A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste even if it is Krugman's

Tea Parties Forever
By PAUL KRUGMAN Published: April 12, 2009
This is a column about Republicans — and I’m not sure I should even be writing it.

Today’s G.O.P. is, after all, very much a minority party. It retains some limited ability to obstruct the Democrats, but has no ability to make or even significantly shape policy.

Beyond that, Republicans have become embarrassing to watch. And it doesn’t feel right to make fun of crazy people. Better, perhaps, to focus on the real policy debates, which are all among Democrats.

But here’s the thing: the G.O.P. looked as crazy 10 or 15 years ago as it does now. That didn’t stop Republicans from taking control of both Congress and the White House. And they could return to power if the Democrats stumble. So it behooves us to look closely at the state of what is, after all, one of our nation’s two great political parties.

One way to get a good sense of the current state of the G.O.P., and also to see how little has really changed, is to look at the “tea parties” that have been held in a number of places already, and will be held across the country on Wednesday. These parties — antitaxation demonstrations that are supposed to evoke the memory of the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution — have been the subject of considerable mockery, and rightly so.

Yes, Paul, you should have stopped at the first sentence instead of sticking both feet in your mouth. You may be a fairly good intellectual in the field of Economics but you clearly show yourself as a political hack. Are you not aware of the party of Dems that has Code Pink for one prime example? Have you been in a cave for the last 8 years and all the anti-war demonstrations as well as 9-11 truthers and the plot to invade Iraq and Afghanistan for oil? Lastly, you must not get any news about San Francisco where you are since you clearly are not aware of the phony outrages over the Marine Recruitment station there. The post {This one is truly prize winning for a Fascist.} is his and my response is below.

And most recently More Unintentionally Humorous Video From the Failed Liberal Tea Parties. But naturally he ignores the fruitcakes in his side of the aisle and concentrates on the Republicans. What a hack.

Thus, President Obama is being called a “socialist” who seeks to destroy capitalism. Why? Because he wants to raise the tax rate on the highest-income Americans back to, um, about 10 percentage points less than it was for most of the Reagan administration. Bizarre.

But the charge of socialism is being thrown around only because “liberal” doesn’t seem to carry the punch it used to. And if you go back just a few years, you find top Republican figures making equally bizarre claims about what liberals were up to. Remember when Karl Rove declared that liberals wanted to offer “therapy and understanding” to the 9/11 terrorists?

I can not speak for others but liberals want to take from the rich and give to the poor and socialist want to own everything like Banks and manufacturing and if they can do that bloodlessly then take from the rich and create a socialist state.

The question about rates is direction of the country and a portent to what really may happen. That is he will raise the taxes for all US taxpayers to fund all Obama's giveaways. Instead of class for itself, Americans understand fairness and once you tax to death the successful it is not too long before you tax all signs of success even if it is just marginally. The question you {Krugman} should answer and give econometric reasons why the rate higher 10% is good for society. And there may be plenty of theoretical as well as analysis in econometrics that should help answer this question.

Then there are the claims made at some recent tea-party events that Mr. Obama wasn’t born in America, which follow on earlier claims that he is a secret Muslim. Crazy stuff — but nowhere near as crazy as the claims, during the last Democratic administration, that the Clintons were murderers, claims that were supported by a campaign of innuendo on the part of big-league conservative media outlets and figures, especially Rush Limbaugh.

Made by whom? Pretty sloppy as no name. It could be a plant or misinterpretation or just some fool that showed up. You don't think there are plenty of fools in the Democratic party?

Going back to those tea parties, Mr. DeLay, a fierce opponent of the theory of evolution — he famously suggested that the teaching of evolution led to the Columbine school massacre — also foreshadowed the denunciations of evolution that have emerged at some of the parties.

I will defer to this post about that portion: We Farm Out The Krugman-Bashing (And Help Truth Get Its Boots On).

Last but not least: it turns out that the tea parties don’t represent a spontaneous outpouring of public sentiment. They’re AstroTurf (fake grass roots) events, manufactured by the usual suspects. In particular, a key role is being played by FreedomWorks, an organization run by Richard Armey, the former House majority leader, and supported by the usual group of right-wing billionaires. And the parties are, of course, being promoted heavily by Fox News.

But that’s nothing new, and AstroTurf has worked well for Republicans in the past. The most notable example was the “spontaneous” riot back in 2000 — actually orchestrated by G.O.P. strategists — that shut down the presidential vote recount in Florida’s Miami-Dade County.

It seems that Republicans are only taking a page out of the Left Wing Wacko Billionaires for Democrats. Have you ever heard of George Soros and ACORN, or do you live in a cave? Yes, a few people that stormed an office 8 years ago. You have anything more recently as I certainly do for the Left wing wackos.

For now, the Obama administration gains a substantial advantage from the fact that it has no credible opposition, especially on economic policy, where the Republicans seem particularly clueless.

But as I said, the G.O.P. remains one of America’s great parties, and events could still put that party back in power. We can only hope that Republicans have moved on by the time that happens.

Yes, the Democrats are in power so why don't you be creative instead of showing your "concerned Troll" impressions especially since you have no balanced analysis of anything in politics. Even most conservative economists give advice to both sides of the aisle and other ideologies like Milton Friedman visits to Chile and China.