Ruminations of an Expatriate

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Tuesday, December 25th, 2007...1:17 pm

Paul Krugman Goes Rove

Paul Krugman, a well respected economist and a progressive voice from his privileged New York Times editorial page perch, has produced a Rovian type piece of work in his latest editorial, “Obama goes Harry and Louise”.

Krugman passes on a bit of unsubstantiated gossip, he received via email, relating to a purported Obama campaign ad. As Krugman put it:

A friend sends me this:
Have you seen or heard about the radio ad that Obama is running in Iowa about health care?

It has a man and a woman talking, with the man leading off saying that health care mandates “force those who cannot afford health care insurance to buy it, punishing those who don’t fall in line.”

Krugman does not include a link to the ad so that the skeptics amongst us, who don’t believe anything we read, can determine the truth of what he wrote.

To make matters worse, the usually reliable Kevin Drum, at his blog Political Animal riffs on Krugman’s unsubstantiated smear.

Those entering their thoughts into the public discourse have a responsibility to truth. I have searched the internet trying to find the purported ad; but, as of yet, I have found no evidence that what Krugman wrote is true.

Krugman, for those who aren’t following the campaigns, has a problem, seemingly obsessively so, with the fact that Obama’s health insurance reform plan does not include a mandate that everyone purchase health insurance, or obtain such through a variety of subsidization programs proposed by the various candidates. Krugman seems to also have a problem with Obama’s contention that a mandate won’t work.

Edward’s plan includes mandates which he proposes the IRS enforce, which seems to me to be a completely hair brained idea. Clinton’s plan, to her credit, includes a provision for a government managed option to profit driven health insurance.

Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate with the political courage to advocate for a completely non-profit, single payer system, which would be the least expensive means of providing everyone with insurance and the approach used in all developed countries, and even many developing countries.

I see, from searching the web for the purported ad, that the Krugman allegation is metastasizing across the web, like the Obama as Muslim meme. Owing, I suppose, to Krugman’s usual credibility.

UPDATE: During the last couple of days I have posted comments everywhere I found the Krugman riffing, where comments are permitted, and to Krugman’s original post, asking for some evidence. So far none has appeared. Nor have I found any in repeated web searches.

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