In today's column, Paul Krugman discusses John Ellis "J.E.B." Bush's recent mind-numbing floundering on the question of "would I invade Iraq like brother Dumbya did" (see post below) in the context of Republican "fraternity of failure":
[Their] refusal to learn from experience, combined with a version of political correctness in which you’re only acceptable if you have been wrong about crucial issues, is pervasive in the modern Republican
Take my usual focus, economic policy. If you look at the list of economists who appear to have significant influence on Republican leaders, including the likely presidential candidates, you find that nearly all of them agreed, back during the “Bush boom,” that there was no housing bubble and the American economic future was bright; that nearly all of them predicted that the Federal Reserve’s efforts to fight the economic crisis that developed when that nonexistent bubble popped would lead to severe inflation; and that nearly all of them predicted that Obamacare, which went fully into effect in 2014, would be a huge job-killer.
Given how badly these predictions turned out — we had the biggest housing bust in history, inflation paranoia has been wrong for six years and counting, and 2014 delivered the best job growth since 1999 — you might think that there would be some room in the G.O.P. for economists who didn’t get everything wrong. But there isn’t. Having been completely wrong about the economy, like having been completely wrong about Iraq, seems to be a required credential.For all the efforts of the "mainstream media" to portray this Party of Crackpots as somehow normal, reasonable and capable of governing, the disastrous Republican track record ("reign of error") plus their clown car of presidential candidates bodes well for Hillary Clinton in the early stages of the 2016 race.
BONUS: "J.E.B." thinks his Apple watch will supplant Obamacare someday. First, he needs to get fitted for a hearing aid for his tin ear.
