Krugman Gets It
Paul Krugman’s latest: Who gets it? An excerpt:
A Democratic candidate will have a chance of winning only if he has an energized base, willing to contribute money in many small donations, willing to contribute their own time, willing to stand up for the candidate in the face of smear tactics and unfair coverage.
That doesn’t mean that the Democratic candidate has to be a radical — which is a good thing for the party, since all of the candidates are actually quite moderate. In fact, what the party needs is a candidate who inspires the base enough to get out the message that he isn’t a radical — and that Mr. Bush is.
January 18th, 2004 at 1:55 pm
Great stuff. I love that Krugman emphasizes how Dean is a centrist, and no more liberal than his Dem opponents. I wish we could hammer than home more.
In a lot of ways I wish Kucinich were the front-runner, though. Mostly because half of the pundit population would expire instantly from vein-busting strokes, most while on air.
January 18th, 2004 at 4:48 pm
What exactly does Krugman “get” if he believes all the Democratic candidates are firmly moderate in their platforms? If all those viewpoints are now moderate thinking in the Democratic Party, it will be a long walk out of the political wilderness for them.
January 20th, 2004 at 11:38 am
While I think it’s difficult to argue that ALL the dem candidates are centrist (viable or not, there is Kucinich to account for), I think the focus here is obviously on Dean.
Craig, what about Dean’s policies do you find to be way out in the “political wilderness.” His opposition to the war? You’ll find his opinion there is shared by quite a large portion of the population. Universal healthcare? Again, I think there are a whole lot of people out there in favor of this one. Gun control? He’s a friend of the NRA.
What did you have in mind?
January 20th, 2004 at 7:50 pm
My point was simply to highlight the distortion in Krugman’s statement that ALL of the Democratic candidates were moderates. Not sure how you can see the word “all” and think “Dean”.
January 21st, 2004 at 6:36 am
I see “all” and think “Dean” because nobobdy would argue that any of the other viable Democratic candidates are radicals. Dean’s image is that of a radical leftist, which is really not the case. As Adam said above, Krugman is hinting at this when he says that all of the candidates are centrists.
January 21st, 2004 at 12:22 pm
You’re making my simple point into something it isn’t. I’m simply addressing yet another Krugman misstatement that ALL (not all “viable”; all means all, last time I checked) Dem candidates are moderate.