For his habit of offensively exploiting tragedy for political gain, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman was a big 'winner' in Media Research Center's 2011 Best of Notable Quotables [1], posted today. Krugman garnered 'honors' for 'Quote of the Year,' for his notorious post on the morning of September 11, 2011, the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks.
What happened after 9/11 - and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not - was deeply shameful. [The] atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neo-cons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons....The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it.
Krugman also won the 1st-place award in the 'Tea Party Terrorists' category for another offensive rant, posted on Krugman's blog at nytimes.com a mere two hours after news broke of the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords:
'We don't have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was. She's been the target of violence before....Her father says that 'the whole Tea Party' was her enemy. And yes, she was on Sarah Palin's infamous 'crosshairs' list. Just yesterday, Ezra Klein remarked that opposition to health reform was getting scary. Actually, it's been scary for quite a while, in a way that already reminded many of us of the climate that preceded the Oklahoma City bombing....Violent acts are what happen when you create a climate of hate. And it's long past time for the GOP's leaders to take a stand against the hate-mongers.'