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Paul Krugman Can Be Annoying — Why Now?
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Paul Krugman Can Be Annoying

Someone needs to tell Mr. Krugman that you are not supposed to fact check Obama. He and I both know about the four Presidents and what the economy was like from 1980 until today, but we are not supposed to bring reality into this campaign.

When you go around writing columns like, Clinging to a Stereotype, and include numbers and graphs on your blog [Dying Midwestern city blogging and Midwestern economics] which support what you are saying, you are “harshing their buzz”, and they will attack you.

The attacks are guaranteed when someone like Anglachelg picks up on your writing and files posts like Myth of Bitter White Working Class and Stereotypes – Facts and Ideals. They don’t want to hear that mistakes have been made.

You are not following the media’s narrative, and that just causes confusion. How can the world function when “everybody knows” and “conventional wisdom” are no longer operative?

Of course the worse part, is that at the end of it all, there will be a Republican in the White House, because the Democrats refuse to listen to voters and give them the policies they are asking for, and have been asking for.

16 comments

1 Kenneth Quinnell { 04.20.08 at 1:32 am }

I’m with you on most of this, but you lose me when you say that the public doesn’t think the policies of the Democrats are liberal enough, so they’re going to elect a Republican. I don’t buy that logic.

2 Bryan { 04.20.08 at 9:15 am }

It’s really simple and quite predictable. Currently only about half of registered voters turn out for elections. Elections are won based on turn out. If there’s nothing to convince the people to make the effort, they won’t turn out.

Democratic “consultants” keep telling candidates to go to the center and the candidates lose. The Republicans win by getting their base to turn out and actually vote. Instead of wasting time with the half that always votes, liberals should be getting their allies to turn out, but they don’t.

“Republican lite” is not going to get liberals to the polls on election day. The 30% who still support the Shrubbery in the national polls is still enough people to win an election if they show up to vote. With the electoral college, you can win the Presidency with about 13% of the registered voters, if that 13% is in the right states and the normal 50% of voters turns out.

It is all about turn out, and people won’t turn out without a reason.

3 Cookie Jill { 04.20.08 at 10:23 am }

If only the Dems would grow a freakin’ spine.

4 Bryan { 04.20.08 at 11:18 am }

I give up. I’ve spent years trying to get low income people to the polls. I get them registered and they get nothing in return for their effort. You can’t build up any confidence when all you can offer is the least worse alternative.

The $2.50-$3/loaf of bread is a result of the ethanol promises in Iowa. As long as those tied to ethanol control the politics because the people who have trouble buying the bread don’t go to the polls, the stupidity continues.

John Edwards could have made a difference, but the media refused to cover his campaign in any meaningful way, and he couldn’t get his message out. The fact that he still hasn’t endorsed anyone, shows that the “Survivors” aren’t interested in his message.

5 Michael { 04.20.08 at 3:57 pm }

Bryan, Democratic turnout in the primaries this year is near record levels, I would be surprised if that doesn’t carry over into the general.

6 Bryan { 04.20.08 at 7:11 pm }

In 2004 the turn out was 60.88%, I’ll be surprised by anything above 55%.

7 JimD { 04.20.08 at 7:53 pm }

Dude, I’m as left as they come, but Barack Obama will be the death of the Democratic Party.

8 Bryan { 04.20.08 at 9:51 pm }

It will be listed as a suicide, Jim.

9 Michael { 04.21.08 at 5:56 pm }

The DNC is dead. Bye DNC. Rest in pieces.

10 Michael { 04.21.08 at 5:56 pm }

Er, I meant DLC.

11 Michael { 04.21.08 at 5:57 pm }

Howard Dean’s DNC is doing fine, I think.

12 Bryan { 04.21.08 at 9:37 pm }

The First Amendment once guaranteed your right to believe whatever you want, so go with it, because I ceased caring when the DNC decided to disenfranchise me.

13 Michael { 04.21.08 at 10:08 pm }

Yeah, I know. Unless Florida gets seated, you’re going to be pissed off.

14 Bryan { 04.21.08 at 11:21 pm }

You apparently don’t know, because there is absolutely, positively nothing the DNC can do that will ever convince me to vote for their candidate for President or any other office. For the first time since 1964 the Presidential line on my ballot will be blank.

Due to the brain-dead spite of a few people at the DNC who worked to suppress Democratic turn-out on January 29th, we are stuck with a constitutional amendment that will significantly reduce funding to schools and local governments. Passing that amendment was what the entire Republican effort was about, and the DNC was more help than they could have dreamed.

The DNC can’t make that amendment go away, and there are a couple of more amendments on tap for the general election. The DNC has already damaged the people of Florida beyond repair, so they will be waiting well beyond the point at which hell freezes over before I will vote for any candidate on their line.

In case you’re wondering, I’m not the only former Democrat in Florida who feels this way.

15 hipparchia { 04.22.08 at 9:17 pm }

michael, like bryan says, it’s not the seating at the convention that we’re angry about. the ‘wreck florida’s finances’ amendment passed by a small enough margin that better democratic voter turnout might have stopped it had the dnc not been gloating over “your votes aren’t gonna count! nyah nyah nyah! stoopid floridianz!”

then there’s the small but real possibility that the republican-controlled state legislature might keep the dem nominee off the ballot entirely in november. i realize everybody els has written off florida as voting for mccain anyway, no matter what, but that wasn’t really a given. obama’s been making a concerted effort to woo libertarians, independents, and ‘reagan democrats’ all of which we have several of here. and the old fogies really like clinton, another good-sized voting bloc we’ve got. the dem0crats could have wrapped up this state with some savvy politicking if the dnc had donned their white hats and ridden into town on their white horses and given us registered democrats a hand in fighting some of the republican corruption here.

16 Bryan { 04.22.08 at 11:04 pm }

Not mention the real reason for the change in the election law – paper copies of votes, which will result in verifiable results.