Anger is as Anger Does

Great editorial by Paul Krugman today at the New York Times, although not one that is likely to win him any Republican friends. It's about the Republican convention and the tone of negativeness that characterized it.

Why are the Republicans so angry? One reason is that they have nothing positive to run on (during the first three days, Mr. Bush was mentioned far less often than John Kerry).

The promised economic boom hasn't materialized, Iraq is a bloody quagmire, and Osama bin Laden has gone from "dead or alive" to he-who-must-not-be-named.

Another reason, I'm sure, is a guilty conscience. At some level the people at that convention know that their designated hero is a man who never in his life took a risk or made a sacrifice for his country, and that they are impugning the patriotism of men who have.

That's why Band-Aids with Purple Hearts on them, mocking Mr. Kerry's war wounds and medals, have been such a hit with conventioneers, and why senior politicians are attracted to wild conspiracy theories about Mr. Soros.

It is an interesting theory; certainly the convention was all about attacking John Kerry and the War on Terror, with a smattering of Compassionate Conservative. We'll have to see if this is a message that motivates the American people.