Krauthammer at it again

Charles Krauthammer's hypocrisy always amazes, even if it doesn't surprise. It's nice to see that the worst conservative intellect this side of David Brooks hasn't lost anything.

His latest WP column was just reprinted by the local paper, which likes to lean rightward on Sundays. There have been weeks where there are only right-wing pieces in the Sunday Forum section. I guess he's a reliable mouthpiece for conservative thought.

Besides Krauthammer's usual specious criticisms of the Obama administration, there are three things that struck me about the column:

1. Krauthammer scoffs at revenue raised by a hypothetical tax increase as a "rounding error," because it would have dropped last fiscal year's deficit from $1.29 trillion to "only" $1.21 trillion. That's /$80 billion/. Eighty billion dollars is a rounding error? When a few million to fund public broadcasting and Planned Parenthood are unaffordable luxuries? When funding FEMA to the tune of $1 billion for disaster relief is worth a government shutdown?

I guess $80 billion is not worth getting only when it comes from the wealthy.

2. The Tea Party "program" of lower taxes, less (social) spending, and less deregulation is what caused the economic crisis, and the calls for reduced federal spending has helped prolong it. How is this something worth defending as having intellectual value? It's like Paul Ryan's economic plan.

3. How is it fair to grumble that the Occupy Wall Street protestors shouldn't complain if they don't offer a solution to the problems? It was, after all, good enough for the Republicans, with no Krauthammer objections.