Jason Linkins

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Jason Linkins

The Huffington Post

Clinton Camp Expands Strategic Umbrella Of Stupidity In Their Global War On Economists

May 6, 2008 12:58 PM


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UPDATE: Sen. Mendenez has released the following clarification:

"I should have elaborated more in my on-air response -- the point I was making was that the everyday pains that average Americans are feeling aren't always taken into account by an economist sitting behind a desk looking at numbers. Of course economists are important to public policy, but I was trying to point out that they aren't the only voices that matter. Cold macroeconomic calculus can glaze over the realities of human suffering, so there needs to be a balance between crunching numbers and understanding the everyday experiences of Americans in order to make good public policy."

Apparently, the singular lesson that Senator Hillary Clinton has learned from her much touted "35 years of experience" is that having a lot of experience doesn't count for jack. That's the only possible takeaway from her bitter and clingy support for a "gas tax holiday" - an idea so lacking in merit that it has required her campaign to wage a full-scale jihad against anybody who knows anything about anything other than maybe the topic of "Shots of Crown Royal make my belly say YUMMM!"

Clinton's battle against People Who Had The Traitorous Gall To Learn Things And Later Apply That Knowledge To The Real World has expanded to campaign surrogates. On this morning's Morning Joe, New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez helped to advance the cause of creepy anti-intellectualism:

BRZEZINSKI: Just tell me one economist that supports this.


MENENDEZ: You know, thank God that we don't have economists making necessarily public policy, because they don't really feel the pains of average Americans.

[WATCH.]

Really? I seem to recall that a top-flight economist named Joe Stiglitz helped Bill Clinton's administration formulate public policy, and from what I'm told, he did just fine. Stiglitz, of course, opposes the gas tax holiday, making him a model of the sort of common sense and consistency one needs to not further exacerbate the "pains of average Americans" with bad economic policies.

And, truly, in the clearest sign yet that the "gas tax holiday" is a horrible mistake, it has received the endorsement of Bill Kristol.

[WATCH.]

KRISTOL: The gas tax is I think an interesting issue. You know, the entire liberal establishment is against Senator Clinton and Senator McCain and their proposal to have a summer holiday on the gas tax. Clinton has taken on the issue. I sort of admire her for this. She has not backed up at all. She has challenged elite liberal economists. She has an ad up now in North Carolina and Indiana asking why Obama doesn't want to give consumers a little bit of a break. I actually think that she has a pretty good argument on this, that the entire establishment disagrees. If she could win taking on the entire conventional liberal establishment on an issue like this, with a populist middle-class appeal, I think that would be interesting and would say something about where the Democratic primary electorate is as opposed to where the elite opinion pages of the newspapers are.

Naturally, Kristol's contention that the "liberal establishment" is against the "gas tax holiday" fails to account for the fact that economists on both sides of the aisle are against it. As in, all of them. And you hardly need to be "elite" to be against it - students that fail to grasp the elementary nature of supply and demand rarely matriculate from ECON 101 to the exciting sequel, ECON 102.

 

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Why does anyone give Kristol air time?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:53 PM on 05/07/2008

If there ever was a girlie man elite, it is Wm. Kristol.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:27 AM on 05/07/2008

"Strategic umbrella of stupidity." How appropriate. Brain scans all around for these people.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:57 PM on 05/06/2008

Don't forget New Jersey....

YOUR Senator backed a liar!!

what does that make him?

do you think he has a problem lying to you too?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:52 PM on 05/06/2008

This Kristol person has been wrong in almost every anaylsis he has ever made in his "career" as a neocon/faux journalist, including this Iraq war business. Why is his opinion even taken seriously? Whatever he says, is always opposite the truth.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:34 PM on 05/06/2008

"Whatever he says, is always opposite the truth."

Yes. That is why I always take him seriously, and do the opposite.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:51 AM on 05/07/2008

IF she gets the nomination.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:33 PM on 05/06/2008

Well, I suppose Hillary also:
manufactures and fixes her own car (and maintains it)
does her own dental work
does her own surgeries
designs and builds her own houses
manages her own money
draws up and executes her own contracts
would've handled her own divorce when Bill was....well, you know
etc etc etc

What a shame and a dissapointment she is.

Well, with all of that said, I'd vote for her over Angry Grandpa McCain any day.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:32 PM on 05/06/2008

The so-called senator from New Jersey should shut his yap and ride off into the sunset.

According to Menendez, "We don't have economists making necessarily public policy?"

Has he ever hear of an economist by the name of ALAN GREENSPAN? The same Greenspan who has recently written a book disclaiming any responsibility while chairman of the Federal Reserve (1987-2006) for the subprime mortgage mess?

No wonder Menendez is a Clinton supporter. He doesn't have a clue, just like the faux "blue collar mama."!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:42 PM on 05/06/2008

In effect, he is saying that those with the experience should not be called upon in the case of public policy. At the same time, the Clinton camp and others have been saying that Obama lacks the experience to be in a position of leadership. You can't have it both ways.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:39 PM on 05/06/2008

"Apparently, the singular lesson that Senator Hillary Clinton has learned from her much touted "35 years of experience" is that having a lot of experience doesn't count for jack..."

It all depends on what the experience IS. Hillary's experience, for instance, is middling when it comes to politicking and non-existant when it comes to government, economics, or executive decision making. It beats me why she ever fancied herself a wonk; she's never done any wonking.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:19 PM on 05/06/2008

NEW JERSEY....

don't forget the STUPID CRAP Menendez said today about "we don't need any EXPERTS to tell us...."

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:03 PM on 05/06/2008

Tongue firmly planted in cheek, Bill Kristol slyly promotes Hillary and her ludicrous "ideas" knowing full well that she is the dream candidate for McCain to run against. The Republicans are licking their chops at the (however remote) possibility of taking her apart.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:15 PM on 05/06/2008

I've just realised that the Hilary Clinton/Joe Lieberman tickets is the perfect GOP ticket come November.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:55 PM on 05/06/2008


It is frustrating and humiliating to repost my older work ad infinitum. No doubt, it annoys the regulars. I hope it doesn't. What I do hope is that from time to time, a Conservative visitor who appreciates nuance and the Constitution will stop by and click on them.

http://www.light-to-dark.com/preemption.html

I want my fellow Democrats -across the isle- to realize that many of the same ideologues shown in that image support Hillary. Will I need to up the volume?

It has been hard to be optimistic about the result around me, from time to time, feeling my Party hurt by real extremists. I see members of my own Party caught up in the wonder of the Clinton machine. I see them adopt and deploy techniques used only by the totalitarian right. I look at those unblinking eyes and I am not happy. So, I try again to communicate:

http://www.light-to-dark.com/soda_jerk.html

and

http://www.light-to-dark.com/Freedom_of_Choice.html

Hillary are them, DLC democrats. These people only speak Corporatese and Globalese and Obliteratese. They can make voters cross over for Hillary, effectively nullifying choice. They can control DLCers like cattle. So far, those ideologues haven't looked too democracy-friendly.

Are we ready to integrate yet?

Pretty please?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:45 PM on 05/06/2008

Obama is right.
Hillary DOES sound like George Bush.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:32 PM on 05/06/2008

I've noticed that more and more lately even before others started talking about it We all must have seen it at the same time. She also has some Cheney in her, secretive and won't answer questions. Has that f*ck you attitude.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:53 PM on 05/06/2008

So?!!!
HAHAHA

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:04 PM on 05/06/2008

This is really a kiss of death. I don't know which is worse, Bill Kristol or David Duke?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:12 PM on 05/06/2008

In their haste to sound working class, they end up sounding stupid, but quite hilarious!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:11 PM on 05/06/2008

Ah dun't knows what yer waggin yer tongue about. Me'n the wife was sittin' round doin' shots o' Crown Royal an' talkin' 'bout her Wellesley macroecomics perfesser, what taught her 'bout th' demonstrable inaccuracy o' th' Laffer Curve, 'n how raisin' taxes durin' mah own admin'strashun increased net federal revenue 'n enabled me t' balance th' budget. Ah sed, "neoliberal trade policy is an indispensable component of a modern economy, and ultimately increased both GNP and GDP substantially," an' Hill sed, "shucks, ah new thet!"

What sounds stoopid 'bout thet?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:42 PM on 05/06/2008

I can't cause I can't quit laughing!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:23 PM on 05/06/2008

Yes. It would be much better to have the uneducated and uninformed deciding public policy. ;)

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:09 PM on 05/06/2008

"Oh, Bill Kristol -- are you EVER right?" -- Jon Stewart

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:06 PM on 05/06/2008

You know, I was just down at my liberal elite taco stand where the overwhelming majority of elite lunch consumers agreed that Kristol is one of those liberal elite white guys who excrete from both ends.

And why that stuff winds up on this site continues to confuse me and my liberal elite relatives.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:04 PM on 05/06/2008

BINGO!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:06 PM on 05/06/2008

It is the same as radical clerics teaching school in Saudi Arabia. Pollution of thought. Greenspan and the corporations have polluted the field of economists. The same with lawyers. It has been a long time since any lawyer had the client first in mind. Greed has taken over, breaking trust and breaking the law are in the back seat. Crooked lawyers and crooked economists are the norm now, not the exception.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:03 PM on 05/06/2008

Actually, I can think of a lawyer who was serving on the boards of community based nonprofits on the South side of Chicago, while Hillary was serving on the board of WalMart.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:43 PM on 05/06/2008

Right on!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:32 AM on 05/07/2008

Wasn't it Hillary that proposed a panel of "expert economists" be assembled to come up with possible solutions to the sub-prime crisis...or did I just dream that last week?

The names Greenscam, Rubin and Volker ring a bell?

Duh.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:52 PM on 05/06/2008

Next thing she'll support "Intelligent Design," and be calling Jerry Falwell a Spiritual Adviser......

All of them there "Facts" get in the way of good politics.... I HATE it when that happens.

Just like Bush. Who needs science and experts when you can have a Gut Reaction? ....

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:52 PM on 05/06/2008

Actually, the guy she calls her "spiritual adviser" isn't very far removed from Falwell. He's the head of "The Fellowship" and is the one who converted Chuck Colson.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:44 PM on 05/06/2008

Wow, I REALLY hate this sense of arrogance coming from the Clinton camp.

"Hillary Clinton knows more about the economy than those elitists who are educated in and specialize in the economy! Who needs experts!?"

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:38 PM on 05/06/2008

Jason, love the title. You are always a good read.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:36 PM on 05/06/2008

Jason has a killer sense of humor, but I'll never be able to forgive him for many of the inane remarks he made about Dennis Kucinich; his snide "waving a miniature copy of the Constitution like Mao's little red book" being first and foremost among them.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:59 PM on 05/06/2008

Don't dis Mao's Little Red Book. It's mostly recycled, ancient wisdom stolen from Confucius and other classic Chinese wisdom texts. He co-opted some pretty good stuff, from what I've heard!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:45 PM on 05/06/2008
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