Tedious and tendentious illogic (was RE: [IP] another great Krugman column)

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Paul Kedrosky <pkedrosky@ucsd.edu>
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 16:02:15 -0800
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Tedious and tendentious illogic (was RE: [IP] another great Krugman
column)

While this Krugman column is entertaining fodder for conspiracy theorists on
the left, its logic is tedious and tendentious. To be specific:

1) Clear Channel is the largest radio-related media company in the U.S.,
owning 9% of all radio stations (and much more than that in major markets).
Simple statistics tells us that if there is _any_ pattern to radio-sponsored
rallies, it will be that they are tied to Clear Channel. After all, it owns
the most stations -- no nefariousness required.

2) Can Krugman really be serious in musing aloud about why "a media company
[would] insert itself into politics"? C'mon, Paul. The media has inserted
itself into war-time politics throughout its history, from newspaper
editorial pages, through to Fox News. Pretending otherwise to make a suspect
point is partisan illogic.

3) The Hicks-Bush connection, while real, is about as sweaty as it sounds in
the Krugman column. You could make a similarly strenuous connection between
almost any wealthy Texas family and Hicks -- or any other wealthy Texan. The
state is big, but it's not that big. It proves nothing.

4) Finally, hinting broadly about this auguring the emergency of a new
American oligarchy is mischievousness bordering on malevolence. How is
discrediting the current administration in this tendentious way any
different than the sort of similarly dangerous exercises that Republicans
engaged in to undermine the Clinton Administration?

Krugman should stick to economics, rather than being an echo chamber for
ill-thought Salon articles promoting views from the lost left.

P.



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