Some Advice From A Very Liberal College Prof

True story. Many, many years ago I was given a bit of advice by a very liberal, extremely brilliant and well-educated literature professor. I've never forgotten it.

To paraphrase: never pay attention to any pretentious, self-important idiot who uses the phrase "it behooves us". They're far too insecure and strained to impress to be trusted. Little did I know all those years ago that he was warning me about Paul Krugman writing on the Tea Party movement.

But here’s the thing: the G.O.P. looked as crazy 10 or 15 years ago as it does now. That didn’t stop Republicans from taking control of both Congress and the White House. And they could return to power if the Democrats stumble. So it behooves us to look closely at the state of what is, after all, one of our nation’s two great political parties.

One way to get a good sense of the current state of the G.O.P., and also to see how little has really changed, is to look at the “tea parties” that have been held in a number of places already, and will be held across the country on Wednesday. These parties — antitaxation demonstrations that are supposed to evoke the memory of the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution — have been the subject of considerable mockery, and rightly so.

Comments

[Some Guy]

Krugman is not an economist; an economist is one who studies why people do what they do in the market. What Krugman does is invent absurd rationalizations for power-grabbing. He is no more an economist than Lysenko was a scientist.

[Al Reasin]

Ah, the Brits probably said the same thing about those silly people dressed up as Indians in Boston Harbor. Two tea parties down and three more to go. And the 912ers are not giving up with tea parties. The fight to regain a measure of control over our politicians is just beginning.

[Peg C.]

I pay as much attention to Krugman as I do to Sullivan, which is to say none other than what I run across in the rightosphere. And Paul baby, the GOP should not be confused with Tea Partiers. GOP is top-down, we Tea Partiers are bottom-up. Please do keep dismissing us. :-)

[milesfromkansas]

Be-'hoove: verb: Lit: to add hooves to; to become an ungulate. Def: To make an ass of oneself. See: Krugman

[clarice]

Heh--

Listen for the behooves here (one of my favorite songs and dances ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mNDHTfdn1A&feature=player_embedded

[kcom]

A phrase I've always detested is "the way forward". From the very first time I heard it some years ago (I can't remember the context, perhaps borrowed from the Brits), I thought it was portentous-sounding but meaningless drivel. But as a political phrase, it seems to have caught on more and more in the last couple of years. I automatically disrespect anyone who uses it. Imagine my surprise when the far Lefty response to the Tea Parties comes out and it's titled...."A New Way Forward".

I'm not sure why I dislike it but perhaps because it seems to have the ring of "socialist realism" about it, which is about anything but reality.

[george best, m.d.]

frankly the tea parties are all that the average concerned republican and rino veoters have to express their disatisfaction with the system. don't dis us this is "democracy" at the grass root level just begging for a third party to step into the breech of the broken crucible that is washington. don't forget there are democrats and independents at these tea parties and even a few concerned politicians. this is my first public political rally and there are hopefully millions like me. rino george best, m.d.

[Mike Gordon]

The left doesn't understand the tea party movement for the same reason they don't understand the the pro second amendment movement or the pro-life movement. To lefties like Krugman, all "grassroots" movements are really top down organizations, an "astroturf" rent a mob, because on the left that's what they really are. You only need to look at ACORN or Moveon or the American Hunters and Shooters Association for examples of left leaning phony grassroots movements that have very few members (and no dues paying members) and paid volunteers to see what someone like Krugman views as a grassroots movement.

[fdcol63]

Krugman is an idiot. Why does ANYONE listen to him?

[Blacque Jacques Shellacque]

"...any pretentious, self-important idiot..."

Judging from the pictures I've seen of Krugman, and having read a couple of his columns, this is all too accurate.

[Colin]

Couldn't help but notice that in Krugman's entire column about the tea party movement the words "deficit", "stimulus" or even "spending" don't occur a single time. Pretty instructive.

[Jrod]

Nice one Mr. Krugman! Much easier to use a broad brush stroke to paint anybody who doesn't tow the urbane-Ivy League line as a GOP lackey than to actually admit that there might be people who feel genuine concern over the state of fiscal affairs on Capitol Hill. Krugman is a simple apparatchik. He's a mouthpiece for the patrician class, who wields his Nobel prize in a totally unrelated topic like it is evidence of his economic omniscience.

[gs]

Whatever else I may think of Krugman, I agree with this paragraph:

"So what’s the implication of the fact that Republicans are refusing to grow up, the fact that they are still behaving the same way they did when history seemed to be on their side? I’d say that it’s good for Democrats, at least in the short run — but it’s bad for the country."

That's exactly the way I used to talk about Democrats back when I was still giving the GOP the benefit of the doubt.

Each major party ought to be able to govern competently. Right now neither one is--and they both point to the other's deficiencies instead of correcting their own. That's a recipe for, or a symptom of, national decline.

[PD Quig]

Definition of behoove: to be dashed to pieces by a multitude of hooves angrily charging up capitol hills throughout the country.

[hack attacker]

Waahh!!!

[Chad]

As Krugman has successfully foreseen roughly fifteen of the last two recessions, I think the NYTimes should ask him to return his paychecks.

[Frank E]

Denial is not a river my GnoPer's...

[Kyle]

"never pay attention to any pretentious, self-important idiot who uses the phrase 'it behooves us'".

But what if he's not pretentious or self-important?

[Kyle]

What if he's not even an idiot?

[hack attacker]

attaboy echo chamber hacks! exactly, even if the mere use of 'behooves' is crticized, it's OK if OUR side does it. We can still criticize the other libruls because by definition they are idiots, fools, pretentious, blah blah blah. Because OUR side isn't pretentious, etc. Parse away! Yee ha!

Well played! Truly I have been verbaly bested by titans of rhetoric and debate.

Jeez, you act EXACTLY like a hack would. See, GENIUSES can use 'behooves,' - how can you tell a genius? Simple! He's on our side! But Krugman, nobel winner, Ivy league prof, is merely an idiot and pretentious.

I leave you all to your fellow Tea Bags, deep thinkers.

[vigilantuser]

Hack attacker: Krugman IS pretentious, notwithstanding your disagreement with the statement.

Its PARTIES not BAGS that taxpayers attend. Taxpayers ARE taking back control of our country.

Come April 15, we will have a bigger MEGAPHONE than ever. We continue to grow in numbers and strength.

Be afraid.

[Jimbo]

Tea Baggers? You all got it wrong - but you say the progressives just don't understand what the 'bagging' is all about. Well, it is all about the whining GOP trying to find its feet after being turned away at the polls. That's what it is. The Boston Tea Party was about taxation without representation. Your WATB parties are not about this at all - the idiot on the Wall Street trading floor inanely said something stoopid, and you all lap it up. The world is watching and laughing at you. You could spend your time and energy assisting the country, but then that would be against what Boss Limbaugh told you to do. You are suckers. pure and simple. Suckers for Limbaugh.

[SDN]

My definition of bagging involves trophies hung on walls, Jimbo. Volunteering?

[JorgXMcKie]

"You are suckers. pure and simple. Suckers for Limbaugh." So sayeth the troll with his face firmly buried in Obama's . . . well, wherever.

Running scared, aren't they? I just love to see the Lefties and their projection problems.

Does the wheels coming off the Obama Bus make for a bumpy ride?

[vladimir grass]

i did not expect anything positive from NY Times anyway, but the fact that those liberal shmacks pay attention to this movement is very encouraging. It means it is working....and they afraid of it. Who reads NY Times either total liberal lunatics or people without principals. I did read this article only because it was on yahoo-which also pushing left too much.

[EBJ]

Jimbo nails it. If you're not part of the Democratic party, ummm, if you're not on Obama's side, ummmmmm, if.........tea parties are suck and stuff.

[Will Thomas]

"Does the wheels coming off the Obama Bus make for a bumpy ride?"

Naw, it's supported by all the people that have been thrown under it.

[24AheadDotCom]

george best, m.d. writes: "frankly the tea parties are all that the average concerned republican and rino veoters have to express their disatisfaction with the system... don't forget there are democrats and independents at these tea parties and even a few concerned politicians."

1. The "parties" have a strong undercurrent of Randroidism (i.e., all those "John Galt" signs, a "No Taxes" sign, etc.) The idea that that would appeal to anyone but a very, very small fraction of Americans is absurd. You might think differently, but when those RINOs/Dems/Inds see what's really going on they're going to bolt.

2. The "parties" are almost the least effective way to "express dissatisfaction". They aren't quite as ineffective as honking your horn at noon, but they're close.

3. For the smart/non-Randroid folks, here's how to do something that would actually be effective:

http://24ahead.com/s/question-authority

[LOL]

thanks, that was a good article by krugman

[Chester White]

"These parties — antitaxation demonstrations that are supposed to evoke the memory of the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution — have been the subject of considerable mockery, and rightly so."

He's going to sing a different story when hundreds of thousands of people show up on one single day to protest.

Maybe the Mainstream Media will actually cover some of it and it will sink through his skull.

[Clifton L. West]

I have been a registered Democrat for fifty-four years and I think the Tea Parties are an excellent opportunity for true Americans to express their anxiety over what may be the destruction of our nation by crackpots like Paul and his Liberal gang of thieves. I remember when members of my Party occasionally told the truth to the American people. One thing about lying, you have to remember the lies. Liberals think by denying having said or written anything inflamatory, it goes away, but the American people have long memories and many are keeping lists of the kingpins in the Liberal hate camps. Silver tongue may find his flock deserting him as quickly as it formed once the bloom starts to fade. Time will tell!

[Some Guy]

24ahead,

I find it interesting how people of your ilk believe you can change the world by pouring out as much snotty condescension as you can muster. The fact is that Obama is continuing and increasing Bush's mistakes, just as Roosevelt compounded Hoover's. Fortunately, many people understand that you can't spend your way out of debt, or inflate your way out of a depression. Those of us who understand this plainly obvious fact have decided to stand up and be counted.

We will do so no matter how much you huff and puff and stamp your little feet. "Randroid"? Wow, you're so clever. Did you pick out that taunt all by yourself?

[Colin]

What's insanely hilarious about the tea parties is that the majority of the people who will be "bagging" , will have their taxes reduced as a result of the stimulus package.

What is also hard to understand is that these Tea Baggers, were complacent while George W. Bush doubled the national debt by consistent deficit spending.

What is even more difficult to understand is why people don't see that the U.S. was put into this difficult financial position because of the tax cuts for the wealthy while continuing to deficit spend on 2 wars.

Moving the percentage on the uppermost income bracket back to where it was under Clinton (when the economy was great). Is still less than George Bush 1, and Ronald Reagan....a full 20 points lower than what it was under Reagan.

1. The U.S. needing a stimulus package was widely agreed upon by both Republicans and Democrats. There was some questions as to the exact nature of certain programs etc...but this is politics no one ever agrees.

2. Why don't people look around at the services, aka roads, highways, etc and realize that they are a result of tax dollars. If you travel internationally where most people pay more in taxes....you will see that our facilities are so much greater. Why does one consider supporting the country you live in and paying taxes as unpatriotic?

[Colin]

24 - I don't think it's fair to say the Obama is continuing GWB's policies. In the first 60 days there have already been monumental changes. The stimulus package and budgets attempt to move us away from oil, and coal to renewable resources. Most of our taxes are going down as a result of the stimulus package, and this month jobless claims were less than expected.

Let's stop all the vitriolic hatred from both the right and the left. We both want a great country, and even though no one likes taxes - we know they are necessary.

[kcom]

Nobody's taxes are going down as a result of the stimulus bill. Nobobdy's economic future is going to be improved by trillion dollar plus deficits. You have swallowed that stupidity hook, line and sinker.

And this is just laughable, "the majority of the people...will have their taxes reduced as a result of the stimulus package." You're falling for class warfare b.s. if you think the little guy comes out ahead when the economy is wrecked. That "I will reduce taxes on 95% of Americans" Obama fantasy promise is already rapidly receding over the horizon.

In answer to the theoretical question of "Why, oh why, don't the people we are trying to 'help' just roll over and let us help them?" the answer is because they're not stupid. They can see through the smoke and mirrors even if you can't.