Battle: George Will vs. Paul Krugman on Austerity and Tea Party Ads
- Posted on October 11, 2010 at 10:57am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and Washington Post columnist George Will were guests on ABC’s “This Week” yesterday (along with Amy Walter and Tavis Smiley). NewsBusters brings us the best jab-for-jab between Krugman and Will, who take different views on government spending, austerity, and Tea Party political ads.
NB sets up the first clip this way:
Krugman, who is always interested in government laying out more dollars it doesn’t have, bashed Lagarde’s view saying, “I think she’s got a fantasy, which is a popular European fantasy, which bears no relationship to what’s actually happening.”
With the ball nicely teed up, Will smacked a monster drive down the middle of the fairway that would make Tiger Woods proud …
That may be a little too generous, but the point is still that Will jumps all over Krugman’s logic:
As for the second clip, NB points out some seemingly conflicting statements by Krugman. After Krugman accuses Tea Party candidates of being “irrational” in some of their campaign ads, Will disagrees, and points out something he sees as nonsensical in some Democrats’ ads:
And by the way, while we’re on the subject of ads, in the interest of being fair and balanced, let’s notice five interesting Democratic ads. There’s a group called — what’s it called — FactCheck.org, that checks the truthfulness of these ads. There are five freshmen Democratic congressmen — that is, the people who came to Congress in January 2009 — who are running ads claiming that they voted against TARP, which was voted on months before they came to Congress.
The Krugman response? “That’s not the same,“ and ”there are some seriously strange people running thanks to the Tea Party.”
That doesn’t add up for NB:
He’s all worried about some of the so-called kooky things being said in campaign commercials by folks on the other side of the aisle from him, but sitting members of Congress lying about votes they took in Congress is no big deal.
So who won?
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Comments (97)
kurtdoten
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 12:45pmKrugman is a hack! Take a look at the latest issue of National Review. They do an outstanding job of pointing out his hypocrisy.
Report Post »roninshaman
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 12:43pmI am so cool with strange. As a fan of Franklin, Jefferson, Gandhi and MLK, among others, I guess I prefer Mavericks to Marxists.
Report Post »338lapua
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 8:46pmAdd Washington to the list and I am with you!
Report Post »Country
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 12:36pm“Stange people running because of the Tea Party”, Paul Krugman is a LOSER.
Report Post »conservativeme
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 12:23pmI love it! The “down to earth, non-life time politican“ folks who have been elected by the Tea Party are considered ”seriously strange” by Krugman. I think he’s “seriously out of touch” with main-stream Americans!
Report Post »KeithOlberdink
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 12:12pmWho is paul krugman?
Report Post »SunnyJ
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 12:08pmMr Krugman borderlines delusional. He feels facts are beneath him. He’s so smart, it must just be right because he says so. I personally love how he dismisses the lies in the Dem ads with a wave of his hand towards Mr Will. “That‘s not the same and doesn’t matter.”, says Krugman. Oh, ok Paul…please tell us again what does matter if its not integrity, honesty, fair competition, and truthfulness in your word? Seriously, we have raised and are raising an entire generational sub group of narcisstic personality disorder of entitlement. Our educational institutions are full of this delusion of entitlement…no need to actually produce anything…including people that can think. This is why collectivism is so appealing to these “smarter than everyone else” instructors and students (now running journalism, economics, education, and our government). They get to declare their role as “smartest person in the room” while hiding behind unions, tenure, and government jobs.
Report Post »Mirimichi
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 12:01pmKrugman is so far removed from reality living in his ivory tower, he doesn’t have a clue as to what is really happening.
Report Post »Sandy
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 12:01pmKrugman is saying what he thinks Americans will believe. His belief of economics has to do with the DNC funneling money to him for his rhetoric/lies to promote socialism. He is constantly twitching when speaking. That is body language of a liar. When someone makes a good economic point, he merely repeats his previous statement. If I say it enough, people will believe it mentality.
Report Post »roninshaman
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 12:47pm“A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” – Vladimir Lenin
Report Post »AmericanPatriot01
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 3:11pmyea he looks really nervous sitting at the table there, you can tell he is not happy about having to debate his lies with the truth of reality.
Report Post »cessna152
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 11:57amHmmm, Marxists or a radical notion called “freedom”? Who’s crazy?
Report Post »rash1028
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 11:37amKrugman is one of those people that probably in some circles considered brilliant but in reality is an IDIOT. He is proven wrong time after time after time but will never admit it because he lives in a fantasy world. IDIOT
Report Post »Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 11:34amIf Krugman is normal then I want to be “seriously strange”.
Report Post »TulsaYeeHaw
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 11:32amHow does anyone take this dumbass seriously?
Report Post »sorebird
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 11:29amNo look at Democrats strange extremist, tax cheats and socialist?/
Report Post »badswing
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 11:27amhas anyone ever seen Ross of Friends fame and Krugman in the same room at the same time?
Report Post »KingArthurUp
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 11:25amAs O’reilly said
“I’ll take the witch over the marxist anytime!”
Report Post »ALEXANDERHAMILTON
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 11:25am“As on the one hand, the necessity for borrowing in particular emergencies cannot be doubted, so on the other, it is equally evident that to be able to borrow upon good terms, it is essential that the credit of a nation should be well established.” — January 9, 1790.
Report Post »PA PATRIOT
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 11:25amMr. Krugman, in just 22 short days you will be blinded by these voters who you consider irrational and unable make decisions. It may be time for you to take your political ideology to Cuba or Brazil because we do not want it here.
Report Post »AmericanPatriot01
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 3:08pmI can see it now… He wakes up the day after the election and says “OMG what happened to all my friends in Washington?“ ”There all strange people now and they won’t listen to me anymore” boohoo-waaaaaa!!!
Report Post »Cog
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 11:23amWhat is “seriously strange” is how Paul Krugman got to be the go-to guy for economics. All he has ever run in my memory is his mouth. I would like to propose a reality show where Paul Krugman must spend a year in a small manufacturing town in America without access to any outside sources of information. Let him get an insider’s view of how America works and why. He should spend Sunday mornings visiting churches, Monday mornings at a laundromat, Tuesday mornings in a factory, Wednesday mornings at a service station, Thursday mornings at Wal*Mart, Friday mornings at a neighborhood coffee gathering spot. I believe Saturday is his Sabbath, so he should spend it as his religion demands or as his custom is. THEN, let him voice an opinion on the economy.
Report Post »sbenard
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 1:53pmThat would just KILL him! Let’s do it!
Report Post »Taquoshi
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 3:50pmOne of the things that Ronald Reagan did was cut the taxes. He believed in “trickle down econonics” (a.k.a. supply side economics) while Bush 1 felt it was “voodoo economics”. People now call the 80′s the decade of greed, but during that time, we could support our family without large credit card bills and actually had health insurance.
Report Post »fizix
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 5:16pmUh….not that I’m defending him, but he does have a Nobel Prize in Economics….but maybe he got his in a box of cereal like Oblahblah. Guess that negates it. Nevermind.
Report Post »Toader Gloat
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 11:23amSowell / Will 2012
Report Post »blacksmith
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 12:21pmThat is aticket that I would vote for.
Report Post »MrButcher
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 12:51pmditto
Report Post »Taquoshi
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 3:45pmI’m all for it, but I don’t think Dr. Sowell will run. Darn, darn, darn!!!!!
Report Post »Beandawg
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 11:22amKrugman is just showing his distain for common people. If your not an elitist progressive then your “Strange”.
Report Post »ConservativeFeminist
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 11:19amGeorge Will is a thoughtful Patriot.
Paul Krugman, an economist, wrote a book titled, “Conscience of a Liberal” – that sums up why his views are never based upon reality.
Report Post »abc
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 3:35pmWhat a crock. You call George Will a Patriot, so it’s true? Krugman writes a book to defend progressive and liberal policies, so he’s not? You think not so deeply, dare I say.
How about this comparison: Krugman is a Nobel-Prize-winning economist who teaches at Princeton University, universally ranked in the top five economics programs in the US. George Will, on the other hand, writes a column. When discussing economics, this is like pitting you against Kobe Bryant in a game of one-on-one basketball. That you like Will’s conservatism is your right, but there is no question who is speaking truth on the economic facts at issue, and it isn’t the columnist. Conservatives don’t care about the facts, just the lies that can take them to victory. This is really sad. For all the rhetoric around free markets, good conservatives ignore the bond market when it is CLEARLY saying something that runs counter to the Fox/Rush narrative. Lifelong Republican and Warren Buffett partner Charles Munger recently stated that people should “thank God” that Obama put through the stimulus package to avoid 25% unemployment and another Great Depression. George Will, ignoring the wily billionaire’s advice, chooses to call out and chastise Obama for record discretionary spending–as if preventing the next Great Depression was a “discretionary” act… Good thing there is nothing to burst your fantasy bubble until after the GOP actually has to help govern again in the fall–assuming the nut-case Tea Party candidates they elect are even up to the task intellectually. It must be fun living in that alternate reality where conservatives are omniscient, infallible and every problem from cancer to terrorism is the fault of a liberal.
Report Post »orkydorky
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 5:12pmABC…………………………Perhaps your an authority in your own mind just as Krugman is! Maybe you should go back to the Huffington Post and pump up some of your fellow progressives with all the feces spewing from your mouth. At the very least you might draw most of the fly’s to one location.
Report Post »flyguync
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 5:27pmABC – in your defense of this Krugman, you state he is a Nobel prize recipient. Considering who receives Nobel prizes these days, I wouldn’t put too much stock in that accomplishment. You also state he teaches at a university – we obviously have too many academians telling us what’s good for us.
Report Post »abc
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 6:02pmEven the worst Nobel recipient has greater credentials to receive that award than the people writing here. And excluding the politicized Peace Prize, there is no doubt that you have to be very, very smart to win the other awards. The economist that shared the award in his field this year was accused by Senator Shelby of not being qualified, but he is now retracting that assessment, given the credibility that a Nobel Prize lends. So bash Krugman all you want, but he really is to economics at this point what Kobe Bryant is to basketball. And if you don’t know that, then you are not smart enough to judge and your opinion on how his argument stacked up to George Will’s is a bit like me asking my dog who won an NBA basketball game. In both cases, someone really has no clue about the score.
Report Post »BetterDays
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 7:31pmABC:
Report Post »wrong ids wrong.
You, your soc“I”list ideas, your god of self, your “do as I say not as I do” retoric, you spend untill there is no America, your CFR, you lies, your racism, your hate, you close mindedness, your Ad Hominim attacks, your just going to lose in November and may your Soc“I”list movement be hunted down and deported with all your personal assets public and privat siezed to pay off the nation debt you brought upon us. Oh, and Jesus still loves you BTW.
338lapua
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 8:28pmUntil ABC decides to base his discussion on less emotional/ opinion points(ie someone wins an award,therefore he is better than someone else) I suggest he/she be ignored. I am willing to entertain an opposing view, no problem. But value judgement based on emotion or opinion are not acceptable when objectively viewing a media piece pitting two completely different idealogies head to head. If one idea is clearly better it will demonstrate that on its merits. And while certain awards or academic credentials mean something to some, others may be equally dismissive of those “attributes”. A mind which can think for itself is worth 100 times what a groupthinker is worth, without real world sucesses, Mr Krugmans “economics” are nothing more than academic theory….nothing more. George will has seen the Kennedy and Reagan philosophies bear fruit, Mr Krugman denies what his own eyes have seen. Until Mr Krugman’s theory bears fruit, he is not truly credible.
GodfatherofBlog
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 8:26amThis is a reply to ABC:
Report Post »Yea, Obama and Gore also have the Nobel Prize! What a crock. That prize has become so politicized that it is worthless and has no credibility. In addition, being from Harvard and teaching at Princeton is this countries biggest problem. Those who “Can’t Do-Teach”. Let those who graduate from these elitist schools teach and stay out of politics. It looks good on paper (RIGHT), however it does not work in the practical world~!!!
jocko
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 10:45amThe title itself is an oxymoron.
Today’s brand of liberalism which they openly dare to call progressivism is so counter the Constitution and American culture and government that they should all be tried on treason. We have to remember that progressivism, starting in the late 1800′s, was the basis of all socilist and communist movements. When the American communist party and the international socialist party shows up at the same rallies as the unions and the other democrat and liberal groups, it is pretty hard to ignore – unless you are part of the MSM which was over come by the communists in the 60s.
Report Post »chaberthy
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 2:43pmTo ABC – If you want a real Economist, please read Thomas Sowell. Krugman couldn’t hold water to this guy.
Report Post »HeftyJo
Posted on October 14, 2010 at 1:39amKrugman may very well be a brilliant economists when it comes to international trade and finance. However, I have a problem with his slide into punditry and expression of his far left leaning brand of liberalism. Which is odd that his economic work mostly focuses on economies of scale and expansion of diverse range of goods and services in a free market. But then oddly contrasts that by favoring overwhelming levels of government regulation and control. Let’s see, in a diverse free market when one company makes a crap product or service you can turn to another producer to see if their wares better serve your needs. However, if the government is the primary commander and controller of the means of production, then who do you turn to when they start to do a crappy job? I know Krugman’s answer is that this emphasizes the need for global governance and a world bank to bail out the countries that are, “too big to fail”. In other words, he should just stay out of politics and continue with his little economic models and experiments in the comforts of the academic lounge.
Report Post »Frank Versace
Posted on October 14, 2010 at 9:11amA liberal with a conscience? The ultimate oxymoron.
Report Post »comradekoolaid
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 11:17amKrugman obviously schooled the VP on his, “we have to spend our way out of debt” campaign; the problem intentionally overlooked by the drive-by media is that he has no empirical evidence to support his claim…
Report Post »GodfatherofBlog
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 8:19amThe problem with Socialism is eventually you run out of other peoples money~!!!
Report Post »fliptailhunter
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 11:14amI got mine and posted it on my facebook
Report Post »badswing
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 11:13amhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLD6VChcWCE. paul krugman needs to see this. btw, when was the last time krugman was correct on a matter?hmmmm
Report Post »BannedFromHuffington
Posted on October 12, 2010 at 8:23amThat’s a great video and even a fifth grader could easily understand it. I still don’t give Krugman that much credit.
Report Post »corp-mule
Posted on October 14, 2010 at 1:15amThat video is Awesome!
Report Post »http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLD6VChcWCE
corp-mule
Posted on October 14, 2010 at 2:24amHere’s a video with a similar point of view, regarding human nature. The speaker is Milton Friedman.
Report Post »http://www.youtube.com/user/corpmule?feature=mhum#p/f/0/RWsx1X8PV_A
Contrarianthinker
Posted on October 11, 2010 at 11:11amKrugman, I ould say that any DP runner who is a Progressive (Fascist, Communist take your pick) are strange and much more dangerous to liberty and our Constitutional Party. Would I lke a different Tea Party person running in DE? Certainly but no other Tea Party person stepped up to bat.
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