Paul Krugman: Brazen lies are now “the driving force behind GOP politics”

[applegrove]

Paul Krugman: Brazen lies are now “the driving force behind GOP politics”

by Scott Eric Kaufman at Salon

http://www.salon.com/2015/10/30/paul_krugman_brazen_lies_are_now_the_driving_force_behind_gop_politics/

"SNIP..............


“Right-wing warnings of imminent hyperinflation, coupled with demands that we return to the gold standard,” are a staple of conservative media, and such statements go unchallenged by Republican hopefuls eager to court the conservative base.

Because, as Krugman wrote,


At a higher level still are operations that are in principle engaging in political activity, but mainly seem to be generating income for their organizers. Last week The Times published an investigative report on some political action committees raising money in the name of anti-establishment conservative causes. The report found that the bulk of the money these PACs raise ends up going to cover administrative costs and consultants’ fees, very little to their ostensible purpose. For example, only 14 percent of what the Tea Party Leadership Fund spends is “candidate focused.”

You might think that such revelations would be politically devastating. But the targets of such schemes know, just know, that the liberal mainstream media can’t be trusted, that when it reports negative stories about conservative heroes it’s just out to suppress people who are telling the real truth. It’s a closed information loop, and can’t be broken…







...............SNIP"

[Electric Monk]

1. Get thee to the Greatest page, posthaste (k&r)

(found [link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027307972|here])

[Fumesucker]

2. I guess the Krugster doesn't remember "I'm a compassionate conservative"?

[Hydra]

3. Ya, like this is a new thing

The RW doesn't have ANY ideas that work. That requires you to lie to sell those ideas. The Third Way in our party has the same problem.

[moondust]

4. Fox Effect

"Make shit up and keep repeating it until you and your audience believe it."

Goebbels is down there giggling.

[Yallow]

6. You Got It

And have all parts of the apparatus repeat the lies in sync.

Radio, TV, Internet etc.

Easier for the lemmings to digest that way.

Why think when Fox tells you what is real.

[raouldukelives]

21. Yep with millions of corporate investors paving the path.

All working together, hand in hand, to only allow us information that supports the viability of their investments and the talking points generated from the think tanks they help finance.

Luckily for them, there seems to be no shortage of people willing to bear false witness to us with the brightest smiles modern dentistry can achieve. Behind every syllable they utter is a satisfied shareholder.

[hifiguy]

15. The full Goebbels quote is even more chilling

and apropos to modern 'murka:



Goebbels was founding father/inspiration for Ailes, Faux, and the modern Repig party.

TRUTH IS THE ENEMY.

[StevieM]

5. Let's not forget the Ebola scare.

Whip up hysteria, win the election, never mention it again.

[Cha]

7. Yeah! Have been forever!

[malaise]

8. Truth will out

Rec

[Cosmocat]

9. End of the day, what people WANT to believe

trumps all reason, reality and facts ...

[Turbineguy]

10. Taking advantage of

the seemingly unlimited gullibility of the conservative base. Give them a good fairy tale and they'll march right over the cliff.

[niyad]

11. "NOW"??? when, in the last 30 or 40 years, has that NOT been the case?

[gregcrawford]

12. BINGO!

I think the last Republican to ever utter a syllable of truth was Theodore Roosevelt. Oh, wait... Ike gave us a heads-up about the MIC. We didn't listen to him, either.

[hifiguy]

13. Lying, thieving rat bastards proven to be

lying, thieving rat bastards.

Welcome to the Twilight World of Total Paranoia.

[XenaAmazon]

14. Welcome to the Matrix...

You might think that such revelations would be politically devastating. But the targets of such schemes know, just know, that the liberal mainstream media can’t be trusted, that when it reports negative stories about conservative heroes it’s just out to suppress people who are telling the real truth. It’s a closed information loop, and can’t be broken…

There was a time, not all that long ago, when most Americans worked from the same page. We all turned on the 6PM or 11 PM news. Many of us watched World News tonight. We had a common frame of reference.

We grumbled about the corruption of politicians. Yet, we understood that unrestrained power breeds corruption. When politicians broke the law, they were usually brought down. The ideological divide of today didn't exist.

The UK had their go-round with socialized religion and learned centuries ago that government sponsored theology is incompatible with a free society. The founders of this country did everything they could to prevent the seeds of theocracy from germinating here.

Perhaps they did us a disservice. It may have been better for us to learn the dangers of government-sanctioned-religion along with our cousins across the pond. We might not be facing the threat of religious extremism in our own government now. We would have known better than to open the halls of power to demagogues.

Religion was brilliantly co-opted to bring about the current cultural schism that's preventing us from finding common ground. We now eye each other with suspicion. "Other" refers to enemy, whether that means religious, ethnic, or gender-based minorities. In some cases, we are willing to kill those who are different.

The current economic policies guarantee a permanent underclass. When all else fails, scapegoat the poor, which satisfies ideological as well as economic requirements. We feel superior when someone else suffers.

"Journalists" once had an ethical commitment to keeping the public informed and in touch. No more. In today's world, the race to be first supercedes the need to be accurate. Reactionaries rule the day.

When Reagan eliminated the Fairness Doctrine along with regulations proscribing media monopolies, he ended the public's right to access a diversity of voices. A castrated FCC meant the watchdog tracking corporate excess was neutralized. This didn't happen behind closed doors, either.
None of us lifted a finger to stop it.
The march of progress is the march toward the demise of our freedoms.

The bedrock of a democratic society is a free press. We no longer have that. News has become "info-tainment". It's no longer about keeping the public informed - it's about keeping us uninformed, dumbed-down and at each other's throats.

Anyone who observes right wing media with a critical lens is correct to be appalled by the brazen use of propaganda: lies, obfuscation, and deception to achieve ideological ends. In the 1990's, a brief flap arose over the use of commercials dressed up as public service announcements. But the public was already so heavily narcotized that purposeful deception no longer evoked outrage.

No modern culture can function like this. As the income gap widens, and people plod along in their ideological stupor, the federal government becomes increasingly wobbly, dysfunctional and impotent.

It won't take much to bring it all down around us. Eventually our civilization will collapse on itself, if we don't preemptively poison one another with the chemicals we're dumping into the atmosphere and introducing into the food chain.

Of course, we are well on the way of exterminating ourselves with climate change. With tax money being wasted on pointless, endless military ventures around the globe, we lack the resources necessary to maintain or repair our critical infrastructure. We no longer provide the basics to our elderly and disabled. We stand by as weaker members are cannibalized by the 1%, who, in their greed, object to mere crumbs being tossed to the poor.
Are we asleep under the influence of carbon monoxide? No! Cowardice (or passivity) explains the obtundation of our consciences. If someone does not muster the sage wisdom and the chutzpah, to act soon, our liberties as well as our planet will be lost. And we have only ourselves to blame.

[CTyankee]

16. I have to think that Krugman is just in despair at this point...

he's beyond angry and feels somewhat helpless, altho his NYT column is a lifeline to us Krugman lovers (me ).

[applegrove]

17. He is getting through to people. What a treasure he is. The voice of humanity

and reason.

[IHateTheGOP]

18. The current right wing is the biggest threat this country has ever faced.

[smirkymonkey]

19. +1000

[patsimp]

20. He's got that right.

[Joe Chi Minh]

22. I believe it's the only way the right wing could go, since more covert dishonesty

is indispensable to them. Even Churchill called the Tories in the UK - of which he had been a member and was to be once again, after WWII - an 'organised hypocrisy'. Their desperation, now that their normal duplicity is proving useless, must be driving them to tell ever bigger 'porkies'.