Re: In defence of Krugman ...

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

I didn't get to finish my e-mail. Now it's finished.

> Doug writes:
> >No, he's [PK's] not a radical, or a Marxist, or social 
> democrat even. But he
> >doesn't pretend otherwise. ...
> 
> Bill writes: >... The fact that "he doesn't
> pretend otherwise" applies equally well to George Bush --- so what?<

I wrote:
> Bush pretended to be a "compassionate conservative" and all 
> that. He lies all the time, while PK is 
> an honest ideologue. 
> 
> As Bill said earlier, PK used to attack the left (i.e., the 
> easy targets on the "Left," people like Ira Magaziner) and the 
> Right (i.e., easy targets like Arthur Laffer).
Now PK attacks only the right -- because there isn't much of a Left left. This is 
a sign of the rightward shift of the middle. In 1998 (say), PK was middle of the 
road, but now the "middle of the road" has turned into a Rightist swamp (by 1998 
standards). This, of course, resulted from the Right's victories in recent years
(unconsciously aided and abetted by Clinton, etc.)

Jim