I’ll raise my hand sky high.  Paul Krugman fashions himself as an elite intellectual pushing new and innovative financial and economic ideas on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times.  Yet every time he puts pen to paper, he comes off sounding like any other daft liberal with nothing to offer except partisan insults.

Take Sunday’s column for instance, in which he trashes the numerous tea parties being held tomorrow across the country.  Krugman doesn’t offer any substantive critique or opposition to these tea parties or the GOP’s counter-argument to the Obama administration’s insane spending.  Instead, he comfortably resorts to calling the GOP “crazy” and mocks the tea parties.

Krugman labels the Republicans “embarrassing to watch” and, with a breath of rarified air, claims that the “real policy debates . . . are all among Democrats.”  Really?  Like the debate over whether to implement the same spending and entitlement programs that failed in the 1930s and 1960s?  Or like the debate over whether to force businesses to pay up for their “carbon emissions” (i.e., cap-and-trade) all based on a hoax known as man-made global warming?  Or like the secret debate over whether to include a provision in the stimulus bill that would protect the retention bonuses AIG gave to its employees, which then would come back to bite the Democrats in their collective asses when several of them found out about it?  Or like the debate over whether to rush a thousand-page bill through Congress without anyone reading it? 

I never knew liberals had such a monopoly on “real policy debates.” 

Then, focusing on a handful of extreme comments and criticisms being thrown around about Obama (i.e., he wasn’t born in America, etc.), Krugman makes it seem as if the people attending these tea parties are disconnected lunatics.  When will liberals learn that you can’t just call the opposition “crazy” and expect to persuade them of your point of view? 

Krugman doesn’t bother to focus on why these tea parties have gained such force.  It’s no coincidence when tea parties in 500 cities are scheduled for one day.  He takes a swipe at Fox News, noting that the tea parties “are, of course, being promoted heavily by Fox News.”  “Promoted” is quite an exaggeration.  I would argue that Fox News is covering these tea parties (again, there are 500 such demonstrations in one day) because they are a national news story.  That’s what a credible news network is supposed to do. 

Krugman doesn’t just confine his column to shallow name-calling of Republicans and tea party attendees.  Nope, relying on his vast intellect and experience, he also takes issue with Rush Limbaugh and–surprise!–the 2000 election.  By the end of the column, he sounds like he’s whining, and you can’t figure out what he’s targeting.

But I’ll take a gander at it.

It seems as if Krugman has a real problem with how quickly these tea parties were put together and how united voters have become against Obama’s spending agenda.  Paul, it’s not abnormal for voters to oppose (quite vehemently) a spending agenda that adds a trillion dollars to the deficit every year for the next ten years and places such an extraordinary burden on our children.  The politicians in Washington are supposed to represent us.  They’re supposed to uphold, protect, and defend the Constitution, not trash it and spend money like drunken sailors. 

About the only reasonable thing Krugman writes–at the very end, no doubt–is that, despite the GOP’s recent struggles, it could well end up back in power very soon.  That is absolutely correct.  

Krugman doesn’t understand, however, that it’s the tone of his column and of Democrats in Washington (including Obama) and the government’s persistent intrusion into our economic and private lives that will put the GOP back in power.   

Perhaps when that happens, it will light a fire under Krugman, and he will start working harder on these columns and offering some substantive ideas and arguments.  The fact that Obama is in power has made him a little lazy. 

Or maybe he’ll just get worse.

If you like this post, please consider subscribing to my full RSS feed.  You can also subscribe by e-mail and have a copy of each new post automatically delivered to your inbox.