The New Voodoo

(LP note: Krugman's article below begins with the "h" word, which I predict we'll be seeing more and more of in 2011. He emphatically pins the tail on the elephant, not the donkey, but let's keep in mind there are plenty of donkeys who think nothing of belonging to the "h" club. If there weren't we wouldn't have a donkey party president so easily caving to elephant party demands....)

By PAUL KRUGMAN
NYT

Hypocrisy never goes out of style, but, even so, 2010 was something special. For it was the year of budget doubletalk — the year of arsonists posing as firemen, of people railing against deficits while doing everything they could to make those deficits bigger.

And I don’t just mean politicians. Did you notice the U-turn many political commentators and other Serious People made when the Obama-McConnell tax-cut deal was announced? One day deficits were the great evil and we needed fiscal austerity now now now, never mind the state of the economy. The next day $800 billion in debt-financed tax cuts, with the prospect of more to come, was the greatest thing since sliced bread, a triumph of bipartisanship.

Still, it was the politicians — and, yes, that mainly meant Republicans — who took the lead on the hypocrisy front.

In the first half of 2010, impassioned speeches denouncing federal red ink were the G.O.P. norm. And concerns about the deficit were the stated reason for Republican opposition to extension of unemployment benefits, or for that matter any proposal to help Americans cope with economic hardship.

(More here.)