Enabling the Crazy

Sorry. Light posting this week. Traveling again and spending time with family so limited internet time till late next week. But for your morning's reading pleasure, Dr. Krugman tells off The Very Serious Punditrati who are now throwing themselves onto the fainting couch out of shock at how insanely intractable the GOPers have become:

Here’s the point: those within the G.O.P. who had misgivings about the embrace of tax-cut fanaticism might have made a stronger stand if there had been any indication that such fanaticism came with a price, if outsiders had been willing to condemn those who took irresponsible positions.

But there has been no such price. Mr. Bush squandered the surplus of the late Clinton years, yet prominent pundits pretend that the two parties share equal blame for our debt problems. Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, proposed a supposed deficit-reduction plan that included huge tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, then received an award for fiscal responsibility.

So there has been no pressure on the G.O.P. to show any kind of responsibility, or even rationality — and sure enough, it has gone off the deep end. If you’re surprised, that means that you were part of the problem.

Indeed. Every single, "he said, she said" reporter and milquetoast pundit who refused to call out the crazy sooner, owns this debacle, even more so than the GOPers themselves. Not only did they not force the GOPers to pay a price for their mendacity; they rewarded them for it with unlimited and adoring attention. So of course, they kept doing it. Just like any three year old who learns he gets all the candy he wants every time he throws himself on the floor in a red-faced temper tantrum.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]