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Krugman Accuses Scarborough of ‘Ad Hominem’ For…Quoting Him?

Mar. 5, 2013 12:26pm Becket Adams

Paul Krugman Accuses Joe Scarborough of Ad Hominem After Scarborough Quotes Him

Joe Scarborough (l) and Paul Krugman (r). (AP).

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman during a taped debate Monday night accused Joe Scarborough of engaging in “ad hominem” attacks because the latter dared to quote the former.

Krugman claimed Scarborough was distracting from the discussion after the MSNBC host pointed out during their disagreement over deficit spending that the economist has warned for years about the deficit issue.

“That’s such a tired argument, to go and search for quotes in stuff I said once upon time instead of dealing with the issue,” said Krugman. “It’s so disappointing if all you can do is ad hominem and say, oh, you said this, and you were — you know, pull out the ad hominem.”

Wait, quoting someone is considered “ad hominem”? Let’s back up for a minute and get a definition of terms. From Merriam-Webster:

¹ad ho·mi·nem/adjective/ad-ˈhä-mə-ˌnem, -nəm\: … marked by or being an attack on an opponent’s character rather than by an answer to the contentions made.

Huh.

“Anybody that knows me knows I don’t engage in ad hominem attack,” Scarborough shot back.

“That’s what you’re doing right now,” Krugman complained.

Scarborough pointed out the obvious, that is, that he was merely “quoting back what [Krugman] said.”

Things didn’t get any better from there. Krugman became increasingly exasperated with Scarborough and repeatedly sighed and muttered “Wow” during the MSNBC host’s arguments.

“You know what? If you could just stop from saying, ‘Wow,’ and let me just finish a point, Paul,” said Scarborough. “You and Al Gore really need to talk about it. This is a real problem. If people don’t agree with you all the time … you just feel like you have to take the cheap shots.”

Here’s a good highlight reel of the debate [courtesy Mediaite]:

Before the debate aired, Krugman took to his blog to a) make excuses for his performance and b) get in the one-liners couldn’t think of during taping.

“I was tired, cranky, and unready for the blizzard of misleading factoids and diversionary stuff,” he wrote on his blog, saying that he had his own “Denver Debate Moment.” “[H]aving a Denver moment isn’t the worst thing that can happen. Ask Mitt Romney.”

Ha! Get it?

Anyway, if you’re surprised that Krugman would run off to his blog to complain about a debate opponent, you shouldn’t be. That’s what he does. Just ask former Congressman Ron Paul or his son, Sen. Rand Paul.

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Comments (80)

matinva
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:27pm
Krugman is a tool. Like Owebama, he has no earthly idea how money works. Another educated derelict. Krugman is a ‘theorist’. Lots of ideas, no results. Typical liberal. Just look at every gub’mint program. Fantastically failed, money sucking boondoggles, every one.

How much has been spent on the ‘War on Poverty’?

What percentage of the population is still in poverty?

And how about that Postal Service??

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- John.Galt
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 2:34pm
  How much has been spent on the ‘War on Poverty’?
  Approximately $16 TRILLION to date… yes, pretty much the ENTIRE FEDERAL DEBT…
  
  What percentage of the population is still in poverty?
  About the same as when the War on Poverty started, nearly 50 years ago.
  
  And how about that Postal Service??
  Bleeding $16 BILLION per year…
  
  Report this comment
- JRook
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 2:35pm
  No surprise that this report and the comments here are in fact an ad hominem as they distract from the real issue and of course the context with which a discussion of deficits might occur. When you throw 2 wars, put thru a non-funded prescription program and then cut taxes which insure higher deficits that is a problem. When higher deficits are a result of the above and other disastrous policies that lead to the worst recession since the Great Depression, higher deficits like the $1.2 trillion run rate left by Bush Jr. are almost insured.
  
  Report this comment
- TheBurningTruth
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:15pm
  What @JROOK misses in his Bush-Bashing is that all those policies he is attacking are in fact PROGRESSIVE LIBERAL policies. (Yes, big unpaid for wars IS a Progressive Liberal activity: LBJ’s ‘Guns and Butter’ of the 60s). Bush Jr. was NEVER a conservative, just a RINO spending big bucks. In fact, @JROOK could have included the fact that Bush Jr. pushed up the number of workers NOT paying Federal Income tax to around 43% (which Barry then increased to 48%).
  
  So, I guess @JROOK is starting to see the light on some of these economically destructive PROGRESSIVE LIBERAL policies.
  
  And then people wonder why true conservatives don’t like RINOs…
  
  Report this comment
- The_Jerk
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 9:18pm
  Paul Krugman, one more of the many cultural changing, tradition destroying, I want to rule your life Jewish progressives.
  
  Report this comment
fastfacts
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:26pm
I like it when the liberals and media are up in arms against each other, usually at that time we finally get the truth.

Here is where Brokaw tells of Obama’s lies on sequester. Finally: http://www.thedailycandidate.com/video/2013/mar/brokaw_obama_waste.html

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progressiveslayer
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:23pm
Two idiotic worthless progs in a cat fight,to hell with both of them.

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- Fubared
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:47pm
  Would be entertaining to tie them off and throw them over a clothesline.
  
  Report this comment
- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 2:26pm
  FUBARED, Damn, I was having a bit of some late lunch. Almost spit a mouthful on the monitor.
  Hey WANGO, does that still piss you off?
  
  Report this comment
- Toltepeceno
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 4:11pm
  “Would be entertaining to tie them off and throw them over a clothesline.”
  
  Yea, tie them together by their…….wait, neither have one.
  
  Report this comment
SpankDaMonkey
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:16pm
.
I wonder if would give me all his money, to help the economy?…..

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- Rayblue
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 2:25pm
  Great idea. Help the economy.
  Texas contractors would love more money.
  
  Report this comment
RJJinGadsden
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:14pm
Watching and hearing Krugman just makes me think of the movie The Choirboys when Roscoe reaches over rips the guy’s mustache off. Scarborough doesn’t have the brass, but somebody should.
http://www.retrojunk.com/forum/post/list/default/25842

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- OldSurfRat
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:35pm
  RJJ LOL
  
  Here is the end result of that stash snatch.
  http://www.youtube.com/verify_controversy?next_url=/watch%3Fv%3DL2jqRwo5MHo
  
  Report this comment
- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 2:19pm
  OLDSURFRAT, Damn, you got me on that. The first thing I tried was to find a clip of that scene on You Tube, and I thought that you had found what I could not. LOL, good catch on that.
  
  Report this comment
sickoftalking
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:13pm
Ad hominem actually has nothing to do with character assassination; Mirriam-Webster’s definition isn’t precise. Ad hominem is a practice of using some fact about the person to discredit his argument, rather than dealing with the argument directly on its own merits. That’s what makes it a logical fallacy; it doesn’t actually rebut anything the person is saying.

Not saying that’s what Scarborough was trying to do, its possible he was just grilling Krugman on why he changed his opinion, although Krugman clearly disagreed with characterizations of his past opinion. Either way, Krugman felt it was a diversion from the argument on intellectual grounds.

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- kegbuna
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 2:15pm
  I think you make a good point, however this post will fly over the heads of most of the Blaze regulars
  
  Report this comment
- naughtycal
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 3:18pm
  Yes how dare someone question someone on their hypocracy. Kind of like how the media has never question Obama about all of the hypocracy surrounding his 2008 campaign and his actual political beliefs that became appearant by mid-2009.
  Krugman is a wannabe elitist pig he’s educated but totally void of intelligence like most of his ilk.
  You could say he can’t see the economic forest for the policy trees. But the truth is he’s not looking at the economy he’s only looking where the policies are coming from. Like most liberal elitist all they care about is the messenger not the message. To call him one dimensional would be an insult to that one dimension. He77 even animals have the ability to gather information and change behavior. Krugman is the liberal dog that never stops crapping in the house and just keeps throwing more rugs over it no matter how many time you nip him on the nose with a rolled up paper.
  
  Report this comment
- sickoftalking
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 3:41pm
  @naughtycal:
  
  Yea, not saying Krugman wasn’t being arrogant. Why he changed his views and whether or not he’s being a partisan and not objective is a legitimate question to him, because I think his columns often are unfair and oriented around poisoning the debate against conservatives. He described his performance as a result of being ‘cranky’, but, if that’s true, it seems that every column of his is the result of crankiness.
  
  Just because I don’t like Krugman, that doesn’t mean I’m going to forgive The Blaze for ignorance about terminology and a bit of yellow journalism.
  
  Report this comment
- Da Chief
  Posted on March 7, 2013 at 3:06pm
  @Kegbuna In point of fact, it does not. Oh, by the way, implying that we are too stupid to get the point makes your comment an ad hominem.
  
  Report this comment
- petenoback
  Posted on April 4, 2013 at 4:05pm
  It’s the very definition of Ad Hominem–
  
  “Ad hominem tu quoque (literally: “You also”) refers to a claim that the source making the argument has spoken or acted in a way inconsistent with the argument. In particular, if Source A criticizes the actions of Source B, a tu quoque response is that Source A has acted in the same way. This argument is fallacious because it does not disprove the argument; if the premise is true then Source A may be a hypocrite, but this does not make the statement less credible from a logical perspective. Indeed, Source A may be in a position to provide personal testimony to support the argument.
  
  For example, a father may tell his son not to start smoking as he will regret it when he is older, and the son may point out that his father is or was a smoker. This does not alter the fact that his son may regret smoking when he is older.”
  
  Mocking Krugman for using a word correctly is only proving his point.
  
  Report this comment
OldSurfRat
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:11pm
Krugman is a little biatch.

I think we should all use his name as a verb. “Hey you wuss dont be such a Krugman”

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:21pm
  OLDSURFRAT, That’s a really good idea. Like, Hey ENCINOM, stop being such a Krugman!
  
  Report this comment
- OldSurfRat
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:32pm
  RJJ
  
  There you go thats the spirit LOL
  
  Report this comment
- kegbuna
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 3:10pm
  You do realize that’s not how verbs work, right?
  
  Report this comment
- OldSurfRat
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 3:41pm
  Keg
  
  Thanks for being a Krugman (:
  
  Report this comment
- OldSurfRat
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 3:47pm
  Keg
  
  Sorry let me do this right.
  Dont Krugman me bro!
  
  Report this comment
RIGS
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:10pm
Two JACKASSES HEE HAWING at each other……………………..

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jakartaman
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:07pm
Anyone that pays an ounce of attention to either of these two dopes is a bigger dope

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SSN637
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:07pm
‘how dare you use my own words against me”

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Gonzo
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:06pm
How can you assassinate something that’s been dead for decades?

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:24pm
  GONZO, That would be more like “never existed” in my opinion.
  
  Report this comment
c130herk
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:59pm
dumb and dumber

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- gyro
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:10pm
  but who is dumbest?
  
  Report this comment
grickm
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:58pm
It’s a standard tactic of the statists/progressives/Marxists to deflect arguments they don’t like (cannot win) and attack the opponent rather than discuss the issue. Krugman is one of a long like of such.

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- cosette
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:12pm
  @Gricam…..Bingo!!! You see it every day on sites like this one. If you make a cogent point some prog is sure to question your intellect and or education, or worse yet, call you by some vile pejorative. They do so hoping you will abandon your initial thought and defend yourself instead. Don’t fall for it. it’s called feeding the trolls for a reason.
  
  Report this comment
shorelineliz
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:58pm
The Dream and the Nightmare: The 60s Legacy to the UnderClass by Myron Magnet

“THE DREAM AND THE NIGHTMARE is a manifesto to the concept that ideas have consequences.

Magnet points to the significant paradigm shift of the 1960s, in which many elites (like Paul Krugman) thought it was progressive, even compassionate, to denigrate traditional notions of morality and the American way of life. Shifting the concept from personal responsibility among the poor to the idea that the poor are victims of society entitled to handouts, racial separation among blacks, sexual liberation, permissiveness regarding drug use, and other attitudes that demonstrated an oppositional mindset to the traditional notions of how to get ahead filtered down from the upper classes who espoused them to the lower classes who adopted them.

Unfortunately, the biggest impediment to change is also PHILOSOPHICAL. It is all but impossible for someone to even DISCUSS these issues without those on the POLITICAL LEFT howling about racism, blaming the victim, blah, blah, blah. And the underclass itself is now so violent and disfunctional that it is nothing short of flat-out dangerous to address its members directly. Even then, the members of the underclass are so enveloped in their thinking that it is like talking to a brick wall. The underclass (and Liberal handlers like Krugman) displays that most damaging of traits – an imperviousness to negative yet accurate feedback.

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Carlinpa
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:57pm
Krugman is a coke head… I’ve seen those eyes before on druggies.
” i don’t think for the next 4 or 5 feet, we don’t have to worry, but as soon as we reach that cliff” That’s more like what it really is for us and the debt.
More spending on “infrastructure” with all the money they have already spent we could have redone every bridge and road in America.

How bout this BUILD a WALL at the BORDER!! I think most of us conservative would be for that, and even would volunteer to help build it.

RE”Before the debate aired, Krugman took to his blog to a) make excuses for his performance and b) get in the one-liners couldn’t think of during taping.”
RE” B yeah one of his butt buddies probably twitter them to him.

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WhatTheFrack
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:51pm
Wont hold up. There would have to be character to assassinate. Now there is assinine there, could that be what he meant?

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AlcoholicMB
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:41pm
I really don’t think Paul Krugman is half as smart as he wants us to believe he is.

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- cosette
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:14pm
  I’d like to buy Krugman for what he’s worth and sell him for what he THINKS he’s worth.
  
  Report this comment
shorelineliz
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:41pm
Paul Krugman, the most vile journalist in the USA, is accusing Joe Scarborough of character assassination? LMAO! You assassinate your OWN character every time you open your mouth Krugman. Get real!

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civilwarcometh
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:39pm
2 idiots calling each other idiot. Truth lives here at TMZ of politics…

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The-Monk
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:37pm
Test

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- The-Monk
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:39pm
  Dang.. they closed comments for that Senator/WH/drones story.
  I’ll post my reply to DZ-015 here I guess… : (
  
  Hi DZ-015,
  
  No, I don’t think so. That had to do with a letter from Eric Holder that Rand Paul was exposing.
  
  I think they are still trying to verify the info.
  
  Report this comment
- civilwarcometh
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:43pm
  Censorship is getting really bad on here.
  
  Report this comment
- The-Monk
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:52pm
  Hi Civilwarcometh,
  
  They don’t do that very often. They must have had a good reason. The censorship here is far less than the progressive sites. Look at what facebook does.
  
  Or it could be just another glitch.
  
  Report this comment
- civilwarcometh
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:03pm
  I have had to post taken down already today. I didn’t cuss or say anything racist. It’s selective censorship plain and simple.. I didn’t even have any links in them just comments. But if you’re a troll it’s all good post away..
  
  Report this comment
- civilwarcometh
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:09pm
  http://weaselzippers.us/2013/03/05/cbc-reps-john-lewis-eleanor-holmes-norton-say-nfls-washington-redskins-must-change-racist-name/
  
  Report this comment
- Cavallo
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:11pm
  Seems weird on a story like that.
  
  Report this comment
- gyro
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:19pm
  hi monk
  I have seen post poofed chunks deleated but this is the first coments blocked ?
  scott will have to explain this next blaze cast
  -
  And because I know you care
  In a totaly unrelated thing but just as shocking
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21675536
  Have a great week if your not a albino
  
  Report this comment
- gyro
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:22pm
  civilwarcometh == I flag alot bad things — but I think my posts dissapear sometimes because the shrills press the button sometimes to screw us over
  
  Report this comment
- DZ-015
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:23pm
  The Monk: Just caught your reply. Isn’t it odd that a featured Blaze story has comments closed so soon after it was posted? It makes me think that the Paul news is connected somehow, and they are afraid that some poster will stumble on and spoil their hoped for scoop. As for the story at hand, I think of this guy as Paul Slugman, because he reminds me of the Slurm slugs on “Futurama,” and he is a true slimeball, to boot.
  .
  
  Report this comment
- civilwarcometh
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:30pm
  GYRO i have never flagged anyone. Let people say what they want.
  
  Report this comment
- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:30pm
  GYRO, I’ve had posts blocked before when the comments for a story have been closed. Its been a while though and does not seem to happen often. I think they are trying to verify information, or trying to get an update on that particular story.
  
  Report this comment
TimPatriot
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:37pm
Krugman has been a political hack for decades….wearing an economists costume.
His economic reasoning is dense….but ultimately his arguments fail miserably.

Just read his book(s)….he’s the progressive economist “lap dog”…. except that he’s as much of an idealogue as Nobama is…..and a closet commie.

Intellectualism is a disease and this schmuck caught it at an early age. Apparently it comes with thin skin and utilizes all the “rules for radicals” as defense mechanisms.

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- Cavallo
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:49pm
  He’s a Marxist and centralized statist. He is right at home at the New York Times. A publication that supported fascists and were apologists for the Soviets. If you want to know what Joseph Stalin would feel about modern events, just open the New York Times opinion page.
  
  Report this comment
Cavallo
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:36pm
Love it when leftists eat their own.

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EQUALIZER
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:36pm
I’ll bet Krugman is really praising the nurse who refused to do cpr on the 87 year old lady who died as a result.Krugman’s death panels would be proud.

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UNALIEN
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:35pm
It isn’t ad hominem, it is ad nauseam, Parasitic Keynesianites like Krugman never met a Government debt they did’t like, preachers of the perpetual ponzi scheme aka theft from future saver/producers to be redistributed tho the elites through the magic of confiscatory inflation

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Lloyd Drako
Posted on March 5, 2013 at 12:34pm
Oh it’s “RINO this” and “RINO that” when Joe does Morning Joe,
But “it’s way to take down Krugman” when it’s Charlie Rose’s show.

Apologies to Kipling.

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- cosette
  Posted on March 5, 2013 at 1:32pm
  He is a R.I.N.O (Republican In Name Only) One only need observe him to understand it. I’ve followed him since he was in the house in the 90′s at which time he was a darling of the right and won several awards from conservative groups such as Americans for Tax Reform and Citizens Against Government Waste. He was give a 95% lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union. He has evolved, or IMHO devolved, into a R.I.N.O. over time, afflicted with, what I like to call, Barry Goldwater syndrome. Having spent so much of his time in the recent past in the “belly of the beast” a.k.a. MSNBC he has become one of them, often parroting and seldom challenging them. A casual observer would know this. This dust up between the prog and the R.I.N.O. was purely theater.
  
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