Krugman on Perry: Ignorance, Paranoia, and Implied Violence

[ProSense]

Ignorance, Paranoia, and Implied Violence

Rick Perry:

Texas Governor Rick Perry, who entered the presidential campaign on Saturday, appeared to suggest a violent response would be warranted should Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke “print more money” between now and the election. Speaking just now in Iowa, Perry said, “If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I dunno what y’all would do to him in Iowa but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treasonous in my opinion.” Treason is a capital offense.

Actually, what Perry said is even worse than most writing on it has suggested. Yes, he’s showing ignorance of the basics of monetary policy; yes, he appears to have implicitly threatened violence against my former department head. (Incidentally, threats of that kind are a long-standing feature of modern GOP rhetoric; as early as 1993, Republican Senators would joke about what might happen to Bill Clinton if he visited their states, and the Broders of the world pretended not to notice).

But somehow everyone I’ve read seems to miss the bit about Bernanke playing politics — implying that anything he does would be in the interests of helping Obama get reelected.

That’s a hell of an accusation to make — especially when you bear in mind that Bernanke was a Bush appointee. But this is apparently how people like Perry think.

more

[AllyCat]

1. I listened to callers on a NPR show last night that kept using violent language

while lauding PArry's praises. "He ANNIHILATED Kay Bailey Hutchison" and the like. When the host of the show asked if PArry's personal conviction to his religion meant a problem for other believers, callers felt that they were "uncertain" how that would play out.

People need to be seriously concerned about this man...and all the media can do is talk about him like he's THE next thing. He's INSANE and needs to be exposed as such.

Thanks for the link.

[bigdarryl]

2. I though NPR was supposed to be liberal

[AllyCat]

6. Well, they have to present LOTS of Republican POV now if they want to retain

funding. And that means NO room for any of that left-wing nonsense (left wing being anything critical of the Cons)

[flamingdem]

3. Wall Street is currently pulling the plug on donations to Perry

They prefer Romney.

[ProSense]

4. Rick Perry campaign not disavowing implied threat to Bernanke

Greg Sargent: Rick Perry campaign not disavowing implied threat to Bernanke

I asked Rick Perry’s spokesman if the campaign is offering clarification of his widely discussed suggestion yesterday that Texas would offer some “real ugly” frontier justice to Fed chairman Ben Bernanke if he were to print money between now and election day.

The spokesman, Mark Miner, emailed me this:

The Governor was expressing his frustration with the current economic situation and the out of control spending that persists in Washington. Most Americans would agree that spending more money is not the answer to the economic issues facing the country.

The important thing here is that this is the Perry camp’s official considered response — and he is not disavowing the implied threat in his original remarks. Instead, the campaign’s position seems to be that this was a legitimate expression of “frustration” with runaway Washington spending — one that other Americans surely share.

This statement is similiar to another one given to the New York Times this morning, which described Perry as “passionate” about controling federal finances, but that statement was given to the paper in an interview, whereas this latest one from Miner looks like the campaign’s official elaborated response.

<...>

UPDATE: In a follow up question, I asked Perry spokesman Miner directly what Perry meant when he talked about Texas getting “ugly” with Bernanke. He replied:

“That the country is frustrated and the policies coming out of Washington appear to be making things worse.”

Yikes! Lunatic!

[Jakes Progress]

5. So now Krugman knows something about the economy?

Why is it that when he suggests that Democrats did something wrong, he's branded an idiot that doesn't know what he's talking about.

Krugman is right. Again.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. To Rick: Federal Reserve does not equal Congress!

:crazy: