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09/12/2003 Archived Entry: "Krugman is right again."
Krugman is right again.
No wonder some on the Right seem determined to try and discredit Krugman - he usually on the money, and this column on the Thug Cabal exploiting 9/11 is no exception.
The press has become a lot less shy about pointing out the administration's exploitation of 9/11, partly because that exploitation has become so crushingly obvious. As The Washington Post pointed out yesterday, in the past six weeks President Bush has invoked 9/11 not just to defend Iraq policy and argue for oil drilling in the Arctic, but in response to questions about tax cuts, unemployment, budget deficits and even campaign finance. Meanwhile, the crudity of the administration's recent propaganda efforts, from dressing the president up in a flight suit to orchestrating the ludicrously glamorized TV movie about Mr. Bush on 9/11, have set even supporters' teeth on edge. And some stunts no longer seem feasible. Maybe it was the pressure of other commitments that kept Mr. Bush from visiting New York yesterday; but one suspects that his aides no longer think of the Big Apple as a politically safe place to visit.
Yet it's almost certainly wrong to think that the political exploitation of 9/11 and, more broadly, the administration's campaign to label critics as unpatriotic are past their peak. It may be harder for the administration to wrap itself in the flag, but it has more incentive to do so now than ever before. Where once the administration was motivated by greed, now it's driven by fear.
[...]
Now it has all gone wrong. The deficit is about to go above half a trillion dollars, the economy is still losing jobs, the triumph in Iraq has turned to dust and ashes, and Mr. Bush's poll numbers are at or below their pre-9/11 levels.
Nor can the members of this administration simply lose like gentlemen. For one thing, that's not how they operate. Furthermore, everything suggests that there are major scandals - involving energy policy, environmental policy, Iraq contracts and cooked intelligence - that would burst into the light of day if the current management lost its grip on power. So these people must win, at any cost.
Replies: 8 people speak up
The operative word is "failure":
Bush's failed War on Terror
Bush's failed occupation of Iraq
Bush's failed foreign policy.
Bush's failed econoomic policy
Posted by danuube @ 09/12/2003 08:17 AM NY
lets hope to add:
Bush's failed re election
Posted by justin @ 09/12/2003 11:37 AM NY
"Failure"? Damn, I was going to say "Incompetence."
Posted by Metropolitan99 @ 09/12/2003 11:46 AM NY
well, your both right, it is "failure due to incompetence"
Posted by justin @ 09/12/2003 01:26 PM NY
Krugman will be on "Real Time with Bill Maher" tonight (Friday) at 11 PM on HBO, for those out there with expensive cable.
The times I've seen Krugman live on TV, he's been pretty good. I sense he doesn't slave over composition of his Op-Ed pieces, that it all flows very naturally.
Cheers,
Posted by Greg in FL @ 09/12/2003 02:00 PM NY
So, the question becomes: what can (must) be done to 'innoculate' the US to the Bush admin's upcoming antics? Some greater injection of foreign perspective? Their efforts to discredit everyone 'not with them' have been effective at closing the minds of their supporters to anything negative about this administration.
There must be some way to 'head them off at the pass'. I don't think even the prospect of a civil war would temper their ambitions. That is, providing a civil war isn't already part of their gameplan of taking over everything....
Posted by zzyzx @ 09/12/2003 02:09 PM NY
Sometimes, sometimes, I get so disgusted I wish that Lincoln had let the South secede back in 1861.
Posted by Metropolitan99 @ 09/12/2003 05:31 PM NY
I think voters still do not know what to think about Iraq. I'm not sure it's going to hurt Bush that much. When he gets beat (and he WILL get beat) it will because of the jobless economy and huge deficit, combined with astonishing arrogance of the white house, which people are finally starting to see.
The "no child left behind" lie, the systematic dismantling of environment protections, the "my tax cuts go to those at the bottom" lie, and more -- he'll pay for those.
Posted by Dissento @ 09/13/2003 10:53 PM NY
