Paul Krugman's Pre-Election Paranoia
Paul Krugman, perhaps chastened by his preliminary optimism last time around, hedges his bets on tomorrow's election in his Monday column, "Limiting the Damage" (Times Select required), and the result is more bitter than triumphant.
"At this point, nobody should have any illusions about Mr. Bush's character. To put it bluntly, he's an insecure bully who believes that owning up to a mistake, any mistake, would undermine his manhood - and who therefore lives in a dream world in which all of his policies are succeeding and all of his officials are doing a heckuva job. Just last week he declared himself 'pleased with the progress we're making' in Iraq."
But Krugman is still scared, and engages in paranoia worthy of the left-wing bloggers at the Daily Kos: "That said, it's still possible that the Republicans will hold on to both houses of Congress. The feeding frenzy over John Kerry's botched joke showed that many people in the news media are still willing to be played like a fiddle. And if you think the timing of the Saddam verdict was coincidental, I've got a terrorist plot against the Brooklyn Bridge to sell you."
