrist, though. It is like an updated version of Court Jester and Village Idiot.
Mike E
Ah, the banality of evil in its full glory. There will always be takers who will
line their pocketsadvance this ball forward.Amir Khalid
I think Kthug is pacing himself with these Bobo smackdowns. He has to keep them down to one every few weeks, or thereabouts; otherwise the High Lord of The Op-Ed Page will take stern action to preserve comity in the column-writing ranks.
An aside: I hesitate to bring this up, lest I elicit another ALL CAPS reply. But the bold, italics etc. buttons have disappeared from above the comment box for me — and, I think, for some other commenters as well. I’m using the latest Firefox with Windows Vista on my laptop. Can something be done about this, or will some kind soul show me the HTML code I need to work around this?
JGabriel
The link to Brooks’s op-ed is bad. It doesn’t let you view the article if you don’t have a Times subscription — at least if didn’t work for me.
Here’s a corrected link that should work for everyone.
.
beltane
@schrodinger’s cat: There are so many professional centrists in the media that it’s almost unfair to single out Friedman. Professional Centrist is a wonderful descriptive term, very similar to Court Jester, Town Drunk or Village Idiot.
Amir Khalid
I think Kthug is pacing himself with these Bobo smackdowns. He has to keep them down to one every few weeks, or thereabouts; otherwise the High Lord of The Op-Ed Page will take stern action to preserve comity in the column-writing ranks.
An aside: I hesitate to bring this up, lest I elicit another ALL CAPS reply. But the bold, italics etc. buttons have disappeared from above the comment box for me — and, I think, for some other commenters as well. I’m using the latest Firefox with Windows Vista on my laptop. Can something be done about this, or will some kind soul show me the HTML code I need to work around this?
JGabriel
The link to Brooks’s op-ed is bad. It doesn’t let you view the article if you don’t have a Times subscription — at least if didn’t work for me.
Here’s a corrected link that should work for everyone.
.
c u n d gulag
I think Bobo’s that rare tool who’s both a professional centrist, AND a pseudo-reasonable apparatchik!
THAT’S what make him an especially useful idiot!
I suspect that Krugman’s at his “twit’s” end, between Bobo and Tom “Six Months” Friedman-units!
Zifnab
What’s stopping him? Krugman needs to do the full Colbert, start up a column under a pen-name, and comically pander to the conservatives. If he can get a grant from a major right-wing or centrist “think tank” under his alias, he wins.
Amir Khalid
I think Kthug is pacing himself with these Bobo smackdowns. He has to keep them down to one every few weeks, or thereabouts; otherwise the High Lord of The Op-Ed Page will take stern action to preserve comity in the column-writing ranks.
An aside: I hesitate to bring this up, lest I elicit another ALL CAPS reply. But the bold, italics etc. buttons have disappeared from above the comment box for me — and, I think, for some other commenters as well. I’m using the latest Firefox with Windows Vista on my laptop. Can something be done about this, or will some kind soul show me the HTML code I need to work around this?
c u n d gulag
I think Bobo’s that rare tool who’s both a professional centrist, AND a pseudo-reasonable apparatchik!
THAT’S what make him an especially useful idiot!
I suspect that Krugman’s at his “twit’s” end, between Bobo and Tom “Six Months” Friedman-units!
David Koch
I don’t think they’re “content”, rather that what they can push against the wind of a corporate media.
For example, Russ Feingold didn’t support the public option. Was that because Russ wasn’t liberal or was it because Russ was in a tight re-election in a hostile media environment that portrayed the public option as a “government takeover” — obviously, it was for the later.
What K-Thug fails to call out is his own paper. It is the modern New York Times that is “content” lying the country into war and poisoning the national discourse with corporate hack apologists and propagandists like Friedman, Bobo and traitors like Judith Miller.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled is convincing Americans the corporate media has a liberal bias.
schrodinger's cat
@gogol’s wife: I agree with your assessment.
John Cole @top
Oops, sorry for spamming the comments with the same comment, my internet connection is a bit quirky today. Can you delete the multiple copies of the same comment.
Thanks.
Amir Khalid
I think Kthug is pacing himself with these Bobo smackdowns. He has to keep them down to one every few weeks, or thereabouts; otherwise the High Lord of The Op-Ed Page will take stern action to preserve comity in the column-writing ranks.
An aside: I hesitate to bring this up, lest I elicit another ALL CAPS reply. But the bold, italics etc. buttons have disappeared from above the comment box for me — and, I think, for some other commenters as well. I’m using the latest Firefox with Windows Vista on my laptop. Can something be done about this, or will some kind soul show me the HTML code I need to work around this?
David Koch
I don’t think they’re “content”, rather that what they can push against the wind of a corporate media.
For example, Russ Feingold didn’t support the public option. Was that because Russ wasn’t liberal or was it because Russ was in a tight re-election in a hostile media environment that portrayed the public option as a “government takeover” — obviously, it was for the later.
What K-Thug fails to call out is his own paper. It is the modern New York Times that is “content” lying the country into war and poisoning the national discourse with corporate hack apologists and propagandists like Friedman, Bobo and traitors like Judith Miller.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled is convincing Americans the corporate media has a liberal bias.
schrodinger's cat
@gogol’s wife: I agree with your assessment.
John Cole @top
Oops, sorry for spamming the comments with the same comment, my internet connection is a bit quirky today. Can you delete the multiple copies of the same comment.
Thanks.
David Koch
I don’t think they’re “content”, rather that what they can push against the wind of a corporate media.
For example, Russ Feingold didn’t support the public option. Was that because Russ wasn’t liberal or was it because Russ was in a tight re-election in a hostile media environment that portrayed the public option as a “government takeover” — obviously, it was for the later.
What K-Thug fails to do is call out is his own paper. It is the modern New York Times that is “content” lying the country into war and poisoning the national discourse with corporate hack apologists and propagandists like Friedman, Bobo and traitors like Judith Miller.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled is convincing Americans the corporate media has a liberal bias.
David Koch
I don’t think they’re “content”, rather that what they can push against the wind of a corporate media.
For example, Russ Feingold didn’t support the public option. Was that because Russ wasn’t liberal or was it because Russ was in a tight re-election in a hostile media environment that portrayed the public option as a “government takeover” — obviously, it was for the later.
What K-Thug fails to do is call out is his own paper. It is the modern New York Times that is “content” lying the country into war and poisoning the national discourse with corporate hack apologists and propagandists like Friedman, Bobo and traitors like Judith Miller.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled is convincing Americans the corporate media has a liberal bias.
David Koch
sorry for the multiple posts.
Amir Khalid
My apologies to all for the triple posting. Intertoobs seem to be acting up at my end.
scav
This is a fascinating bug we’ve got in this thread – FYWP is stuttering as best I can tell.
Violet
For some reason I read the bolded part as “Princess Bobo”. I think that fits him pretty well.
Tony J
I didn’t mean to say it three times. Methinks Der Interons are playing up.
Amir Khalid
@Amir Khalid: Sorry — QUADRUPLE posting. Also too, BJ is loading very slowly right now. Are the servers feeling well?
Violet
There’s a whole lot of FYWP happening at B-J today.
schrodinger's cat
Good to know that its not me, it WP, or may be its Tunch. Is he sitting on the servers? Plz to feed the great floofy one.
xian
you don’t say
PeakVT
Is today double post day around here?
and then — invariably — find a way to support whatever the GOP line may be.
Yep. Bobo’s job is to polish turds. But the centrists are more dangerous to the Republic.
John Cole
@eemom: Ya know, it is entirely possible that I read this article without ever having seen your comment.
tofubo
kthug just needs to think about everything along these lines:
that’s all well and good in practice … but how does it work in theory ??
that way facts never need to get in the way
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@schrodinger’s cat:
I don’t think it’s you. There’s probably a clogged intertube very near the citadel that houses the mighty BJ server.
Villago Delenda Est
You know, I do believe there is a problem with the BJ server on this thread. Too many people with multiple posts. This indicates either wild coincidence (and true coincidences are are rare, as my Jedi master once told me) or a systemic problem somewhere common to all the multiple posters.
Villago Delenda Est
@tofubo:
It’s the old “assume a can opener” joke, right there…
eemom
@John Cole:
Yeah, but what about the other 8,000 times, hmmm??
Also too, in case you hadn’t noticed: the site is fucked up again. Shall I send you an e-mail?
bottyguy
I don’t think Mr. Brooks reads the NY Times, and he certainly doesn’t read the “Blogs”. He gets all his news from the real a’merkins in the heartland, and maybe cab drivers.
Villago Delenda Est
@bottyguy:
If he’s getting his news from cab drivers, he’s in dire legal trouble. That’s Friedman’s copyrighted turf as a news and opinion source…the back seat of a cab, preferably with a driver from Mumbai.
schrodinger's cat
@Villago Delenda Est: Its an Easter miracle. Our comments are resurrected again and again and again…
WyldPirate
@eemom:
Perhaps Cole found the Krugman piece independently of you, you pathetic attention whore.
Litlebritdifrnt
I have a really cool idea for a bumper sticker A Pickle Jar with “Please Give” taped to it with = the Republicans Plan for Healthcare. Anyone with more skills than I please feel free to create one.
Alan in SF
Dear God, John, please don’t post direct links to Brooks’column without warning us, and warning twice for those of us on drugs.
Do you know what a buzzkill it is to unexpectedly see his picture (with the gills Photoshopped out, of course)?
gbear
It’s deja vu all over again.
Dave
I love that Ryan apologists are alleged to come in “two types.” It’s Bobo’s favorite tic beginning a slap across his face.
Maude
@schrodinger’s cat:
If he feeds Tunch, the servers will stop altogether. There’s a weight limit, you know.
eemom
@WyldPirate:
perhaps Cole and I already discussed that, you pathetic self-awareness-challenged racist-bagger.
Bubblegum Tate
I kind of want to be a wingnut grifter in my next life, too. All you have to do is be born without a moral compass, and you’re ready to hop on the gravy train.
gogol's wife
@schrodinger’s cat:
LOL. I hope this will be just a one-time LOL, but something is definitely wrong today. I’m just laughing once, for future reference.
Schlemizel
@Amir Khalid:
To get those things you need to use the greater-than and less than keys to bracket the thing you want – using them sometimes screws up the post so I’ll skip them.
BOLD starts with a cap “B” inside those brackets and is closed with “/B” inside.
Italicsstarts with an “i” inside those brackets and is closed with “/i” inside.
If the buttons come back you should click on them, they print the thing you want for you so you can see how to do del, quote even linking
Schlemizel
I think John may already know there is a problem with the site, its been mentioned several times now. Call we all just chill the fuck out & assume its being worked on instead of insistently whining about it clogging threads with bitchy emo and/or passive-aggressive bullshit?
Christ, sometime I don’t know why John wants to do this.
JWL
Feckless loser? Perhaps. But he’s a feckless loser who has maneuvered his way to a fortune fecklessly losing.
RalfW
It’s worse than Brooksie being stupid. Idiocy is a congenital situation.
No, Bobo is obtuse.
Intentionally, by design and more to the point, by choice he is obtuse. Stolid. Unyielding in his deference and devotion to right wing dangerous buffoonery tarted up as seriousness.
El Cid
I assume it’s against NYT policies for Krugman to write something along the lines of “I get so fucking tired of that dickhead Brooks.”
LongHairedWeirdo
I’m pretty amazed how how many places Brooks can be wrong in that column. It might be true that Social Darwinism held beliefs about race, but the major belief was that the haves deserve to have, and the have nots don’t deserve to have. It is true that Politifact said that “The Ryan plan will end Medicare.” (See that period? It’s important) was a lie, while acknowledging that one could say it was true that it would end Medicare “…as we know it”.
And “at least Ryan has taken a step” suggests that he thinks Ryan has anything in his plan but a big magic asterisk. If he’s done any homework at all, he knows that’s not true.
It’s probably a good thing that you pointed out which column Krugman was referring to… this Brooks probably wouldn’t have figured it out on his own.
MikeBoyScout
Moral Hazard, the Irish setter owned by David Brooks for photo-op purposes, is more likely to sink his large jaws around BoBo’s carotid artery before Kthug gets to him.
h/t Charlie
danielx
Bobo does it again…the Ryan budget is a monster from the lunatic fringe, as is its author. One more fucking Brooks column that makes me want to dive down the neck of a tequila bottle…
kay
@LongHairedWeirdo:
Raising taxes is “taking a step” too, but Ryan and every single Republican have refused to consider it.
Ryan is only “taking a step” ( only one side, cuts to poor and middle class people) because he opposes public programs anyway.
I love how taking a step now means 100% cuts, and excludes tax increases, and it isn’t just Brooks, it’s every single political pundit. “At least he’s trying!”
No, he’s not. If he were “trying” he’d raise taxes and cut programs. That’s “trying”.
We took a step already. We’re voting on tax increases in Congress. Why does that get ZERO pundit attention?
mclaren
Even Krugman dares not speak the truth.
Market capitalism has become a global suicide pact. Either it dies, or the planet dies.
Rjv
PKs column could have just easily been directed at James Stewart who wrote yet another Paul Ryan is delicious column
Little Boots
el cid, can you come up thead, por favor?
R Johnston
@Villago Delenda Est:
Bobo gets all his news from gossip around the Applebee’s salad bar.
Gretchen D
Brooks is at his very worst when he takes that sarcastic, know-it-all tone. Gives himself away sooo badly.
Joseph Nobles
Shorter Brooks: Yes, there are god-awful weaknesses in Ryan’s budget, but damn Obama’s eyes for pointing them out!
Gary Fuckett and the Mindless Gap
The stupidity epidemic continues unabated. It’s like a Topapanga Canyon brushfire turning into a raging inferno whipping down through the hills consuming all the people in it’s path, turning their brains to fried eggs.
Or maybe the stupidity epidemic is like a Pakistani flash flood caused by a thirty year continuous monsoon of lead and arsenic contaminated acid rain.
Whatever, the proper analogy, the effect is that the collective American IQ drops daily. The elites are the natural leaders of the march into a modern replay of alchemy, updated to apply to the science of economics, where tax cuts turn budgets into surpluses.
Krugman is a reality based, high IQ bomb thrower trying to stem the tide in this epidemic of stupidity. It’s a pity, but he’s doomed to failure.
bob h
A Democrat taking measures for self-defense is taking the low road in Brooks’ opinion.
bemused
Brooks said Obama, trying to be “politically cute”, put on a “Keith Olbermann Mask”.
Brooks attempts to put on a mean girl Maureen Dowd mask but his fusty aristocratic self can’t pull it off.
russell
Veronique de Rugy?