That's what we like to think. Paul Krugman did too. Until recently.
Amid this drama, however, it’s worth remembering that even the sane ones are pretty much off the deep end, all too willing to buy into crazy conspiracy theories. Remember how Jack Welch accused Obama of cooking the jobs numbers?
And now, in a story I missed, Ari Fleischer briefly declared that Twitter must have special rules allowing Obama to use more than 140 characters. In fact, it turns out that Fleischer doesn’t know how to count — but think of the mindset that would even make him think of such a thing. ...Krugman,blog
One savvy commenter writes: "Of course he doesn't know how to count. No one in the Bush Administration did."
Kevin Drum says the problem is something other than insanity and bad math. It's about clinging to a fantasy of social superiority.
The Republican Party is bending its entire will, staking its very soul, fighting to its last breath, in service of a crusade to.... Make sure that the working poor don't have access to affordable health care. I just thought I'd mention that in plain language, since it seems to get lost in the fog fairly often. ...Drum,MoJo
Or maybe it's just childishness, embarrassing childishness.
...The point of this is....what? Nobody knows. It's just an action of pure spite, a howl of frustration from children who have been denied ice cream for lunch and are looking for some way to lash out. So now they're thinking that maybe a bit of self-mutilation is in order. Maybe that will make everyone pay attention to them.
Or something. I don't know what to think anymore. I don't know if this behavior is sociopathic, or just sad, or merely embarrassing, or what. I just don't know. ...Drum,MoJo
My own view that it's about education in the widest sense of the term -- that there are people who haven't learned and who damn-it-all don't want to know takes me back to a troll at Krugman's blog and the response to him:
Troll: Real world experience shows liberals are never going to stop on their own. They are always going to demand more. More of other people's money. More control over other people's lives. More government. More debt. In European countries where tax rates are well over 50%, the governments still run unsustable deficits. What more proof do you need to accept that liberalism belongs on the trash heap of history?
Response: You do realize of course that more Europeans live better and materially more secure lives now than at any other point in their history because of the rise of the welfare state? That's the 'real world experience' that all advanced industrial democracies have had since the end of WWII.
By the way the last two Presidents to have budget surpluses were both left center Democrats. And the deficient has gone from $1.4 trillion in Bush's last fiscal year budget to about $744 billion for the next fiscal year's budget. There's more 'real world experience' for you ...
Now go out and play in the yard. And make sure your tin foil hat is on tight. Wouldn't want those liberal government spies getting hold of any of your secret thoughts. ...Krugman, blogcomments
Troll doesn't know, doesn't want to know. Response is packed with facts.
