The Con Man Cometh

Another great Krugman article. I swear I looked at Townhall before coming here. But they had nothing interesting.

I do think it's interesting that Mr. Krugman takes Senator Lieberman to task, and in this case, it seems Mr. Lieberman deserves it. I'm not a Lieberman hater, although I think he's made a lot of wrong moves over the years. That said, Krugman convinces me that this was a particularly bad screw up.

My guess is that Mr. Lieberman thought he was being centrist and bipartisan, reaching out to Republicans by showing that he shares their concerns. At a time when the Democrats can say, without exaggeration, that their opponents are making a dishonest case for policies that will increase the risks facing families, Mr. Lieberman gave the administration cover by endorsing its fake numbers.

The push to privatize Social Security will probably fail all the same - but such attempts at accommodation may limit the Democrats' political gain.

There it is. If we admit the problem is as the Republicans pretend it is, than our unwillingness to accept their solution to the problem makes us look like obstructionist nincompoops. Instead we need to be very clear about how the Republican Party are pushing phony numbers and, more importantly, be clear about how their "solution" isn't a solution at all.