Joke of the week

Leave it to our boy Newtie to find a way to insert himself into the news, even in a 24/hour cycle which saw both the House and Senate pass, and Obama sign, the damned debt ceiling bill -- and which saw Rep. Gabrielle Giffords walk into the House chamber to cast her vote.

What whopper did Newtie have to tell to get some attention (on Fox TV, of course)?

He accused Obama of running "a Paul Krugman presidency."

IF ONLY.

Newt really ought to brush up on his reading. Krugman (NYT) has been continuously critical of Obama, ever since he pushed through a stimulus bill that was way too small, and then didn't even try to get a second one passed. And not 36 hours before Newt flapped his jaws on this big whopper, Krugman had taken Obama to task for not fighting for jobs and tax revenues -- and he called the result "a catastrophe."

A Krugman-like president, Newt, would never ever have picked his economic team from Wall Street, especially Larry Summers. He would have fought tooth and nail for a twice-as-big stimulus bill, and then a second one when that wasn't enough. He would not have let up on the demand that the debt ceiling bill include tax revenue increases; and would have never shut up from talking about jobs, jobs, jobs.

If Obama is a Krugman president, why have progressives turned against him?

Newt, if you want attention, why don't you just put on a clown suit? You're trying to sell yourself as the brainy alternative. You keep making these dumb mistakes -- such obvious ones at that -- and people are going to begin to think you really aren't all that bright. You can't just make up stuff and then present yourself as the intellect of the talking head crowd.

You think I'm wrong? Have you looked at your poll standings recently?

Ralph

PS: It worked though, didn't it? Newt tells a whopper to get attention, and here I am writing about it. Don't confuse that with attracting voters, however.