Paul Krugman gets smacked!

The 2005 Jayson Awards. . . with your “Krugman-stalking” host, Don Luskin!

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the first-ever Jayson Awards! It’s a glittering gala of gotchas, as we recognize Paul Krugman’s most egregious (or just plain hilarious) lies, errors, distortions, misquotations, and embarrassments in six categories. Winners will all receive their choice of any one Krugman Truth Squad logoed product from our online store.

It was a real challenge to pick the winners — the best of Krugman’s worst — because America’s most dangerous liberal pundit has produced an unprecedented wealth of partisan sleaze. And after writing the Krugman Truth Squad column for more than two years, I really thought I’d seen it all. But thanks to the almost two hundred readers who submitted nominations, the 2005 Jaysons recognize a great selection of not only familiar classics, but also some brand-new never-before-seen Krugman howlers.

In case you haven't stumbled over Citizen Krugman's intellectual droppings in your travels, he's a professional fool who somehow keeps getting access to a word processing program.

Think Howard Dean with a style book.

Our second Jayson is for the category of Biggest Howler (Political). And the winner is … Jeffrey Gepner, who submitted Krugman’s Times column from election morning last November. Believing — along with the rest of the media — that John Kerry would win the presidency, Krugman rhapsodized,

I always get a little choked up when I go to the local school to cast my vote. The humbleness of the surroundings only emphasizes the majesty of the process: this is democracy, America’s great gift to the world, in action. … Those people still believe in American democracy; and because they do, so do I. … it’s already clear that the people of Florida — and, I believe, America as a whole — have refused to give in to cynicism and spin.
… Regular readers won’t be in any doubt about who I want to win, though New York Times rules prevent me from giving any explicit endorsement. (Hint: it’s the side that benefits from large turnout.)

Needless to say, Krugman’s not feeling quite so rhapsodic lately. In a Times column three weeks ago he had this to say about “America’s great gift to the world, in action”:

the national election was about who would best defend us from gay married terrorists.

That one's my favorite. I also found the following amusing.

The next Jayson is for the category of Funniest Inadvertent Confession. And the winner is … Paul Kane, who resurrected Krugman’s Times column of April 23, 2000, aptly titled “How to Be A Hack.” In a discussion of the economic “hired guns” who “roam in packs” in Washington, he describes how to identify one, writing,

he has learned that pretty good jobs in think tanks, or on the staffs of magazines with a distinct political agenda, are available for people who know enough economics to produce plausible-sounding arguments on behalf of the party line. Ask him whether he is a political hack and he will deny it; he probably does not admit it to himself. But somehow everything he says or writes serves the interests of his backers … there is another telltale clue: if a person … always sings the same tune, watch out.

And here’s some advice for the Krugman Truth Squad:

Hack jobs often involve surprisingly raw, transparent misrepresentations of fact: in these days of search engines and online databases you don’t need a staff of research assistants to catch ’em with their hands in the cookie jar.

In this case I gladly yield to the expert on the subject of hack writers, Paul Krugman.