Krugman does it again: "Don't Prettify Our History"

[understandinglife]

August 22, 2005

Don't Prettify Our History

By PAUL KRUGMAN

The 2000 election is still an open sore on the body politic. That was clear from the outraged reaction to my mention last week of what would have happened with a full statewide manual recount of Florida. This reaction seems to confuse three questions.

<clip>

More broadly, the story of the 2000 election remains deeply disturbing - not just the fact that a man the voters tried to reject ended up as president, but the ugliness of the fight itself. There was an understandable urge to put the story behind us.

But we aren't doing the country a favor when we present recent history in a way that makes our system look better than it is. Sometimes the public needs to hear unpleasant truths, even if those truths make them feel worse about their country.

Not to be coy: election 2000 may be receding into the past, but the Iraq war isn't. As the truth about the origins of that war comes out, there may be a temptation, once again, to prettify the story. The American people deserve better.

Link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/22/opinion/22krugman.html?pagewanted=print

Senator Hagel didn't 'prettify' things today, either.

I hope Howard Dean is trying to recruit him to make up for some of the sludge that currently calls itself DLC.

In any event, this American citizen doesn't intend to prettify anything:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4418027

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4411738&mesg_id=4411738

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4394512

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4385436


Peace.

[Carolab]

1. Woo hoo!!! Keep it up Paul!!! n/t

[radio4progressives]

2. Chuck Hagel is NOT someone we want to give anymore power to ..

he already has too much as it is. not with his hands on the vote tabulators.

[understandinglife]

4. Not the point. He spoke the truth that oh so many have not.

Peace.

[WildEyedLiberal]

15. Oh yes, that is the point

Chuck Hagel is not a friend of liberal values, and he makes every DLC member look like Paul Wellstone when you compare voting records. Lets not pretend that because some conservatives don't agree with every aspect of Bush's war that they're "on our side." Pat Buchanan is against the war, but he's also a xenophobic Nazi-loving thug. Should magical Howard Dean recruit him too?

[understandinglife]

20. The point is not that he is on 'our side'; the point is he spoke the truth

A truth wholly unspoken by the majority of Dems in the Senate.

Thus, all I can say to Markos ... I wish you weren't waiting two more weeks to take down the DLC:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/8/22/41845/1251

No more excuses. We The People are going to take charge of our country.


Peace.

[WildEyedLiberal]

24. What about every other issue that affects us?

I'd take any DLC member over Chuck Hagel any day of the week - at least they're going to vote Democratic a majority of the time. Look up Hagel's record. He's not someone we want on our side. He's a proud conservative and stands for everything we're against. And maybe Kos should concentrate his energies on attacking Bush while he's down and milking the clusterfuck in Iraq for all it's worth instead of going off on some half-cocked tilting at windmills adventure against the DLC. Kos has always suffered from an inflated sense of importance and this is just the latest example.

[understandinglife]

29. I won't take any of them. I will hold all of them accountable. Hagel ..

... is an illustration of how ridiculous and disgusting the situation is -- a Republican doing to Bush what every single member of the DLC should have been doing to him, not a week ago, or a month ago, or a year ago, but in 2002 -- an opinion stated rather clearly by Senator Feingold, on Sunday (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4425185#4430220)

You can attack me and Markos and anyone else you want but the fact is the DLC has screwed America big-time during these past five years and nothing will change that fact.

The real Democratic leadership comes from Congressman Conyers and Lee and McDermott and Kucinch and Dean and Slaughter and ... AND NOT FROM THE DLC.

I despise the fraudulently "elected" Hagel. Got that.

What made me sick was that he stated stuff that should have been the incessant mantra of Clinton, Kerry, Biden, Reid, Feinstein, Lieberman .... since, at the latest, May of 2003, when it was obvious no WMD existed, Bush had lied, and our troops were being slaughtered for no legitmate purpose.

And, now, what do we have == IRAN WEST instead of Iraq; a treacherous theocracy that hates each and everyone of us, big time.


Peace.

[Spazito]

3. Excellent article by Mr. Krugman, yet again

Thanks for posting the link.

[babylonsister]

5. Nom 'cause I LOVE Krugman also.

The NYT has some kick-ass writers and have been outstanding lately. Woo-hoo!

[blurp]

6. I'm tired of our adversarial system. No more simple majority rules.

Suckering 51% and pissing off the other 49% is not a formula for success.

I like approval voting, where there is a reward for appealing to more than 51% of the people.

I think our present system necessarily leads to conflict instead of unity.

[understandinglife]

7. I think what you've stated deserves serious discussion.

And, to begin, we need a verifiable system that ensures that we actually know the validity of whatever % difference happens to be on any issue.

Without that, we have only what we have now -- an acceleration to chaos.


Peace.

[Dynasty_At_Passes]

14. Paper Ballots, Hand Counts, Impeachments, Trials...

ALL now, immediately and with full resiliance!!!!!

Put up only Paul Hackett style candidates, enough with the play along get along bullshitters!

[wli]

9. don't forget proportional representation!

That's a very, very large factor, and even brings in third parties where they are now locked out.

[Bill McBlueState]

18. well said

That's the best ~50 words I've read on DU in some time.

"Suckering 51% and pissing off the other 49% is not a formula for success."

Perfectly sums up the Republican machine since 1980. I mean, it's a formula for success in terms of getting their people elected, but look what they've done to the country.

[wli]

8. you hit the DLC nail on the head

Exposure is probably the best tactic to dealing with them, even beyond expulsion from the party. With exposure, they can be arranged to lose the primaries and so on.

[understandinglife]

10. Exactly, With Sheehan, Hackett, Edmonds, Breitweiser, ... let's bring ...

... real leaders forward as our representatives in the Senate and House. It's the least the brave Congressman Conyers and Congresswomen like Slaughter and Lee and ... deserve. And, let's support Feingold and Boxer as fully as possible.


Peace.

[wli]

11. Conyers, McKinney, et al are my heroes

They are literally risking their lives and those of their families to carry out their duties as Congressional Representatives. c.f. anthrax, Wellstone, et al.

There is nothing I can do that would be sufficient to properly express my appreciation for Conyers and McKinney.

[Melodybe]

12. kicked and recommended!

[Nothing Without Hope]

13. Thanks, UL! Krugman is a treasure - may his voice find lots and lots

MORE voices chiming in with an avalanche of truth that sweeps the criminals away.

Recommended.

[understandinglife]

17. "...with an avalanche of truth that sweeps the criminals away."

Exactly .... only truth, all the time - the new 'American way.'

They will truly be swept away.


Peace.

[ngGale]

16. Paul is on a roll .... n/t

[Supersedeas]

19. when it comes to American Journalism, it's hard to do better than Krugman

[Glenda]

21. Good article...

and nice to have him bring up the 2000 election again. It really did set a bad precedent/president!

[Eloriel]

22. STOP LIONIZING HAGEL

So he can tell the truth, esp. when it suits him to look different from Bush when he wants to run for president in 2008. He's always been a bit of a thorn in Bush's side.

BUT HE's NO SAINT. Please stop trying to make him someone that Democrats should cozy up to. His own elections to Senate are highly questionable, and he announced his first run for senate just one month after resigning as CEO of ES&S, one of the very, VERY bad voting machine companies. To my knowledge, he still has ownership ties.

And yes, his first election was appallingly lopsided in his favor. The second only slightly less so, but still questionable.

Get a grip, people!

ES&S also has abysmal ties to the far whacko rightwing Dominionists -- you know, those nice people who want to stone your disobedient juvenile to death, along with the alduterers among us. And the homosexuals, too, of course.

GET A GRIP.

[understandinglife]

23. I'm not 'lionizing' Hagel -- I'm pointing to the cruel, horrible irony ...

...that he spoke what so few others dare. I can't stand the guy and am fully aware of his "election" status.

The fact that every single Democratic member of the Senate and House of Representatives have not condemned Bush for his illegal war and demanded his immediate resignation for all the crimes his administration has committed is the real problem and it only got hightlighted, in the most disgustingly ironic manner, by Hagel's truthful statements.

I'm pointing to the cruel, horrible irony that Cindy Sheehan can take all the crap the right wing neoconster crime machine can dish and she responds with:

"I think that the strategy of eternal baseless war for corporate profit and greed is bad for all of our children: born and unborn."

And with:

What we as Moms need to stop doing is giving our children to the military industrial war complex to be used as human cluster bombs: to kill innocent civilians and to perhaps die enriching and feeding the gluttonous war machine.

Why are we not hearing those words from Biden, Clinton, Kerry, Feinstein, Lieberman, ............... WHY?

I've got all the grip I need.

Thank you for your comments; and the opportunity to clarify my position.

Peace.

[wakemewhenitsover]

25. Krugman, Herbert, and crossword puzzle are only reasons left to read NYT.

[glitch]

26. And Rich. nt

[wakemewhenitsover]

32. Oops, how could I forget the Richinator.

[bleever]

27. Krugman nails it. 2000 was a deep wound to the body politic, and

letting it heal over without cleaning it out suggests very serious consequences for the health of the organism. One bad infection can fell even the greatest of beasts, if left untreated.

Plus, I'm still pissed off.

[understandinglife]

28. "Plus, I'm still pissed off." And, so am I!

I've decided to take a different approach at DU. Several have asked me to assemble various past posts into some sort of document and I've rejected the idea because I'm not interested in advancing myself or producing anything under copyright (which would be the minimum any publisher would expect).

So, I've started a thread and I will expand it with various links and comments. I am going to limit the threads I start to one at a time, and expand it until it reaches a point where its size would be difficult for those on dial up. I'll then start another thread, reference the previous thread with some detailed annotations, and expand.

Maybe this will be helpful.

In any event, "I believe"!

Here's the first such thread with a title derived from a spectacular quote of Cindy Sheehan's:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4425185


Peace, my friend.

[nadinbrzezinski]

30. So the Elephant in the room is starting to be spoken about

2000 was stolen, and now we are starting to speak of it... given all the other revelations I fear (Not really) that pitchforks and torches are coming out SOON

[understandinglife]

31. I want those mega-war criminals before an international tribunal, ASAP.

And, I think I'm going to be but a speck in a very, very large crowd demanding same, SOON.


Peace.