Paul Krugman: The Big Fake

Paul Krugman has an op-ed in today’s New York Times entitled “The Big Hate” that sets a new standard for intellectual dishonesty. It is one of the most disgraceful pieces of writing I have ever seen. Krugman’s thesis is that the “right-wing media” is responsible for events like the recent murder of late-term abortion doctor George Tiller and this week’s shooting at the National Holocaust Museum. Far from proving that thesis, Krugman instead demonstrates that he is a propagandist of Orwellian proportions.

I have lots of problems with the op-ed, and I’ll deal with many of them in separate posts over the next few days, but here I want to start with Krugman’s most egregious fabrication: his attack on Glenn Beck. Let me start by quoting Krugman verbatim:

Exhibit A for the mainstreaming of right-wing extremism is Fox News’s new star, Glenn Beck. Here we have a network where, like it or not, millions of Americans get their news — and it gives daily airtime to a commentator who, among other things, warned viewers that the Federal Emergency Management Agency might be building concentration camps as part of the Obama administration’s “totalitarian” agenda (although he eventually conceded that nothing of the kind was happening).

Glenn Beck told his viewers that FEMA “might be building concentration camps as part of the Obama administration’s ‘totalitarian’ agenda”? As a long-time listener and fan of Beck, that’s news to me. My recollection is that Beck thought the FEMA conspiracy was crazy and asked Popular Mechanics, the same organization that did such a great job debunking the 9/11 Truthers, to debunk it.

Luckily, we don’t have to rely on my recollection. Here are the videos of Beck’s two-part report:

These videos prove the point conclusively, but they are only a small part of the public record. Listeners of Beck’s program, like me, know that Glenn talked about this issue for hours over the course of a number of weeks without ever giving credence to the allegations or claiming that they were in any way a bad reflection on the Obama administration. In fact, as is clear from the videos, the conspiracy theorists themselves claim the camps were built during the Bush administration.

I submit that no reasonable person who has viewed these videos could possibly believe that Krugman’s attack on Beck is accurate, honest, or justified. Beck’s handling of the FEMA story was not “right-wing extremism,” but rather tenacious, accurate factual reporting that ultimately reached the exact opposite conclusion from what Krugman claimed.

Notably, Krugman’s attack on Beck was neither in passing nor incidental to his argument. Rather, Krugman himself labeled it “Exhibit A” in support of his thesis. How sad. Krugman is serious academic and a Nobel prize winner. He must know better than this. Either his research was embarrassingly deficient, or he was knowingly distorting the facts to serve his political agenda. I won’t venture a guess as to which, but either one justifies his censure from the world of responsible political commentary.

When the New York Times goes out of business—and we all know that day is coming soon—let history record that it was propagandists like Krugman who brought down the once respectable Gray Lady.

UPDATE: More on Glenn Beck and the FEMA Conspiracy: Crooks and Liars Lives Up To Its Name