Paul Krugman: wrong; off his rocker; and very, very right.

23 Jan, 2010 by TrogloPundit

Print this article Font size -16+

NY Times columnist Paul Krugman wants the House of Representatives to pass the Senate’s health care “reform” bill. They have to pass the Senate’s bill, because Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts has given Republicans a 41-59 majority in the Senate.

Feels that way, anyway. Doesn’t it?

Back to Krugman, who quite wrongly writes:

Tuesday’s Republican victory in the Massachusetts special election means that Democrats can’t send a modified health care bill back to the Senate.

Hogwash. Of course they can. They would have to buy a Republican vote one way or another to get past the filibuster; or they would have to use the reconciliation process, which has its own landmines. But they can do it, and it could be made to work.

They just don’t want to.

Now, back to Krugman again, who quite insanely writes:

The fact is that the Senate bill is a centrist document…

Centrist?

If that’s a centrist document, then what would a leftist document look like? Chavez-like forcible takeovers of hospitals and pharmacies? Simply ordering that all doctors and other health care workers are direct employees of the state as of now? Instituting mandatory birthrates to balance out America’s racial makeup?

Seriously, my imagination fails me. If the Senate bill is “centrist,” then what the hell is “leftist?”

But enough of that. Back to Krugman, who quite rightly writes:

…some Democrats want to just give up on the whole thing.

That would be an act of utter political folly. It wouldn’t protect Democrats from charges that they voted for “socialist” health care – remember, both houses of Congress have already passed reform. All it would do is solidify the public perception of Democrats as hapless and ineffectual.

Quite right. Democrats have already gone on record supporting socialist health care “reform.” The public already thinks Democrats are hapless and ineffectual. Republicans won’t stop working on those factors, no matter what Democrats do now.

I’ll still disagree with Krugman, though: giving up on health care “reform” — at least in its current form — isn’t political “folly.” Or, at least, not “utter” political folly. Democrats still have time to make the voters forget all about their Government-First philosophy before the November elections, no matter what happens with health care “reform.”

But they don’t have forever.

(More at The TrogloPundit)