| About | |
| Contact Us | |
| Articles | |
| Topic Index | |
| Reports | |
| Quotes | |
| On the Web | |
| Links | |
| TW Tracker | |
| Support | |
Times Watch for
August 10, 2004
Bush-Hating
Krugman:
"It Scares Me Sometimes How Blind People Are."
Marking the release of the paperback version of his Bush-bashing column collection "The Great Unraveling," Times columnist (and professional Bush-basher) Paul Krugman gives interviews to the left-wing groups Media Channel and Buzzflash--and also gives free reign to his Bush hate.
Talking with Media watchdog MediaChannel.org Channel, Krugman pats himself on the back for spotting the evil early on: "I had a bad feeling about Bush, from an economic standpoint, as far back as the 2000 presidential campaign. I just felt--My God, he's lying through his teeth!....And then along came this political nightmare. And for a while it looked like I was one of the only people who could say what was really happening."
Krugman says: "So far it has come out all right. But the first time you get an avalanche of angry mail from people the National Review has sicced on you, it can be daunting….It's scary, very frightening…but it requires as a matter of public duty that you put yourself on the firing line….Can we break the machine that is imposing right-wing radicalism on the United States?" The scariest part is that the media is part of that machine. There will have to be some kind of reckoning soon, a possible Watergate moment to come….Things aren't all the way unraveled yet…and alternative scenarios still exist. We need above all sunlight! We need to see what is actually going on. When are people going to wake up?"
In another interview, this one with the left-wing website Buzzflash, he explains his book's reference to Henry Kissinger’s graduate thesis: "Well, it’s really good for explaining how reasonable people can’t bring themselves to see that they’re actually facing a threat from a radical movement. Kissinger talked about the time of the French Revolution, and pretty obviously he also was thinking about the 1930s. He argued that, when you have a revolutionary power, somebody who really wants to tear apart the system--doesn’t believe in any of the rules--reasonable people who’ve been accustomed to stability just say, 'Oh, you know, they may say that, but they don’t really mean it.' And, 'This is just tactical, and let’s not get too excited.'…. For four years now, some of us have been saying, whether or not you think they’re bad guys, they’re certainly radical. They don’t play by the rules. You can’t take anything that you’ve regarded as normal from previous U.S. political experience as applying to Bush and the people around him. They will say things and do things that would not previously have made any sense--you know, would have been previously considered out of bounds. And for all of that period, the critics have been told: 'Oh, you know, you’re overreacting, and there’s something wrong with you.'"
Krugman takes as fact that the Bush administration terror warnings were all about politics: "We just saw it with the increased level of terror alerts. Among those of us who had made a judgment about what kind of people we’re dealing with, the reaction was, this timing was awfully convenient. After all, they’ve done this sort of thing before. Of course, this was criticized as completely unreasonable to say--after all, this time we’ve got 'specifics.' But here we are with this morning’s headlines: Oh, it’s all three-year-old information."
Krugman thinks Howard Dean was perfectly reasonable to suggest Bush was playing politics with the terror threats: "But, boy, take a look at what happened when Howard Dean said something completely reasonable on Sunday. He was totally trashed for questioning the timing of Ridge's announcement. But there’s complete vindication for what he said. And let’s see if we have any apologies from cable news."
Then its on to the Republican religious fanatics running the country: "The fundamental fact of American politics--and I’ve sharpened my view on this since last year and the hardcover edition of the book--is that we’ve got an alliance between the religious right and the accumulators of great wealth. Those are the people who are running things. And then the question would be, how is it that these things go together so well?...As for Tom DeLay, he is a fanatically religious person because that’s who he is, and he’s a fanatical supporter of the interests of the money, because that’s where the money is--the money and the political support….It scares me sometimes how blind people are. I first started talking about the Bush cult of personality early last year, although it was sort of obvious even before that. And I got slammed for that. What are you talking about? You are crazy, descending into madness, I think somebody wrote. And then, just a few months later, we had Operation Flight Suit, which was beyond anything even I thought they would try to do."
The BuzzFlash interviewer then prompts Krugman to talk more about Bush's "Mission Accomplished" photo-op: "You call it a Leni Riefenstahl moment," Krugman agrees: "Actually, some elderly central European refugee friends said that, in terms of the staging. It is something Bush's team regrets now. But they certainly did try to exploit that staging. And it was deeply un-American."
It takes some nerve for Paul Krugman to call Republicans un-American, given that one of Krugman's constant refrains is that Republicans smear Democrats as unpatriotic.
• George W. Bush | Columnists | Paul Krugman | Patriotism | Terrorism
John Edwards Gets "Rock Concert" Reception in Kansas
Thomas Crampton passes along PR for vice presidential candidate John Edwards in Monday's "After Speeding by Kansans, Edwardses Return to Rally."
Edwards and family made a campaign appearance in Kansas, a state Democrats have little hope of winning, though the campaign may benefit nationally from the kind of celebratory coverage Crampton provides: "Dispensing with the normal series of introductory speeches, Larry Gates, chairman of the state's Democratic Party, spoke only a few words before declaring, 'You're a rock star in Kansas, Elizabeth [Edwards].' The Edwardses and their children, Cate, 22, Jack, 4, and Emma Claire, 6, took to the stage. Jack and Emma Claire waved American flags. 'Y'all called this rally and we're glad to be here with you,' Mrs. Edwards said, as members of the audience let loose screams worthy of a rock concert. Following his wife to the microphone, Mr. Edwards declared every state worthy of campaigning. 'For all those politicians and pollsters who say, wait a minute, why are you taking one valuable day to come back to Kansas to campaign, Kansas is a red state,' Mr. Edwards said. 'To John Kerry and I, there is no red state, there is no blue state, there is only one United States of America.' After delivering a speech replete with his calls for a one America and ending with his declaration that 'hope is on the way,' Mr. Edwards went to a footbridge outside to deliver a shortened repeat performance to the crowd amassed there. While the visit may not win Kansas for the Democrats, it may have left an impression on a few Republicans in the audience, including Mr. Elwell, the owner of the bar. 'I voted for Bush in the last election,' Mr. Elwell said, 'but let's just say I am undecided for now.'"
For the rest of Crampton on Edwards, click here:
• Campaign 2004 | Thomas Crampton | Sen. John Edwards | Kansas
The Centering of John Kerry
As the headline to "Kerry Steers Message With Eye to the Nation's Center" suggests, David Halbfinger's Sunday story tries to position the Kerry campaign in the political center, without bringing up the inconvenient fact of his liberal voting record (the word "liberal" makes no appearance).
Halbfinger begins with Kerry campaign spin: "Indeed, while Democrats note that Mr. Bush continues to talk about banning gay marriage and late-term abortions, and to visit bedrock Republican areas of the country like Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Mr. Kerry, the Democrat from Massachusetts, is rolling through the Great Plains and the high plateaus of the Southwest preaching fiscal responsibility, tax cuts, gun owners' rights and national security. In his choice of themes and in his tone, Mr. Kerry is running straight up the middle, as polls show he has solidified his backing among Democrats, with more of his supporters now saying they are voting for him as opposed to voting against Mr. Bush."
Halbfinger does note a change in tone in Kerry's speeches: "With a new stump speech distilled from his convention address, he is steadily suppressing the harsh tone that helped win him the nomination and leavening his message with talk of hope and values….Now, Mr. Kerry mainly omits the ad hominems and says he will be a 'champion for the middle class' who will fight to restore 'fundamental fairness' to the workplace. 'We're going to end this craziness of American workers actually having to reward and subsidize companies for taking jobs overseas,' he said in Kansas City. 'That's over. That's done.'"
For the rest of Halbfinger from the Kerry campaign, click here:
• Campaign 2004 | David Halbfinger | Sen. John Kerry | Labeling Bias
E-mail TimesWatch Director, Clay Waters, with TimesWatch feedback at cwaters@mediaresearch.org