Yet More Krugman, Special Bullshit Edition
So part of the discomfort I feel watching Krugman become a "team player" is that he's steadily buying into the mass bullshit of the left. So for instance, here he criticizes Obama for criticizing trial lawyers.
Now, it's true that trial lawyers are unduly maligned at times, but this (approvingly linked from the link Krugman uses, and the basis of Krugman's point) is just ludicrous:
"Is Barack Obama broadening his criticism of John Edwards to suggest that his lucrative trial lawyer past indicates less of a commitment to public service than Obama has?"
The point here is to take a conservative caricature of liberals (liberals sure do love those trial lawyers!) and then embrace it wholeheartedly. Fuck yes, a career as a trial lawyer indicates less of a commitment to public service than Obama's biography does. That's because it's not fucking public service. Now, it's fair to argue that trial lawyers play an important role in our system, they help internalize externalities, they protect people who would otherwise get screwed over, etc. But plenty of people help other people - that's not what's meant by public service. Jimmy Kilts did a fantastic job as CEO of Gillette, but it wasn't public service. Transplant surgeons save lives, but it's not public service. It's not public service because these people are well-compensated for their work. John Edwards has a house that cost something like $20 million. If public service paid this well, we would have no private sector left.
The response from TPMcafe? A video showing the mother of a tort victim who won her case thanks to John Edwards (I presume, I'm not going to watch the damn thing). What a noble career choice it was to represent someone like that, and for only 30% of her eventual recovery against the tortfeasor! Public service!
Remember what's going on here. Trial lawyers donate overwhelmingly to the Democratic Party. Conservatives use this to attack the Democrats. Good team players recognize that trial lawyers are a key part of the coalition (got to get that campaign money somewhere) and defend them. Obama upsets this awesome strategy by pointing out that trial lawyers are not public servants. Progressives lash out with sarcasm (haha Obama - do you really mean to suggest that trial lawyers aren't public servants?).
It's at the point that bullshit like this becomes the party line, and Krugman starts repeating it, that I get off the train.
Now, it's true that trial lawyers are unduly maligned at times, but this (approvingly linked from the link Krugman uses, and the basis of Krugman's point) is just ludicrous:
"Is Barack Obama broadening his criticism of John Edwards to suggest that his lucrative trial lawyer past indicates less of a commitment to public service than Obama has?"
The point here is to take a conservative caricature of liberals (liberals sure do love those trial lawyers!) and then embrace it wholeheartedly. Fuck yes, a career as a trial lawyer indicates less of a commitment to public service than Obama's biography does. That's because it's not fucking public service. Now, it's fair to argue that trial lawyers play an important role in our system, they help internalize externalities, they protect people who would otherwise get screwed over, etc. But plenty of people help other people - that's not what's meant by public service. Jimmy Kilts did a fantastic job as CEO of Gillette, but it wasn't public service. Transplant surgeons save lives, but it's not public service. It's not public service because these people are well-compensated for their work. John Edwards has a house that cost something like $20 million. If public service paid this well, we would have no private sector left.
The response from TPMcafe? A video showing the mother of a tort victim who won her case thanks to John Edwards (I presume, I'm not going to watch the damn thing). What a noble career choice it was to represent someone like that, and for only 30% of her eventual recovery against the tortfeasor! Public service!
Remember what's going on here. Trial lawyers donate overwhelmingly to the Democratic Party. Conservatives use this to attack the Democrats. Good team players recognize that trial lawyers are a key part of the coalition (got to get that campaign money somewhere) and defend them. Obama upsets this awesome strategy by pointing out that trial lawyers are not public servants. Progressives lash out with sarcasm (haha Obama - do you really mean to suggest that trial lawyers aren't public servants?).
It's at the point that bullshit like this becomes the party line, and Krugman starts repeating it, that I get off the train.
posted by James | 4:19 PM
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