Krugman: The party of ideas has become the party of Beavis and Butthead. (re:Jindal)

[antigop]

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/what-should-government-do-a-jindal-meditation/

Blog entry:

>>
What is the appropriate role of government?

Traditionally, the division between conservatives and liberals has been over the role and size of the welfare state: liberals think that the government should play a large role in sanding off the market economy’s rough edges, conservatives believe that time and chance happen to us all, and that’s that.

But both sides, I thought, agreed that the government should provide public goods — goods that are nonrival (they benefit everyone) and nonexcludable (there’s no way to restrict the benefits to people who pay.) The classic examples are things like lighthouses and national defense, but there are many others. For example, knowing when a volcano is likely to erupt can save many lives; but there’s no private incentive to spend money on monitoring, since even people who didn’t contribute to maintaining the monitoring system can still benefit from the warning. So that’s the sort of activity that should be undertaken by government.

So what did Bobby Jindal choose to ridicule in this response to Obama last night? Volcano monitoring, of course.

And leaving aside the chutzpah of casting the failure of his own party’s governance as proof that government can’t work, does he really think that the response to natural disasters like Katrina is best undertaken by uncoordinated private action? Hey, why bother having an army? Let’s just rely on self-defense by armed citizens.

The intellectual incoherence is stunning. Basically, the political philosophy of the GOP right now seems to consist of snickering at stuff that they think sounds funny. The party of ideas has become the party of Beavis and Butthead.
>>
HA! Good one, Paul.

[DainBramaged]

1. So is Krugman a racist for calling Jindal and Palin Beavis and Butthead?

so many ignored people, so little time

[jpgray]

2. Never has a username been more appropriate

:eyes:

Doubtless to you, calling Jindal Beavis is no different from calling him a "Slumdog Millionaire," or comparing him to outsourced calling center workers (both of which DUers, to my complete lack of surprise, have done).

[DainBramaged]

3. When you can justify Indian honor killings, get back to me about racism

And if you don't know the story behind my 'name' here, you may want to rethink your offensive and uncalled for insulting attack on me.

[jpgray]

4. When you can explain what Indian honor killings have to do with this, get back to me

:shrug:

[DainBramaged]

7. How's this

"Click"

X

your search for racism where it isn't has earned you a place on my ignore list. Maybe next time you won't be so quick to attack the name of a fellow DUer first.

[jpgray]

8. Moral absolutism and hands-over-ears arrogance aren't only in fashion on the other side, eh?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

17. indian honor killings are related to jindal, how? or to your racism

[PVnRT]

5. Wow. That made even less sense than usual.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

9. no. either you know that and are being disengenuous or your brain really is damaged

[DainBramaged]

10. So do we label krugman as a racist now??

Who's next??? This is out of fucking control. DU protecting Bobby Jindal, I never believed I'd see the day, but than again, I am seeing it.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

11. i said he is NOT a racist. du'ers are not protecting jindal. they are rejecting racism. nt

[DainBramaged]

13. Two brain tumors removed in 9 years, I'd say it's damaged

But not in the insulting way you inferred. Go to hell. I'll click you off my pm list too since you think you can personally insult people and not be questioned about it.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

16. you've been on my pm ignore for years. i would never pm you. nt

[Karenina]

12. Exhibit B.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[PVnRT]

6. Just earlier today on the DU, Krugman was a whiny asshole

My feeling is that this thread will sink like a rock.

[Canuckistanian]

15. An excellent respone from the comments

Louisiana doesn’t have volcanos, so it is clearly a waste of money. I assume that people who live in Washington State and Oregon may have a different opinion.

As someone who lives in Central New York, we don’t get hit by storm surges from hurricanes so I think that building levees around cities built below sea level is a waste of federal money and something that should be done using private money, presumably by the property owners that would be flooded.

I trust that Mr. Jindal is lobbying to have Louisiana levee construction money removed from the federal budget so that it can be done more effectively and efficiently by private property owners. I look forward to having that portion of my federal deficit reduced by this time next year. Thank you Mr. Jindal for pointing out these wastes of government spending.
— rd