Joe Scarborough (and Niall Ferguson) versus Paul Krugman, again

[DonViejo]

Morning Joe dislikes the Times columnist so much he'll repeat "off the record" accusations against him

BY ALEX PAREENE

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough very, very much dislikes New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. Historian huckster Niall Ferguson also very, very much dislikes Paul Krugman. So today Scarborough invited Ferguson to appear on his show, “The Morning Joe Show,” to talk about how mean and the worst Paul Krugman is. It was … well, it was pretty predictable.

These two very serious and important public thinkers agreed: Paul Krugman is a mean, bad liar.

NIALL FERGUSON, HISTORIAN: Nobody seems to edit that blog in the New York Times and it’s high time that somebody call him out. People are afraid of him. I’m not.

JOE SCARBOROUGH, CO-HOST: I actually won’t tell you which public editor it was, but one of the public editors of the New York Times told me off the record after my debate that their biggest nightmare was his column every week.

There are a couple of really funny things about this little exchange. The first is Niall Ferguson throwing around “unedited” like an insult, when he’s on “Morning Joe” to discuss a series of blog posts he’s published at the Huffington Post. Ferguson is, for real, just blogging every day about how much he hates Paul Krugman, at HuffPo. The author of “Krugtron the Invincible, Part 3? is on TV saying he is not sure whether Paul Krugman’s New York Times blog is edited.

full article
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/10/joe_scarborough_and_niall_ferguson_versus_paul_krugman_again/

[Jim__]

1. Niall Ferguson can't even follow Krugman's economic arguments.

For incontrovertible proof of this, here is a video (I don't think it will embed) of a 2009 debate that includes Krugman and Ferguson. The video runs for about a hour and a half. Ferguson's opening statement (about 12:00 minutes in) and the prediction he makes about future interest rates is sufficient to show that he doesn't have a clue. Krugman's opening statement follows immediately after Ferguson's. Compare his analysis to Ferguson's bullshit. IIRC, as the debate continues, Ferguson's succeeding remarks show that he doesn't understand what Krugman - and others - are saying.

[Greybnk48]

2. I'll stand with Paul Krugman, thanks.

You know, the guy who is invariably spot on. I can imagine he rankles the hacks.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. This is because Krugman publicised a blog that shows Ferguson to be an incompetent idiot

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3820752 for details. Ferguson's reputation with the general public could be in free fall (experts already agree he's full of shit), so his sweet book contracts and speaking gigs are under threat. He has to keep up the impression of being intelligent.

[BootinUp]

4. Any article that shines a bright light on Joey and Fergdick deserves a rec.

[applegrove]

5. As someone pointed out today, Ferguson is an historian. Not an economist.

He shouldn't be criticizing an economist. But that is how the GOP roll. They get intellectuals to act 'off label' because a real economist obviously wouldn't do it.