You haven't convinced me that Biden is not in line with cutting Social Security and Medicare. He's not a truthful person, and I don't trust him on this.
612
@Steve G -- If so, if Biden would have cut Social Security, then Bernie's staff did not lie. They were right.
If they picked the wrong detail of a speech to show the real truth, then the real truth is he'd cut Social Security. It is not a lie, it is a minor mistake while telling the important truth.
57
@Susan Davis You have not convinced me that Sanders is any better. He is not a truthful person, and I don't trust him on this.
83
@Steve G
There is no serious discussion among any Democratic candidate to cut Social Security. Nor has there ever been. Really, this fanatical purity sounds like the language of purge times.
57
Wow! Another old white guy at the Times smearing Sanders and promoting Biden. Shame on you Krugman.
I'm actually a Warren supporter, personally, but these breathless attacks by the Times on Sanders and other progressive voices needs to be called out.
34
Sanders never tamed his rabid cult in 2015-2016 and he's not done so in this blatant case of smearing his longtime colleague, Joe Biden. Sanders must control his hysterical followers. Yet he continues to refuse to do so.
You have to ask why.
Is it because in sowing rancor he accomplishes two goals: to tear down the Democratic Party establishment and to do the bidding of a foreign master?
20
No reason to reprimand Bernie Sanders with such politesse, as if stepping around eggs. He’s an old-school socialist, who avoids criticizing destructive leftist regimes like Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Cuba. He’s a vocal defender of Brazil’s ex-president, Lula, whose socialist party coordinated campaign-finance graft and congressional vote buying on a national record-breaking scale, and who was convicted of bribery and in jail. Lying about Biden is probably just the tip of the iceberg if Sanders gets elected. He’d be about as good for our country as Chavez was for Venezuela.
17
Lost on this one, Mr Krugman. Your contempt for Bernie is causing convoluted reasoning on your part.
27
Bernie is a true believer idealist politician whose positions on key issues don't change significantly over 30 years.
Biden is the voice of the people politician-expressing the median position of the people he represents, evolving with his voters.
Warren is the technocrat politician -the queen of detailed and budgeted plans supported by data.
Buttigieg is the outside the beltway, brilliant but untried politician.
Bloomberg is a pragmatist businessman- not a politician but a disrupter. He puts on his politician suit in desperate times when he can no longer watch bad things happen to places he loves if he sees a way to change it.(People may not like how he gets his results but usually like the result. Disrupter cred "Bloomberg Terminals" -he really was an original tech disrupter circa the 1970's.)
If the article topic is what dems focus on, and that's every talking head not just Mr Krugman, Bloomberg the businessman disrupter candidate will win just like Trump did.
5
Wow! Krugman and the establishment will go to extreme lengths to attack Bernie. Read the speech Biden gave. He talks about making changes in Social Security that, based on numerous statements he's made over decades, means cutting benefits. Krugman and his cronies make this kind of dishonest attack on Bernie, and then are prepared to be surprised if some Bernie supporters feel the process was rigged. Haven't we seen this movie before?
33
Sanders, like AOC, are the Trumps of the left.
13
@Dan No, they're not. They stand up to bullies, and are honest people.
More power to them both.
29
Paul, you might need to read what you just wrote... you have been lying about and smearing the GOP for decades now... but hey they are the other team ... right...right?
7
“Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal”, NYTimes, April 24, 2015. And you blame Bernie?
16
NYT doing your best to elect Trump... again.
18
The Sanders phenomenon is just ridiculous and always has been. It’s a cult of personality like Trump. Pathetic and lazy.
17
2016: NYT determined to steamroll over Sanders. Trump wins election.
2020: NYT again attempting to steamroll over Sanders.
17
I'm not a febrile Bernie fan, but today in the Times, there seems to be a groundswell, perhaps a 'vast half-baked conspiracy' against him.
The Times doesn't like him as much as Amy Klobuchar. Really? A woman who bullies her staff and eats with her comb? Who's more than a little rude, a bit crude, with no real idea why she wants to be president?
And now Krugman wants to tear a strip off Bernie.
There's yet another piece with Hillary, of all people, attacking Bernie, saying he never did anything and nobody likes him which has to be just the pot calling the kettle names.
What's up? Russkies in your news feed?
25
Ah, the NYT's smear campaign against Sanders begins in earnest once again just as it did four years ago.
24
the NYTs sure is on a anti-bernie kick today. the second vitriolic “bernie is bad” article on the first digital page. is NYT “fair and balanced” to use a fox news’ism when it comes to bernie coverage ?
24
Anything with a pulse is better than Trump, so why is the Times so intent on smearing Bernie? The editors have already pronounced that two leading women are their favorites, with Solomon, I suppose, expected to separate them when they both win with equal vote tallies! Every editorial spasm of angst aside, you are all missing the horrific point: America is already on its way to fulfilling its manifest destiny of Fascism, begun with the importation of slaves and the extermination of native Americans. The syphilitic monster has always been in league with the McCarthys, Nixons and now the horrendously odious Trump as Carbuncle in Chief. The ultimate manifestation of America's predestined downfall, created by a racist, Jew-hating, homophobic populace is upon us. Trump's reelection will be the final blow. So would you kindly warn your readers that ANY Democrat elected president is a requirement to save this flailing moral cesspool of a country? Stop the posturing against Bernie. It won't help Amy OR Elizabeth.
10
The accompanying photo of Bernie Sanders reeks of the NYTIMES bias against him. The establishment, their banker friends are terrified of his young supporters and poll numbers. How can I trust this paper ? They printed lies about every war or “engagement” we’ve been in - pulled back articles on the request of Presidents. Shame -
18
And the Democrat's circular firing squad continues as the Trump/Putin camp quietly chortles...
5
Almost Trumpian", give me a break!
The NYT has started the Bernie bashing in earnest.
14
When you take your loved one for a honeymoon to Leningrad, then your a devotee of Propaganda ala Moscow....bye bye Bernie.
6
Gee, thanks, Paul.
Let the massacre begin.
6
This is why most true Democrats can't stand Bernie Sanders. If he isn't waving his hands and yelling about one of his favorite issues with no cogent plan to do anything about it, he's taking liberties with the truth to dirty up an opponent. Hopefully Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina will send him back to the senate before he screws up the rest of the Democratic field's chances of unseating the clown at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. He has proven he is perfectly capable and willing to do just that. (see 2016)
15
There is alot of talk about cutting benefits or raising the maximum income subject to FICA taxes. What is missing is discussion of a tax on automation. This is becoming more relevant with each technological improvement in productivity. The Social Security funding model unravels a little more each time automation either directly or indirectly replaces earnings by a human. The only funding that makes sense is a tax similar to a value added tax that recovers money for the retirement system.
7
If this is how Sanders operates, he should do the best thing for the country, and drop out of the race. We already have somebody of his ilk squatting in the White House.
11
Geez Louise, could they have picked a less flattering picture of Bernie?
7
The premise that Joe Biden hasn't tried to cut social security is false.
Krugman has a research team and could find this out for himself. The fact that he doesn't tells you all you need to know about bias.
Biden says so himself. Look at this video clip from 2:53 to 5:40 from the horse's mouth. Not taken out of context. VIDEO PROOF.
12
Bernie is no Donald Trump, no, Donald Trump is a Capitalist and Bernie is a Communist. Nuf said.
3
Prof. Krugman and his fellow centrists at the NYT are freaking out about the possibility of a Bernie Sanders presidency. This opinion piece is sad. I used to respect Krugman.
14
“Hillary Clinton’s Complex Corporate Ties”, The Wall Street Journal, February 19, 2015. And you blame Bernie?
9
The problem with all the liberal progressives is their absolutely certainty that they are right and everybody else is wrong. Everyone who does not think or act as they do is automatically labelled lazy, stupid, corrupt and greedy.
Some liberal progressive ideas are great and merit serious attention. Unfortunately you have to agree exactly with everything. This is the reason why liberal progressives remain in the minority despite their intelligence, commitment and passion.
9
Smells like distorted facts to me. Clean up your act, Bernie.
2
Democrats apologize too much already. Stop making them do so.
The premise that Joe Biden hasn't tried to cut social security is false.
Krugman has a research team and could find this out for himself. The fact that he doesn't tells you all you need to know about bias.
Biden says so himself. Look at this video clip from 2:53 to 5:40 from the horse's mouth. Not taken out of context. VIDEO PROOF.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u85RlOgwxw
9
@Cee
Here's a better clip without all the commentary:
https://www.facebook.com/brookings/videos/10156589806477708/
There were also two other, more explicit Biden speeches about this from 2007 and 1995 that are available over twitter. (But I haven't found them as 'stand alone' clips yet.)
5
No mention of the Bowles-Simpson Commission?
**Bruce Reed, Biden’s vice presidential chief of staff from 2011 to 2013 and a top campaign aide, was executive director of the Bowles-Simpson commission, which pursued deficit reduction and proposed increases in the retirement age.
As a coup de grace, in 2012 and 2013 then-Vice President Biden helped lead a publicly advocated scheme to reduce future Social Security benefits as part of a “grand bargain” with Republicans.**
https://prospect.org/politics/biden-advocacy-for-social-security-trims-has-had-real-cons/
7
I love to see the Democratic hopefuls sniping and clawing at each other. It is wonderful theater.
However, I think that Trump should keep his mouth shut at this point. The Dems are doing their own damage.
Unfortunately, politicians fail to realize the truth of the old adage: It is better to keep your mouth shut and make people think you are stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.
4
Much worse is Bernie implying Elizabeth is a liar.
2
Bernie bros have proven themselves to be misogynists, bullies, and liars. Where have we seen this before?
A candidate is responsible for followers who keep up abhorrent behavior for years.
7
Paul Krugman is being disingenuous here. Biden's track record is longer than Krugman's column at the Times.
As of now, PK has lost all credibility with me.
11
Paul we are fully aware, now with nyt’s endorsement of Liz Warren, you and NYT entire staff, will do everything in your power, to decimate Bernie. Go ahead, it’s expected of you. Carry on.
10
Yeah. I'm sure that by "adjustments", Biden meant SS increases. Right? That's reasonable. In the framework of a discussion of budgetary options, it totally makes sense to interpret this as advocacy of increased spending.
Come on, Paul. If you're actually dumb enough to believe that, you need to stop writing a column.
4
Oh for Pete's sake Democrats, DON'T upset that apple cart where you feed for donations. Give the poor just a little here, a tidbit there. If elected will you reinstate food stamps?
1
Tit-for-tat, tit-for-tat..then there's Andrew Yang steadily making his way to the Oval Office.
3
The NYTimes sure isn’t making much of a case against their progressive enemy Bernie.
Krugman’s claim that Bernie lied about Biden wanting soc sec cuts while simultaneously admitting Bernie’s larger point that Biden’s long record of playing along with the neoliberal consensus that soc sec cuts are necessary is insanity. The desperation of these status quo dems is mark of Bernie’s success.
Then there was the piece where HRC makes the high school dig against Bernie that “nobody likes him.” Excuse me? This is not serious journalism. In fact it’s not journalism at all. It’s one faction of the Democratic Pary attempting to take down Bernie with smears, lies and sheer nonsense. Look for the hand of the DNC in coordinating the campaign against Bernie.
And last week there was Warren’s ridiculous accusation that Bernie said in a private conversation he thinks a woman couldn’t win the presidency with no context, no witnesses and no larger pattern of truth that Bernie hates women.
Thanks for the press status quo moderate democrats. When people like you hate Bernie, the more real people will like and vote for him.
Go Bernie!
Then
10
Its amazing how blatant lies and smears can be thought of as a everyday occurrence. Like this lie Paul is spreading. He is lying to his reader to smear Bernie and it only take a google search to prove it's true but he doesn't care .
He doesn't care about his readers .
He thinks they are fools.
8
So, Krugman also picked his side in the battle, in line with what he hinted often. What else this text is about? After all, he is an obvious politician.
I am concerned about his cult-like followers on the pages of NYT. Some of them may get disturbed and blemish Krugman's status of the past Emperors of Japan (i.e. divine being) on the pages of NYT.
3
Get a mind of your own. Just spitting back lies about the front runner shouldn’t count as an article, even an ‘opinion’ article. Think and write about policies that MATTER.
7
Interesting that you call Bernie flat out lying about Biden’s position...previously...on Ss...but then admit he changed his mind. How is publicizing his previous position...flat out lying...or is this just another deceitful attack on Bernie?
8
Et tu, Krugman? Is there some sort of secret bonus paid to NYT columnists to weigh in at any opportunity against Sanders? Sanders did not lie, although your column does distort the truth.
9
The problem with Warren are her big and bold lies, which NY times is reluctant to write about. I am not talking about minor omissions and misunderstandings. BIG, BOLD lies: (1) Lying to be a native American and the stupidity of showing a DNA test that puts her chance of being a native American at less than 1% (2) Lying that she sent her kids to public school (3) Lying that she was fired because she had been pregnant (4) Lying that her native American claim did not help her in her career.
6
What an off-putting photo of Sanders' facial expression with this column!
He looks almost as frightening as Trump.
Did Krugman or the editors pick this picture?
5
Why, from Brooks to Krugman, and in between, is the NYTs against Bernie? In 2016, again in 2020.
9
Krugman, have you joined the "Stop Bernie at all costs smear" taking place on the front page of the NY Times?
What Bernie said about Biden was accurate! It is you who misleads.
When Biden was "suggesting" “adjustments” to Social Security and Medicare "be made," he obviously means some form of cuts. This is consistent with everything Biden said in the past. Sanders was right to point this out. You are carrying the mantle for the DAVOS crowd.
It's the facts behind the truth that impact people that matter most!
Let's take an accounting on facts that matter most:
1. Biden lead the Democratic Push for the most disastrous financial bill for working people to benefit TBTF banks. He championed the agenda of Wall Street with the "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act", which makes it nearly impossible for average Americans to claim bankruptcy for anything unless they are destitute. It's worse than that if you dig into it, which you won't. It has turned America into a debt slave nation after 2008.
2. Biden fully backed the Iraq war. By some estimates a million civilians died and we left a legacy of spent uranium shells and an infrastructure that has never been rebuilt.
3. Joe Biden was the ring leader of the so-called "War on Drugs" that put millions of black men in jail and was a continuation of Jim Crow and the continuing racial injustice in our criminal "injustice" system, which continues a massively disproportionate number of Black prisoners.
10
To paraphrase Krugman: Biden was a dangerously stupid dupe who bought into the extreme right-wing thinking that social security and Medicare needed to be cut. But, somehow, Bernie is a horrible guy and a liar for bringing this up.
C’mon Paul, get real.
10
Horrendous article, perhaps his worst and most obvious.
10
Krugman is my favorite NYT columnist, except when he slams Bernie. I read this and I considered that maybe Bernie really did something wrong, but then I read the transcript of Biden's speech. What Krugman is saying is flat out wrong. Biden speech did NOT say that he is for increasing or even maintaining Social Security as it is now; he used typical politician -speak to hem and haw and say he would keep SS w/ adjustments (or some words to that affect).. It doesn't take an idiot to know that means he wants to reduce it!!! omg, come on.. if you believe keeping it with adjustments mean keeping SS at full force, i've got a bridge for you...
10
Why don’t you start writing truth, Paul?
8
Bernie gets criticized, the horror. Wondering if one of the candidates who happen to be a member of one of the protected classes will ever be even remotely criticized for anything in this liberal rag? The lunacy of endorsing two candidates for one position was off the idiotic PC charts, but in lib/wacko world endorsing two females is a double check the PC box. Beyond phony-nauseating.
5
These remarks about Biden were made on Jan 9. Has this been covered by WaPo or NYT? If not, why not?
2
Trump is smiling.
1
Democrats are awful, right? No wonder Republicans always win. America deserves Republicans - it is high time Republicans take everything away from Americans because...Americans vote for Republicans.
Correct, both Democrats AND Republicans are useless. Heck the entire world has very few people who actually care...like maybe Greta Thunberg and the New Zealand PM.
Krugman is another shill for the oligarchs.
The largest misdirection is that the 'War Budget" is never cut or even questioned by Republicans or Democrats. Doesn't that tell us a great deal?
Since 911 the U.S. has spent over $6 TRILLION on war; China hasn't spent a single Yuan. And we wonder how China is investing all over the planet, and making friends? Nigeria just agreed to accept the Yuan over the Dollar. When MBS does so, game on!!! The U.S. has been at war more than 95% of the time since 1776. . .go figure.
READ: 23 Things They Don't Tell You about Capitalism (written by a pro-capitalist economist). Paul, be sure to get your copy!!!
9
I am so dissappointed that Paul Krugman would write such an erroneous article.
8
Whats that parallel "White Nationalist ? Yeah what a parallel
Krugman
4
And Trump is a Russian Asset!, bellow the hypocrites.
2
okay, Paul, I request that you hold all candidates including Biden to the same standard you are now holding Bernie Sanders. Each one of them has managed to fudge something along the line. NYT, you are so blatantly anit-Bernie and have been from the get-go.
This from a non "Bernie-bro" (yet another smear).
6
Thank you !! Great piece.. People are missing the point if they respond by talking about Biden's 40 years (?) of soc sec history.. This is an article about POLITICAL SLANDER...
Sanders himself, probably after reading your article .. wrote “It is absolutely not my view that Joe is corrupt in any way. And I’m sorry that that op-ed appeared,” Mr. Sanders told CBS News."
4
We already know that the NYT does not like Bernie. Go Bernie.
6
paul krugman's opinions always make him seem like a disingenuous corporate shill...
6
Krugman makes himself increasingly irrelevant as a Clinton-Biden-1% shill. I can read The Wall Street Journal for this type of nonsense; WSJ just lauded Biden for his open mind on Social Security.
8
Read this:
FACT CHECK: JOE BIDEN HAS ADVOCATED CUTTING SOCIAL SECURITY FOR 40 YEARS
https://theintercept.com/2020/01/13/biden-cuts-social-security/
Welcome to reality.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
8
As the Republicans line up, the Dems form a circular firing squad.
Look, if Bernie's supporters don't go along with whoever the candidate is in 2020, they will have demonstrated for all to see that meeting their purity tests is a fool's bargain. In 2024, no one will bother trying. Trump may win, but I can't think of a more effective way to neuter the Progressive wing of the party than to demonstrate their fickleness and lack of loyalty.
2
Please, please, Paul, stick to economics.
6
@Andrew Dabrowski
That train has come and gone.
2
This is just wrong. You're portraying the candidate who is loved precisely because he is so uniquely honest as some kind of political hack.
When we start blaming the best among us, how can we single out the worst?
5
Obama, Biden, and the NY Times editorial board have all endorsed cuts to SS. This is well documented. What sdo you think the Simpson-Bowles plan proposed? Even you have to acknowledge that raising the retirement age, means testing, raising taxes on SS benefits, etc., are all "benefit cuts". Few American workers make it to full retirement age and already receive less than their full benefit. Raising the retirement age will not change this just further cut what they receive. Means testing will deprive the middle class of a benefit they have supported all their working lives and make it a welfare program. Democrats and Republicans are both for that. Democrats because they prefer welfare programs and Republicans because they know that would be the end of SS. The best solution for seniors, and other working class and middle class Americans, is Andrew Yang's Freedom Dividend which stacks with SS. Imagine the real relief that would provide to seniors.
3
Bernie has promoted bad "solutions" to non-problems. He has pandered to both the Trumpian and progressive bases with ill thought through, impractical "solutions" that he could not deliver. Perhaps when you have nothing real to offer the voters except "attitude" you have to "go negative" even if it means lying.
5
As a conservative Republican, I can tell all you long-suffering Bernie fans what is going on here. Just as you are about to go to the polls, the liberal elites are trying to take down Sanders. This column was essential after Warren's attempted ambush of Sanders made her look bad. The liberal commentariat coalesced around Warren months ago, and the only way she is going to make a comeback is by bringing down Bernie. First Warren and her media allies smeared Pete Buttegieg, but his slide did not benefit Warren. So now they are going after Sanders. If Klobuchar makes a rise, you can expect her to get the same treatment.
I profoundly disagree with Sanders' "social democratic" agenda, but he is by all appearances a sincere, and I have never seen him personally take a cheap shot at a rival, thought Warren certainly did toward him. His public decency is why he is beating Warren, and Krugman is part of an effort to try to tear down his reputation, using insinuation, and guilt by association, and false equivalencies, and calling him a liar over some hair-splitting factual mistake.
8
Here comes the D Establishment; rearing its ugly head once more to squash any effort to disrupt the power hierarchy in Washington.
If you Sanders and Warren fans haven't figured it out yet, they own you.
If you don't support Trump this fall to at least continue hacking at the DC Establishment to give yourself a shot at returning some of the power coalescing in DC back to your home turf...you're not woke at all to this generational fight.
Biden and Pelosi and Clinton want the Establishment Media and Establishment Government and Establishment Business to stay united to manage the decline of America with them on top...and doling out morsels to the working men and women.
AOC at least has the courage to call it out..just like Trump and Sanders are.
Not sure what Warren's end game is here..but it would appear that maybe she's struck a deal with Biden to be his #2...by taking Bernie out.
10% of Sanders supporters voted for the AntiEstablishment camp in 2016.
If Sanders gets kneecapped again, I'm betting that # goes up to 35-40% with another 35-40% simply staying home vs. voting for the candidate of 1980.
And Mayor Pete? Really? Sanders and Biden get into a tit for tat on Vietnam and he doesn't interrupt and say "Okay Boomers."?
Would have propelled him to the lead.
Oh well....
1
It's telling that the top Readers Picks ignore the point of Krugman's column: namely that Sanders and/or his campaign have knowingly lied about Biden. Instead they choose to discredit Biden.
What does that mean? Essentially, it supports my view that "recommends" are completely meaningless, as the can be and are pumped up through trolls, bots, and whatever by those with an agenda. In this case possibly by Trump's people, other-than-Biden Democratic campaigns, or foreign governments, corporations, and special interests looking to see Trump reelected and who consider Biden the biggest threat to that happening.
2
I see Paul's been put on the front line in the recently launched Stop Sanders campaign. They tried ignoring him but now that he's competitive they've all got lots to say. Its what we all knew would happen. Its going to much, much nastier.
7
Can so many NYT readers really be so gullible to take THIS bait? I think there are many readers who live comfortably and fear the changes that Sanders would bring, who may tell themselves something different (and reasonable) though. These are surely some of the commenters who pretend to have been open-minded about supporting Bernie, but because of THIS now see the light of day and will not vote for him! What a charade. They typically label Bernie supporters (or presumably Yang or Tulsi supporters) as cult members and refer to him as Saint Bernie, without making any reasoned counter-arguments. These forums have evolved little in four years, I'm afraid.
7
First time I have ever been disappointed in Dr Krugman, and it hurts.
3
Anybody who has been following my comments at all, knows how I feel about Sanders. He has found his route to relevance in the 2009 recession and the Occupy Wall Street movement. Before that, he was just an eccentric Senator from an eccentric state who didn't really amount to much as far as accomplishments. Anybody who has been paying attention since 2015 ought to know how Sanders fights. Bare knuckle, take-no-prisoners, any way justifies the ends. He was a dispositive force in Trump's win. He never apologized for that either. And now he's poised to go scorched-earth again, four years later. As the saying goes, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I know that the committed Bernie supporters are unreachable. He has a Trump-like hold on his supporters. But anybody looking for a decent, honorable progressive would be well-advised to look at Elizabeth Warren. She has backed off her support of Sanders' mendacious Medicare for all fraud. She might be the best of the bunch.
3
The one chance that Democrats have to regain the Presidency and the Senate, is for both Sanders and Biden to drop out now. Nether would make a good president and the people will so vote.
1
Whilst living in the US I have come to learn the ugly truth about the city Democrats around me: they like their party in the so called center because they feel that being a Democrat absolves them from the cruelty inflicted on the vulnerable people in America, and at the same time they get to enjoy low taxes, competition barriers for their kids against smarter poor kids, getting cheap products and services from free trade and working conditions (Walmart, Amazon, ...) that doesn't affect them.
Bernie threatens that comfortable place of denial for them and they hate him for it.
10
It's going to be an ugly, soul-searing year, right, left, and center. I think the only reasonable thing a reasonable American should do this year is to buy a seaworthy boat, equip it with only a GPS tracker and an emergency beacon — no radio, no communications devices — and set out to sea. After docking back in the USA on November 4th, if the news is that Trump has been reelected, said reasonable American should set back out to sea again, never to return.
Bernie Sanders knows that as in 2016 he is a hard pill to swallow for most Americans. Trashing Joe Biden does not earn new votes as much as annoy old votes. This should be a reconciliation election a return to normalcy. As for Social Security, America had 50 years to get ready for Boomer retirement. Be certain, cut Social Security and Revolution will come.
Cutting off the nose to spite the face ; a brilliant move . There will be no socialist in the White House , the rest of the country votes too . Try as the Bernie supporters might , they need to see reality and any amount of bad mouthing , mocking , and trying to discredit other candidates (especially women ) will only accomplish one thing , four more years of Trump .
3
I guess it’s considered “fair” to smear Bernie Sanders and his supporters. We are both fair game.
7
I’m voting for anyone or anything that is not a republican or trump.
1
Apparently NYT has simply stopped caring about ethics in reporting or opinions for that matter. Equating Sanders with Trump (seems to be every article they write now) simply because he has grassroots support or goes after the media is nonsense. Is the media unbiased? Does certain segments of the media not have particularly interests? This is something you learn in a basic HS history class and which has been supported by academics and scholars for years. Sanders' supporters claiming that the media is funded by corporate advertisements, managed by wealthy individuals and families is not the same as stating "fake news" like the Trumpers do. It simply calling on people to understand the source.
7
Biden, is toast. He has name recognition, and nothing else. His record is abysmal, even his most recent one with his son getting the fifty K a month job, no one mentions. Trump, will bring it up, and for a lot of mid-western voters, scratching it out, it will have traction. Most, lucky if they can make that in a year.
Trump, made his bones beating up on Obama, who wasn’t even running against him! (Biden, was his VP.) There is a strong argument this election, has already been held. Biden is another Hillary, or worse, a Susan Collins, a pro-choice status quo Republican.
5
Bernie Sanders is too old to be president. He just had a heart attack. He screams when he talks. I'd like someone younger, like Michael Bennet, the Senator from Colorado. He got lost in the shuffle.
2
@Steve Kennedy
Steve Kennedy says in these comments:
"(Mr. Bloomberg is 5'8", two inches taller than the average male ..."
Really?
Steve Kennedy, I can't thank you enough for telling us that I, at 5'6 7/8" - am 7/8" taller than the average male.
You made my day.
2
Sorry Mr. Krugman, you got this one wrong. I'm not a "Bernie Bro" -- but you appear to have a chip on your shoulder about him (also noted in the past) that is clouding your usual deliberation and incisive analysis, and undermining your expertise and command of facts.
As to the specifics on what I said above, simply review some of the other readers' comments. I'm not a cult follower, and that very much includes people I like and respect.
3
Why is it always necessary for Democratic hacks to uphold and support Biden's remarks multiple times. What is very clear is that Biden's communications are fuzzy and not clear. What he stands for is uncertain. The only clear statements he has made is how he feels about his sons actions on foreign Boards and bullying senior citizens. Mr. Krugman citing Bernie is out of bounds is comical. There has been no one in the Democratic party treated more unfairly than Senator Sanders. Get off your high horse Mr. Krugman, if Joe can't take the heat he should get out of the kitchen before things really get tough.
6
The babble and infighting are a recipe for losing. So is the low-visibility tinkering range of policies which may appeal to some but are so nebulous as to be hardly headline material. As a case of godawful marketing, the Democrat campaign so far has nothing on the ball.
Is the imagination fired by minor adjustments to social issues? Do long-winded, not to say ideologically saturated, statements grab interest and say "Let's vote Democrat"? America invented mass marketing, and you guys don't know how ot open the door?
As for fiscal responsibility:
You've got an antiquated revenue system which probably costs far more than it should.
You've got weird spending and riders on bills that were worth trillions back in 2009. Anyone's guess what they'd cost now.
You've got a no-vision, short term range of proposals and nothing long term to encourage belief in anything but more of the same, whoever's elected.
You've got an imbecile racknig up unproductive deficits like cornflakes, and no clear countermeasures?
What's in it for Americans to vote Democrat? You need to get on topic, because so far there's not a word about that. Try something much less long-winded and direct, with fewer seminars on the righteousness and more on the practical values.
The alternative is 4 more years of brattish. mindless idiocy. Thta will be extremely expensive, and might just be enough to push the US into #2 position or lower for this century.
3
@Steven Weiss
Dear Mr Weiss,
Kindly inform yourself about State and Federal subsidies and body-politicians re-election sponsored corporate and Wall Street socialism and corporate welfare cost. That might change your opinion unless you are one of its recipients.
Comparing the two, SS costs less. Furthermore SS recipients payed into their fund while the former didn't.
For a start:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism_for_the_rich_and_capitalism_for_the_poor
3
I’m waiting for Krugman to publish an article saying that it was wrong for Warren to lie about Bernie’s views on a woman’s chances of becoming president.
3
I am sick and tired of Bernie supporters’ my-way-or-the-highway attitude. I will not be bullied or intimidated into voting for him just because his adherents threaten me with four more years of Trump if I don’t. Sanders better recognize that his rabid fans are doing him more harm than good. They don’t act like patriots or concerned voters or even rational adults. They act more like petulant spoiled brats who think they can get their way by intimidation tactics and throwing tantrums. He needs to rein them in if he has any hope of getting the nomination.
5
The NYtimes are milking Sanders supporters for rage clicks in the same way they milk Trump stories for rage clicks. It's a deliberate business strategy in case of Trump's defeat in 2020, they can maximize readership and clicks by portraying a potential President Sanders in a negative light. It's for-profit journalism, at its worse. Presumably, a 'divisive' President Sanders will get just as many clicks as an 'actually divisive' President Trump. Don't buy into these practices, which I'm effectively doing by commenting on this article.
Sanders is a zealot for his cause, and so are his disciples, and thus the end justifies the means, no matter what. He will use any means necessary to usher in his style of socialism/communism/ pilate democracy, or whatever you want to call it. This is why his groupies and Trump groupies are so similar and often switch sides in many instances. Sanders is one of the most intransigent human beings I have ever witnessed, and his justifications for his belief systems and political views, are a cautionary tale for anyone who is searching for a politician who can work with both sides and bring individuals together.
3
Thank you, Professor Krugman.
1
Krugman is one of the most straight shooters I've ever read in one of these columns. And he is also one of the most progressive and liberal ones as well. So to attack him as a Bernie hater, or not sympathetic enough to Bernie and or to the progressive cause, is being blinded by ones own prejudices.
The Bernie campaign, and its Bernie Bros., have been guilty of playing fast and loose with both the facts and their competitors characters and opinions - both in 2016 and now this year. The campaigns attacks on Warren last week struck a real blow to those of us who hope the progressive faction of our party prevails finally this year. But hopefully all is not yet lost.
Bernie has a good and strong message that the country needs to hear, but unfortunately he is the wrong messenger.......for more than one reason. It starts with his age, but ends with the fact that he is not really even a Democrat so why should the party give him our nomination, and he is not a team player.
2
OK Krugman and the NYT, we get it : you can't stand Bernie. Talk about a smear campaign!
12
Wow! Krugman really hates Bernie. Instead of criticizing his positions, he goes after the jugular and not only smears Bernie, but also Bernie's supporters. This reminds me of 2016, when Krugman once wrote maybe 5 or 6 hit pieces about Bernie in a single week. When Bernie goes up in polls or in individual donations, the knives come out. Can we just discuss issues without character assassinations? What scares me is that the corporate media and its pundits are more afraid of Bernie than they are of Trump.
15
It looks like Krugman and Hillary Clinton are coordinating an attack on Bernie Sanders - along with the NY Time editorial Board.
See the story on Clinton's remarks about Sanders elsewhere in this newspaper.
Look. I'm no fan of Bernie Sanders. But Clinton is hardly a paragon of truthfulness credibility. She is lacking in many admirable traits that one would want in a president. Note: Referencing the current president as a benchmark for choosing anyone but Trump - does not work.
It's a sad state of affairs.
6
There is a FB ad for AOC saying she refused to give to the Democratic party, "aren't I wonderful, donate now," paraphrased of course. Maybe she and similarly inclined politicians should, along with Bernie, form their own party, formally. I don't want another angry iconoclast for president. I want a solid, experienced person who knows how government works and can repair the past four years' damages. Biden is being seriously damaged by the impeachment hearings. It's looking like the safe vote for me is going to be Mike Bloomberg.
This is but another piece of evidence of Hillary Clinton's poor political instincts. I voted for her and she would have been a fantastically better president that Trump. But that is the past; as as much as it hurts, she can only do harm by dividing Democrats. We are in a war for our republic so she should just let the process go forward and support the eventual Democratic candidate. These are not normal times and there is no margin of error. Hillary, please be a good soldier and support whoever wins the nomination. This is no time for sour grapes. We need every vote in November and this just hurts us all.
4
This is just more of the same from Bernie and his supporters. In 2016, Bernie harped about the “corrupt Democratic Party establishment
,” personified by Hillary Clinton and even a Barack Obama. Including Obama in that attack, even by implication, probably sealed his defeat in the primary. Now, he’s lying about Biden’s positions regarding Social Security, and once again raising the specter of a corrupt party. I can understand that he might think all of that. What is incomprehensible is why he then runs to carry the Democratic Party banner... It made no sense in 2016 and makes even less sense now. Hopefully, my fellow Democrats will treat him accordingly.
7
Did you see the speech in question? How about the other two that were tweeted along with this one, which Dr. Krugman simply ignored? What is the actual lie you are referring to? The speech transcripts correspond to the claims, from what I see.
5
In the hands of people like Trump becoming president is the ultimate ego trip and has nothing to do with serving the nation. When Bernie Sanders starts smearing his competitors in this way he puts himself into this camp. Mr. Sanders and all our democratic candidates, if you want to be president in order to serve us you must prove your self respectful of others and willing to support the person who wins the nomination. Other wise do not give us Trump redux in any way.
2
I think so much of Mr. Krugman and so I am disappointed that he does not get to calling Senator Sanders out for his angry and often belittling approach to other Democratic candidates. He happily contributed to the false narratives about Hillary Clinton and added "credible" fuel to the fires many on the right were stoking about her. He willfully lies to the voters about the viability of many of his policy ideas which have never had to stand up to serious scrutiny much less real world implementation. Not the change we need at this point in our country. Not at all.
3
Stop comparing Bernie to Trump, calling his campaign Trumpian is suggesting that his campaign is close to Trumps campaign, this is just not true. Personally, I never even saw the op ed nor heard of it, I did however see the videos of Biden calling to cut social security years ago. Biden has called to cut social security in the past so the substance is not wrong, but I can 100% agree that this specific incident was a smear and was wrong, Bernie apologized for the op ed and I could apologize on behalf of his campaign but that would mean nothing. Ironic to publish an article about how the Bernie campaign is smearing, when Bernie has been subjugated almost weekly by smears ran by the mainstream media.
7
The subhead of this op/ed does to Sanders something that it took this paper months to do for Trump, which is to call him a liar. The only problem is that Sanders was doing anything but lying about Biden's record of playing games with Social Security, whereas 45 has demonstrated the inability to do anything but protect himself, truth be damned. There seems to be no earthly way that this paper can cover the Sanders campaign in any other way but to play defense. Shame on Krugman and the editorial staff.
9
It is certainly disconcerting to see the divisive rhetoric shown in these comments by supporters of Sanders.I thought the hostility in 2016 was because of Hillary. I like both Hillary and Sanders because of their very longstanding progressive politics. That should be all that matters. When the vicious smears of Hillary started, probably due in part to Jeff Weaver, amplified by Russian trolls, I dismissed it as understandable in highly exuberant young people who had not followed politics before becoming Sanders supporters. This view became harder to maintain when Sanders supporters turned on Warren for endorsing Hillary. However, I thought that was all behind us, and seeing it re-emerge against Biden is very worrying. The large showing of Sanders with young and very progressive supporters seemed too good to be true. On the other hand, if they function like a cult of personality its very bad news for progressive politics.
7
I am no Biden supporter, but there is no question I would vote for Biden above Sanders. Sanders and his supporters are extreme and have a terribly destructive approach.
10
@ywinchell Biden supported the Iraq War. Nothing destructive about that, I suppose.
Biden supported cutting Social Security benefits *for decades* (just not in the instance Krugman notes here). Nothing destructive about that I guess, either.
The fact is, no matter how you feel about Sanders supporters (and I'm not actually one of them), Sanders himself has been on the correct side of history for his entire career. Biden, on the other hand, is simply a male caricature of Clinton: someone whose positions change with the political winds, and who stands for nothing other than holding power.
5
@Michael-in-Vegas
Bernie and his ideas are foolish.
2
Bernie Sanders sure gets a hard time for a half-truth from Dr. Krugman. What about Hillary Clinton's ad hominem attack? Bernie would never, ever, be caught stooping that low.
Dr. Krugman doesn't believe MFA can be sold to America. Fair position, but there are much more interesting things to write about than to keep beating Sanders up over it: Turkey's decline from economic powerhouse under its fake-democracy autocracy (a Trump preview), the feasibility of a wealth tax given America's advantage of citizenship based taxation and FATCA.
3
If elected he will be nearly 80 years old and he has had at least one heart attack. What happens if during the campaign he has another, even if it is not fatal?
Can we really afford to take that risk if we want to defeat Trump?
I know I won't.
5
Sanders' camp seems to have a nasty habit of smearing his political rivals with impunity. And just like the spat with the Warren camp, Sanders can't seem to find in within his soul to acknowledge there may have been a misunderstanding and apologize, not to publicly acknowledge the misstatement.
As for the Social Security issue, I don't feel Sanders has my back on this either. And I don't think he plays any better with others than the current occupant of the WH. Why the younger voters find him so attractive, I'll never understand. But at 67, I'm not fooled. I lived 40 years with a man I dearly lover who, in his mind, may not always have been right, but he was never wrong. Sounds just like Bernie.
7
@Alice Think they find him attractive because they want the so called free stuff their elders got ie: social security , medicare , free college , they don't want to pay for anything and feel they've been stiffed ; they don't realize how hard and long their elders had to work for those benefits . They are being stiffed , by the Republicans who are in the pocket of big business and the 1 percent and Bernie has that right but Bernie will not get them the free stuff they want . Forest for the trees !
1
In the early 2000s there was lots of learned discourse about doomsday future of social security--Alan Simpson et al. Biden was caught up in that, along with every other "centrist." These days of massive tax cuts that argument no longer has any legs. But you can probably comments by any Dem then on the scene to the same effect.
2
From the "Just another Republican?" department:
"Unprepared for the complexities of governing, with little executive experience and a glaring deficit in his attention span, untutored, untraveled, and unversed in the ways of the world, [he] thrived on making a show of his decisiveness. 'I’m not afraid to make decisions,' he told a biographer. 'Matter of fact, I like this aspect of the presidency.' But his greatest strength became his worst flaw. His self-confidence and decisiveness caused him to do far more damage than a less assertive president would have."
Sound familiar? Historian and author Jean Edward Smith writing in 2016 on George W. Bush.
3
Social security was created to assist retirees 65 and older. It was instituted at a time when most didn't live past 65. Odd?
Social security has been absconded with by politicians for decades; too many recipients are not 65, not retirees, and many are able bodied. It DOES need to be reformed and once upon a time when we had some fiscal responsibility, both sides correctly agreed that we needed reform.
We need to raise the cap, cut the eligibility so that 90% goes to those that are retired and did pay in, and we need a law that cannot be changed prohibiting Congress from 'borrowing' from the fund to shore up their 'general fund' to pay their pet projects.
4
@Ma
Separate out those on disability and SS is just fine.
1
@Ma
"It was instituted at a time when most didn't live past 65."
This is false. The average life expectancy was lower back then because children were much more likely to die than they are today, and much of the population went to war with some regularity.
When SS was created, if you made it to 15, you were likely to make it to 80 unless the Germans (and later the Koreans or Vietnamese) killed you first.
1
Absolutely not a lie.
In context, Biden was signaling to the policy wonks at Brookings that he'd be willing to consider means testing social security. Why else would he say, "I don't know a whole lot of people in the top 1% who are relying on social security when they retire"?
Biden may well have been sucked in by the conventional wisdom, but whose opinion matters more: the wonks at Brookings or elderly working class voters in Iowa?
You know who wasn't "pulled in by the conventional wisdom" that we need to cut social security?
Vermont Senator, Bernard Sanders!
How many times does this guy have to be right before you people get on board?
12
At age 80, I dont want either of these old men to be in charge. Good 'ol Joe remembers things were pretty good for most folks in the 60's (if they werent in Nam) and wants to go back there, and Bern still wants what he wanted 50 years ago! Dammit, I can barely use this tablet Im writing on and I want somebody who is at least a generation younger running the country. I think Yang or Pete would be great. Think how much better off we would be the the true winner in 2000 had been sworn in! In case you kids dont remember, Gore was a leader on climate, and I am pretty sure he would never have gone to war in Iraq. We cant let the GOP keep wrecking the world to please the oligarchy.
9
Please remember: VOTE BLUE! Even if it is Bernie. I don't love him, but a vote for someone other than the chosen candidate is a vote for the last 4 years of America.
10
not s o, Zrs. a fragmented oposition vote could get us a repeat of truk
mp
Krugman through the years wouldn’t have had a party or a livelihood if it wasn’t for people like those who support Bernie. Without people like us, he’d still be groveling for Republican crumbs.
6
By the way and sorry, but SSI requires a fix every so often. The last time was under Reagan and Tip O’Neill; ot’ll cost me $371/mo., but I can see the point.
Right now, the fix is needed because of the “goat in the anaconda,” prob caused by the baby boomers: until the 2030s, we got too many geezers taking out, and not enough young people kicking in. That’s real, folks.
There are a number of possible fixes. It’s not even that big a deal. Unless you want the system abolished, or you insist there’re no fixes needed, or we’ll just tax the wealthy more.
What Sanders is doing is demogoguing Joe Biden. Sorry again, but that is what this is. And it’s stupid politically, because it helps the lie that them commies just wanna take and take and take.
Please stop it. Please look at the numbers.
And please get over yourselves, and vote Trump gone, gone, gone.
Because he WILL really go after SSI.
5
I agree with most of the commenters here that any of the Democratic candidates are preferable to trump, but has Bernie ever been a Democrat? Like trump he wants to lead a party which he has never joined! The precedent for such a situation is not good. John Tyler and trump come to mind
8
One of the things people appreciated about President Obama was that he approached his role with positivity, good will and dignity. Yes he occasionally failed. What was it they say about casting stones? By and large, I think the same was true of former Senator McCain. Both men actually thought about the preservation of our nation. Yes, they had different visions, but they were both public servants. Now the nation (and the world) are perhaps facing some of our greatest challenges - climate change, growing inequality, nationalism, Federal deficits, invasive technology into our private lives, dark money in politics, nuclear proliferation.
The last thing we need are politicians who are more focused on their own political greed - and willingness to achieve those gains through lies, misrepresentations and other forms of treachery. Grow up. If you have ideas on how to mitigate our nation’s challenges, great - put your ideas out there. Debate on the real merits and drawbacks. But stop acting like children. Stop proliferating hatred of other Americans or even other people anywhere. We are all humans. We won’t continue to succeed as a species if we continue to act in ways that do not improve the greater good.
9
There is a lot of debate here about what Sanders said about Biden and the Ryan tax cut and paying for it out of Social Security.
A couple of folks have posted the video to clarify it.
I offer a PolitiFact review finding Sanders' & Co. accusation to be false. Not partially false or partially true, false.
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2020/jan/09/bernie-sanders/did-biden-laud-paul-ryan-proposal-cut-social-secur/
6
@tucker
This was already cited by Dr. Krugman and is just more spin! Here's a 3.5 minute clip of the relevant portion of his speech to the Brookings Institute Krugman's article pertains to.
Always good to get to the primary source.
https://www.facebook.com/brookings/videos/10156589806477708/
There were two other videos with this one that were tweeted by the Bernie supporter. But Dr. Krugman avoided them like the plague. They were not on this election's campaign trail and, consequently, were far less ambiguous and were supportive of the Sanders' take on Biden's positions here.
4
No one would ever dream of managing a trillion dollar investment fund that affects 300 million shareholders like this. The Federal government sits on a fence: it wants you to believe that it's your money, but it is incapable of accounting for the health of fund or its distributions.
Worse: there have been no corrections to fiscal policy to account for the last 75 years of changing economic conditions. People still contribute the same rate to SS that they did in 1967.
How exactly does that math work?
By comparison, the French government tells their citizen exactly where their taxes and other federal contributions are being used, and how.
Our government is lazy, and reactionary focused. It prefers to make decisions based upon applying Band-Aids to things that require ongoing health management. None of our elected leaders are capable of proactively managing what will become a national crisis. They'll just raise the SS tax rate when the money starts to run out, and THEN they'll cut benefits....again.
Most of these politicians have no concept of what it means to struggle to find employment past the age of 50, or to look at retirement as something that is a practical impossibility.
4
@ChrisH Yes, this is how it is for citizens of Austria, too. You get a statement at the end of the year that says exactly how much you paid and and exactly where it went, in a nice little pie chart. No one has to "do their taxes" either....it's already done.
2
Biden is more correct than not in referring to Sanders "doctoring" the video. By selectively editing it, Sanders has doctored the meaning of Biden's comments. This is not acceptable and further illustrates why Sanders should not be the nominee. Biden is "feeling the bern" like Warren and Clinton. Sleazy Sanders should step down and allow the more honest and honorable candidates to run. Shame of Bernie.
3
It is indeed telling that Krugman is animated about the use of Biden's video piece out of context rather than the multiple videos and reports of when Biden worked to cut back Social Security and Medicare for people who helped build this nation and are now aged, including the 60%+ of African Americans who depend on SS for their entire support in retirement. Yes Mr Krugman, we can see where you stand, and it is not with we the people. Turn our faces away from the real problem, that a front-runner for President has a nasty history he'd like to hide which has caused millions of poor and elderly fear for their income and health care. Shame on you.
6
I have absolutely zero percent respect for Sanders. I will vote for him if he is the nominee but not happily. But I will vote for Bernie's kitchen mop over Trump.
I have no respect for him because he is not a Democrat. He should have run both times as an Independent. But he wants to use the structure of the two-party system without being a member of one of those two parties.
He's an old grouchy man and his 'Bernie Bros' are misogynistic people who helped give us Donald Trump, a criminal, who now squats in our White House enriching and self-benefiting himself and who wants to be a dictator for life like his good friend Vladdie.
Thanks, Bernie. Now go away and enjoy your new found wealth you old socialist you.
14
I hate to bring this up, but you all know that the 2016 Sanders campaign and up until February 2019, was steered by a "media consulting" firm by the name of Devine, Mulvey, and Longabaugh. Tad Devine, a long-time Democratic strategist, was Sander's chief strategist in 2016, and his firm was paid millions of dollars, of course. That's what consultants do, rake in the cash.
It's never enough, either. Tad Devine also worked for Paul Manafort, and testified at his federal trial, for work in Ukraine to elect Victor Yanukovych in 2010. He also wanted to keep working with Manafort and Rick Gates in Ukraine in 2014. Pretty swampy connection with Bernie, I would say. And now, oh, no! His company has now jumped to working on the Yang campaign.
So my primary issue this election cycle is anti-corruption, and I'm sorry, Bernie's not it. Nor is Yang, which is too bad, because I kind of liked some of his policies.
4
"There is, unfortunately, some truth in that claim" -there is truth, full-stop. The "Trumpian" descriptor doesn't stick, sorry.
3
Bernie, say it ain’t so. You had a chance with me until your organization started with the dirty tricks which you either approved of or will not disavow. At this point, your failure to admit to and disavow this fraud says more about you personally than anything out of your mouth. Unless something quickly changes, you have lost any chance you may have had getting my vote.
5
Here’s my ultimate prob with Bernie Sanders: I can’t think of a single, solitary time he’s told his supporters a single blessed thing they did not want to hear.
I think these attacks on Joe Biden are of a piece with that, largely because his positions just aren’t as different from Bernie’s as Bernie likes to pretend.
On trade? Sure, they’re different. But not in the ways commonly said. Same for immigration, environment, and a lot of other things.
Sorry, but the main reason I’d rather see Joe Biden as the nominee is that I think he DOES say things we don’t want to hear. I think he’s more oractical-minded, and NO, that does not make him a neo-con or any of this other claptrap.
I’ll still vote for Bernie, if he’s the nominee. I’m just sayin’ I think we’d get whupped, and hoping I’m wrong.
2
In my mind Biden's 30-year (or is it 40?) track record of supporting big banks, embrace of cutting aid to poor folks, and encouragement of Delaware corporations to lord it over everyone is about equal to the ambitions of an elderly, short. Jewish, and -- let's face it -- cranky Sanders in questionable health who has never achieved much. Can someone almost 80 really grasp the world that faces Millennials? I've written them both off in favor of the energetic, whip-smart schoolmarm who has vetted plans that could set the US on a corrected path toward equality, fairness, and coping with a planet on fire. Warren2020
4
@Lorraine Alden- So, you haven’t changed in the last 30 to 40 years? Don’t you think Biden might now have seen the errors of some of his ways and gained wisdom and governing skills along the way. I’m 78 and I can assure you I’m not the same person I was 40 years ago. Although I’m happy to say I know who I’ll be voting for and why.
2
Krugman is a poor loser. The American people, especially Democrats, prefer Sanders. He leads in Iowa, New Hampshire He’s the only candidate willing to acknowledge that our current system is corrupt and untenable. He’s the only one willing to change it. Only two times in American history has the political class acted on behalf of the people they actually represent rather than their owners and masters in the corporate oligarchy. Franklin Roosevelt was one of them. He changed the system and gave us the strongest middle class and the most equity the world has ever seen. Republicans, right wing conservative Democrats like Biden and Bernie haters like Krugman have given us the weakest middle class and the most constant wage losses the country has seen in the last 125 years. They literally have destroyed the American “dream.”
7
@DSD- Am I missing something here? Krugman is a Nobel Prize winner and NY Times columnist. If that’s a loser, I can’t help to wonder who you consider a winner.
2
Bernie Sanders is Trump's twin ; they fight dirty , misrepresent themselves , lie , and do we need another four years of Trump ? Bernie is again playing the role of spoiler ; very telling .
10
In 2016 I said that Sanders took a page right out of the GOP Handbook to trash HRC and it is happening again. As a Democrat I am sickened by his misuse of my party for his egotistical run for president even though I agree with him on many points ideologically. His is a cult just like Trumps. And I am very curious as to why Trump is defending him...
6
Given the evidence in the comments, Krugman should retract.
6
"While there is a Trumpian feel to some of what we’re seeing from the Sanders campaign, Bernie Sanders is no Donald Trump. As we’ve just seen, there are some real issues with the people surrounding him, but they’re nothing like Trump’s gang of thugs. And in practice a Sanders presidency, like a Biden presidency, would be a vast improvement, morally as well as substantively, on what we have now."
Gee, Mr. Krugman, it's a relief to know all this. But when did you finally decide to come out and admit that you are a DNC hack?
8
The Guardian, unbeknownst, has posted a perfect response to this Paul Krugman opinion piece. Here is the telling part:
"That includes the Obamas, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden and other Democratic leaders who over the past two decades have proven unable (or unwilling) to stem a rising and emboldened right wing in America, while they continue to peddle the fiction that Sanders and his voters are “too far left”."
7
Take a look at the Zephyr Treatout column in the Guardian calling Biden corrupt if you want to see Bernie supporters in action.
4
Lying is bad, Paul. Have you check what you are offering here as facts? Biden has indeed called for "adjustments" (GOP speak for cuts) to Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. Too bad you missed it.
7
"If you want a parallel, it’s as if I were to say, “Some white nationalists claim that Jews are responsible for all our problems,” and a political campaign put out a release saying, “Krugman says ‘Jews are responsible for all our problems.’”"
I get what Paul is saying here, but funny that he is speaking in the third person a la Trump. This paragraph may come back and haunt him.
Warren has become a political suicide bomber for the Biden/Kerry/HRC/NYT wing of the Democratic Party. It's now full court press on their parts to smear Bernie with accusations of misogyny, faithlessness, dislikability (the irony of this charge from HRC - possibly the most detested of them all) and dishonesty. They will literally say and do anything to destroy Bernie's candidacy and the net effect will be to reinforce everything Trump charges agains the democrats, and more than likely lose the election to him. But they would prefer Trump win rather than a Sanders presidency because their bosses and the people they answer to would prefer to burn America down rather than pay more taxes.
Krugman has for years now bathed himself in the peaceful waters of solidarity, presenting an analysis of business that is coruscating in its critique. Unfortunately though, words are cheap. And when he had actual power as labor secretary he participated enthusiastically in destroying the capacity of American workers to organize and to improve their lives. He now goes to bat again for the boss class in smearing Sanders. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
4
@eirsatz Paul Krugman was never labor secretary. Are you confusing him with Robert Reich? If so, I can understand the confusion as both of them are highly educated, well spoken, widely published and almost entirely wrong about practically everything.
2
@eirsatz My bad on Krugman as Lab sec, actually thinking here of Reich. But the larger point I'm making is the Krugman's argument is threadbare, indicated in how he condemns Biden by praising him as just another DC lifer who takes conventional right wing wisdom (SS is broke, cut it) and regurgitates it as common sense. Such a history should indicate someone who is not a serious person who can think about enormously important subjects critically. Krugman actually helps us understand that when Biden was wrong about SS in the past it was because he didn't do any research or try to understand what was happening, rather he relied on the perspective from lobbyists and the republicans to denounce SS and support the idea of making it the sacrificial lamb. Now that's bipartisanship that Bernie is incapable of! Kind of reminds me how Biden went to bat for the credit card companies over the bankruptcy bill, and reached across the aisle to do it.
4
@eirsatz Yes words are cheap ; your misogyny is showing . Bernie will never win , try as you might , this country will not elect a socialist pretending to be a Democrat because if he ran as a socialist no one would vote for him .
1
Why lying about a rival is such a big issue while American society is giving a free pass to chronic lier Trump.
1
This op-ed is a garbled mess of mouthful equivocating. The fact is that Biden was a proponent of serious cuts to Social Security and a "Grand Bargain" with Republicans during Obama's administration in the late Oughts and into his second term. But for the intransigence of the GOP Congress to make any deals with Obama, Social Security as we know it would've been means-tested out of existence.
But let's just dismiss that all as "Once Upon a Time-ism," because that's worked so well of late for Quentin Tarantino.
Attributing this past truth to Biden is not slanderous, regardless of if a given clip was poorly representative of this. Because here's the bottom line: Joe Biden is no progressive. Socially tolerant and fiscally conservative does not a progressive make. He's a neoliberal "Third Way" corporatist (moderate at best) who makes apologies for his former KKK Republican colleagues, and whose son Hunter served on the board of Ukrainian Energy firm at a salary of $50K/month, which seems to me to fit the definition of "corrupt capitalist shill."
There's a narrative that is plainly manifest in the NYT's and the MSM's coverage of Sanders: pounce vociferously and vehemently at any possible thread or storyline that can paint Sanders and his campaign in the worst possible light, and forgo any objective and/or positive coverage.
But, hey! The NYT took the bold move of endorsing not one but two female candidates who won't finish in the top three in either Iowa or New Hampshire.
6
Now we know why it's called the "diss'em-all science."
Usually love your comments Paul. But your apoplectic tone doesn't line up with your carefully hedged defense of Biden's record on Social Security. It's a weird rhetorical and logical contortion.
5
Here we go again with Krugman taking the side of the democratic establishment candidate and bashing Bernie. Thanks Paul. You gave us Hillary last time. How did that turn out?
You know the New York Times still has a pension plan and, I'm sure, wonderful health insurance so of course Paul is loving the status quo and doesn't know what all the fuss is about.
Wake up!
6
I'll be anxiously awaiting Krugman's piece where he calls for Hillary Clinton to apologize to Sanders for her smear and for maliciously undermining his campaign, which, not incidentally, her followers have been falsely accusing Sanders of doing to her.
I have a feeling I'll be waiting a long time.
7
@J.C. That's a given ! Move on and get over it .
1
The reality is that Social Security still needs to be fixed: now more than ever. The demographics have changed since the 1930's; we have too few workers supporting too many retirees. Social Security needs to be adjusted to reflect that reality.
Perhaps a bit of the fix could be reducing benefits (or reducing the rate of increase), but most of it should come by increasing taxes on employers and employees and perhaps further increases in the full retirement age (after all, a big part of the problem is that people are living longer).
3
@Bill White
The only reason any Democrat would propose cutting S.S. in any way, including raising the age, is if he/she is on board with the obscene Republican tax cuts and plans to keep them intact.
So there's what is presented by establishment Democrats - sorry, we're taking a chunk out of your social security because we don't want to offend our rich donors by asking them to pay more. And by the way, keep voting for us moderates!
4
@Bill White
The only way I would agree to reducing the retirement age would be if we make it much, much easier for seniors with health issues to get on SS Disability because a waitress or Walmart worker with bad knees and hips and wrists can often be up S-creek as they age.
Speaking of this - where is PETA FOR PEOPLE?
Honestly, many hourly workers are under torture when they are not even allowed a stool to lean on form many hours even when it is not busy - IT IS INHUMANE and causes a lot of physical disabilities!
So if we provide for them and increase taxes on the wealthy to pay for SS Disability increases for seniors pre-retirement age - then maybe
2
If Biden really voiced cuts to social security, which in fact he did, then Sanders has every right to call him out. No apologies.
7
I voted for Sanders in the last presidential primary. His troubling actions, whether things said about Biden or Warren, trouble me. I was considering voting for Sanders again, but am rethinking my choice.
113
@RK I like Sanders a lot,although his trariff concerns remind me of T. The main thing that concerns me is that he seems to have attracted a pretty self centered crowd of supporters, not exactly a cult of personality, but some blindness to the progressive goals that he genuinely supports. We had lots of comments last election from supposed supporters that they were considering either Sanders or Trump. Hard to say if that was all Russian trolling. but there is a sense of "my way or the highway" rejecting Warren despite great similarities in goals.
19
@WHM
I voted for Sanders in the primary but voted for Clinton in the general.
I have lived in NYC and suburbs for over 4 decades. Those of us who live in the City or suburbs know Trump for the braggart and empty suit that he is and that was reflected in the way he was trounced in the City in the general election.
No amount of Russian trolling will change the minds of those who know him best: his hometown folks. Unfortunately, a good part of the nation is under Trump's spell, with or without Russian help. That's the sad part.
As for Bernie, another things that troubles me is that he is a Democrat when he is running for President and an Independent when he is not. I don't care for opportunists much.
13
We live in a two-party system. Not a parliamentary coalition system. Why can't Democrats remember this simple fact?
8
Says Hillary Clinton of her 2016 rival, reported by the Hollywood Reporter in advance of a Hulu documentary, “He was in Congress for years. He had one senator support him. Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it.”
While Hillary may be biased, her observations about him have been made by others.
Where, I wonder, are those in the Senate who could come forward and assure us of his ability to work well with others over such a long career there? I doubt if we'll hear that. Yet without that ability how will he get his programs enacted? He says, the people will rise up in his favor and somehow that will happen. That is the thinking of some Latin American populists who failed or damaged their country.
262
@blgreenie
There are none. Sanders accomplishments in the Senate are hard to find. He's strong on rhetoric but not on people skills. He's shown a shockingly low ability to navigate through challenge in Congress to get things done, which often requires compromise.
44
@blgreenie
It was not Latin American populists who ruined their countries. It was usually U.S. interventions that installed right-wing dictatorships (such as Pinochet in Chile) or right-wing insurgencies (such as the Contras in Nicaragua) that prevented the populists from enacting agendas that would benefit their countries. If leftists managed to hold on to power, as in Cuba or more recently Venezuela, the U.S. imposes crippling sanctions and does everything possible to undermine their success.
35
@blgreenie This, sir, is below the belt. "That is the thinking of some Latin American populists who failed or damaged their country." How is that even relevant to this essay? And is it not discriminatory against those whose native homes were in Mexico or Central America? This whole conversation, I feel, has been counterproductive. This is not the time to impugn ANY of our candidates. And this goes for Hillary Clinton recent "opinion." It is like there are trolls busy at work to ensure that Democrats sour toward all our top candidates. Let us see the forest through the trees. We must support 100% whoever is our final nominee. It is a choice between corruption or truth and justice, morality or rampant amorality, greed or some sort of economic assurance for all peoples, our individual and environmental health or diseases and early deaths. Finally it is about good vs evil. Trump is downright evil. Sanders et al. are not.
32
Desperate people do desperate things. Liz and Bernie are watching their aura collapse. Biden was supposed to be a distant third in Iowa and New Hampshire. His "firewall" was supposed to be South Carolina.The fact that he's tied or statistically tied in those states causes the panic and the lies. He is the second choice of most if not the first choice. Bernie and Liz are desperate.
112
@Armo If you think Sanders is desperate you're being very premature.
12
@James S Yeah I know - watch out for the Bernie Bros. Any difference between MAGA and Bernie Bros.?
3
The hats will change from Red to Blue
None of this is surprising. After all, Bernie has been in politics for a long time.
I have slowly lost faith in Bernie. But, his comments about wanting to be in Iowa instead of the Senate for the impeachment trial stunned me. What could be more important than this trial - even if we know McConnell is entirely insincere?
138
@BMD - Yes, that comment is VERY disturbing. Just like Trump, everything is about Bernie, not the good of the country. I don't think he used to be that way, but I think in the last few years, he's bought into the "savior" mentality of his avid supporters--who will be disappointed because no politician is a savior.
9
I don't understand what people;e see orin Bernie. To me he comes across as a shouting machine, with no subtlety of thought. I agree with Krugman that he has trump-like qualities. Hi supporters see him as a saint. but he is clearly an ideologue who can't see shades of grey and likely not a person who can be a uniter.
Of the democratic candidates, he would be my last choice. I pray we get a better candidate than that out of our nomination system.
6
Professor Krugman's analogy about the Sanders campaign taking things out of context by making reference to "Jews are responsible for all our problems," is quite unfortunate and inappropriate as a method of argumentation for several reasons. First, Krugman is kind of introducing his own non-sequitor through this hyperbolic and highly inappropriate analogy. Second, there's already a buzz about Sanders being anti-Semitic and Krugman is able to unconsciously play with that association. Third, rather than inquire more deeply about the division of labor between staffers and candidates, Krugman just goes for an incendiary soundbite.
Finally, Krugman suggests that it is Sanders himself who is "lying about a rival" because the word rival in the context of the subheading suggests a single person. In contrast, Krugman only can document or try to document lies by Sanders staff and not the candidate himself. This too is quite unfortunate.
2
Although I appreciated Bernie shaking Democrats out of the Repubilcan-Lite and go along to get along stupor in the last election I don't think as an well meaning agitator that he is a good fit for the Presidency. I find him much to politically strident and inflexible with tunnel vision. To get the progress we need will require dogged determination along with the ability to bend enough to make progress.
We will not get everything in one Presidential term and we will face some losses, but the goal should be our long term vision. I think Warren is our best shot to get things started...this nation is still searching for Change, we just need to find the right path.
3
@KaneSugar
Except she sold her credibility and the Republicans will never stands for it.
1
Politicians lying. Who would have believed that?
Meanwhile, noone wants to require politicians to tell the truth. Perhaps the first amendment would make a truth bill unconstitutional, according to the right leaning judges.
People complain that we live in a surveillance state, but the real danger is that we live a propaganda state. Remember how that worked out in 1930's Germany?
I have already heard a “Bernie Bro” state that he will not vote for the Democratic nominee if it is not Sanders. This is looking more and more like a repeat of 2016 with the Sanders campaign vilifying its most serious rivals. I have read that Bernie denies having control over his followers’ negative statements and lies about Warren and Biden. If he cannot manage those working to elect him, how will he manage leading the executive staff as President? I hope those who truly want a change in the White House reject this approach.
783
@Andrea
For a different view of Biden, check out today’s article in The Guardian on the four times he has backed cuts to both Social Security and Medicare. It also outlines where his campaign contributions are coming from, which explains the weak policies on health care and the environment.
He took the pledge not to take money from the fossil fuel industry and didn’t keep it. If he could not keep that pledge, what else will he abandon when in office?
We cannot afford Biden as the nominee.
59
@nora m
The Guardian is a British newspaper which is providing back-door support to Donald Trump by encouraging the nomination of a far-left candidate... apparently the Guardian didn't learn the lesson of how that worked out in their own country... if nominated, Joe Biden will gain more voters in the center than he will lose on the left. If the Sanders supporters want to go pro-Trump, there is nothing we can do about it except campaign harder for the Dem nominee.
54
@Andrea listen you can convince all the people all the time. Fact is that when Sanders lost the nomination in 2016 he endorsed Hillary and then went out and campaigned for her hold 40 events 3 of which Hillary appeared at also. He encouraged all his followers to vote for the Democrat. You can't make everyone vote the way you want but you can't blame the candidate for that. As comparison when Obama won the nomination Hillary endorsed him and held 12 rallies for him.
50
I’m a liberal Democrat but I’m honestly terrified that too many Sanders supporters will pull a 2016, where if their candidate doesn’t win, they take their toys and go home. I begin to understand why Putin supported Trump and Sanders. An unwillingness to form coalitions for the greater good is a recipe for discord, and I worry that Bernie has shown little interest in furthering good beyond what he himself can take credit for.
I am not a Biden (or Sanders) supporter, and in the primary I say that each person should vote their conscience. But in the general election, all Democrats had better be willing to come together to end this nightmare.
228
You’re misinformed. Sander supporters turned out overwhelmingly for Clinton. Hillary’s a big girl, she can take the blame for her own failures.
14
@SR The Dems and the NY Times have been doing everything imaginable and possible (including lying) to sabotage Bernie. The fact that Bernie is the one candidate who is truly capable of defeating Trump doesn't seem to matter to them, but Bernie's supporters are supposed to bite the bullet when nobody from the other side is willing to bite a bullet for Bernie?
Sorry, but the most logical candidate IS Bernie - and if the NY Times and others are willing to risk all just to keep Bernie from taxing them at a higher rate - then they can all go fly a kite! They DESERVE another 4 years of Trump.
12
@SR Just a fact to point out the deception of this post. More Clinton voters defected to McCain in 2008, than Sanders supporters to Trump in 2016/ Look it up. This is a persistent deception .
6
I'm quite uncomfortable with some of Sander's supporters...the Bernie Bros. who are almost as virulent and cultish as the Trumpsters even though to an opposite ideology. Their constant attacks against any other possibility to be the nominee and pledges to stay home if Bernie doesn't win the nomination will just bring us more Trump and set their own cause back so far that progressive policies may not happen in their lifetime. This purity attitude is not good for our cause. Bernie is not my favorite candidate by far, but IF he wins the nomination he will get my vote because the alternative is so terrible for the country. The Bernie Bros types would do well to not poison the well of other candidates and vote for whoever the voters choose to run against Trump.
180
@Laura Philips But the point of Krugman’s article is that the deceptive video and dishonest portrayal of Biden’s positions are not from the “fringe”, it’s from senior advisors and aides to Sanders.
67
@Mary
Bernie Bros = Bogeyman. Neither exists. The former is the invention of Neera Tanden and David Brock while the latter... well, you know.
46
@Laura Philips Sanders’ “fringe” certainly makes a lot of noise, amplified in part by positions on his staff and as his surrogates. Hardly a “fringe” by any stretch of the definition. Sanders needs undecided voters like me but I’m not buying your depiction of him or his supporters. No thanks.
34
I've noticed that quite a few Bernie Sanders supporters are exactly the same as Trump supporters. They are willing to do and say anything if the feel that Sanders is being held to task. They hijack anything written about another candidate, especially Warren.
306
@JER. I'm a journalist with a great reverance for the facts and a Bernie supporter. What makes Bernie so popular is how authentic and honest he is. That is why the liberal elites are trying to undermine that image now. Becasue the quality of his cahracter seems to be winning in the long run. The mor traditional politicians threatened by it. And BTW, no one in the liberal elite table called out Warren for her appalling, way out of context accusation about Sanders a few days ago that took place in a private meeting between them. She lobbed a grenade at their longtime friendship and his campaign because she was slipping in the polls. I would not do that to my worst enemy. Why does she get off the hook and Sanders does not?
82
@JER. are you complaining about Sanders supporters voicing opinions? If they feel their candidate is being misrepresented, like Krugman does here, should they just sit quietly and accept it? Would you do the same for your candidate?
54
@Laura Philips ...."What makes Bernie so popular is how authentic and honest he is."....There are millions of Americans who are authentic and honest who should never be considered as Presidential material.
12
Sanders' appeal is very Trumpian, but from the Left. There are strong parallels. Both are populist, rather than data or policy-driven appeals. Both have a bit of personality cultism and fears of a free press and an elitist boogeyman. Both are inward looking and revisionist, and have problems with facts and truth. Both have aggrieved, militant supporters with often blind loyalty. Sanders is undoubtedly a much better man than Trump, but it's concerning.
213
@Osito -- Trump was right to rebel against the conventional wisdom of our political elite.
He just had the exact wrong answers, as his alternative. He also lied about his answers, pretending they were not as bad as they are.
Bernie has the same rebellion, and is also correct to do so. The difference is that he has good sound answers and alternatives.
So sure there is a parallel. They both see the problem, but one makes it worse while the other tries to fix things.
None of that can be used to support the middle they are both rebelling against, but that is how the Never Trump and Bernie can't win are playing it. They want more of what got us here, more of what ails us. The status quo.
34
@Osito --
Bernie for many years has cited the facts, including to Greenberg about trade deficits and taxes (look up these discussions on YouTube), and Bernie was correct every time.
Gotta go with the data and Bernie has the data, time and again!
27
1) Make an argument
2) Prove that argument
Sources, please!
M4A is policy.
GND is policy.
Raising the minimum wage is policy.
Ending the wars overseas is policy.
10
Much like 2016 Bernie and his followers are all too willing to scuttle a viable candidate to pursue his self centered, self aggrandizing, destructive run for the presidency.
Let’s hope the Democrats can unify behind an electable candidate. Please.
389
@J Barrymore , the idea that Bernie isn't electable is an idea founded in punditry, not in data. If you look at the data, you'll see he does better than every other candidate in head-to-head polls (except for maybe Biden), he does better than every other candidate with independents, he has the highest favorability rating among all candidates, he has the most grass roots energy among all candidates, and he has a broad base of support among the midwestern working class. All the datapoints are there showing he is one of the most electable, if not the most electable candidate. The idea that the more moderate you are, the more electable you are is just backwards. Who have been the most popular Presidents of all time? You would put people like Reagan and FDR on that list, both of whom were far from moderate.
42
@J Barrymore Some of us care that a candidate do more than be "viable". Also, we think that Sanders himself is viable.
Sanders' biggest hurdle isn't the Trump crowd - national polls show that he'd beat Trump just as easily as Biden would. No, the problem is that the Democratic establishment won't play fair if doing so would lead to them losing a lot of power and money.
45
@J Barrymore : I guess you missed the part where Sanders campaigned for Clinton and urged his supporters to vote for her.
That some of them (very few) didn't is not his fault.
36
Also: why hasn't Sanders issued a clear statement to his supporters to stop harassing Warren online with the creepy snakes and worse. In 2016, I thought, "I like Bernie but don't like his supporters." In 2020, I'm thinking, "Bernie could stop this, but chooses not to." I'm disturbed.
985
@Kelly W I contributed to Sanders in 2016, and have been eerily uncomfortable with everything that has surrounded him ever since the 2016 election. At this point, if I could go back, probably support HRC in that primary.
70
@Kelly W , Snake emojis? Oh the horror. There have certainly been more than a few ridiculous Sanders supporters, but the sexist harassment claims are overblown and exaggerated like you're doing here.
108
@Kelly W
Well Jeff Weaver is obnoxious and loud and a total turn off is sill talking about Sanders as I find out he is no longer a campaign manager.
So why , Mr Sanders is keeping him to speak for him I wonder.
25
Bernie Sanders rejects any claims that his (and his supporters) unwillingness to gracefully accept defeat in the last democratic primary played a part in getting Trump elected.
So now it starts and here we go. According to the Sanders campaign Elizabeth Warren, besides the fatal flaw of being a woman, is an elitist who can’t bring in any new voters and Joe Biden is another corporate puppet. Deja vu all over again.
Please be more careful this time. Nothing is more important to fulfilling any hope of a progressive future than unifying to defeat Donald Trump. It will be up to the unsuccessful candidates to rally their base around whoever is the nominee. And that most of all includes the “Bernie Bros” who threaten to withhold their votes if they don’t get their way.
1170
@Me Sanders took part in no less than forty campaign events for Hillary Clinton. Let's not whitewash this and try to make it sabotage. 2016 was a race between the two least liked candidates in the field and the least liked won.
195
@raoulhubris
It wasn't Bernie himself, necessarily, that didn't support Hillary enthusiastically enough in 2016, it was Bernie supporters.
100
@Jerry
Exactly. And they are still peeved about 2016.
64
Thanks Dr. Krugman,just making another donation to Senator Sanders.Yes the candidate that is trying to save the working and middle classes.I know he is a bit of a pain to the corporate world,but us little people like him.
3
Well, well. This column, the article in today's paper quoting H-R-C and the recent debate brouhaha with Senator Warren can only mean one thing: Mr Sanders is expected to win in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Rather than 'to the victor go the spoils', we have the media 'to the leader, go the arrows.'
4
People are always talking about Bernie Bros being the worst fanatics. I have seen the same lunatic fringe among fans of Hillary and of Warren - I am talking about people who say if their candidate is not the winner, they won't vote or will vote for third party or whatever. Crazies. ALL the candidates have some crazies following them - and unfortunately, the crazies, like Trump, get a lot of attention online, way more than they deserve considering their numbers.
I can believe Bernie's campaign took something out of context or maybe made a mistake. This race is heating up. It looked to me the other day like Warren was deliberately staging a scene post-debate when Bernie came to shake her hand - trying to make B look bad. The stuff Hillary said about Bernie seems pretty severe - and he had reason to be annoyed after it came out that the DNC was favoring Hillary. I like Bernie, Warren, and Hillary (and have voted for two of them) but they are all politicians. Singling out Bernie as a bad actor seems unfair.
1
please stop calling S.S. an entitlement Krugman, you know better. And Biden is not the likely Democratic nominee.
1
I think that Sanders has to tell us what his sources of financing are. Last time around he had a mysterious flight to Rome, charter plane and all, and met at the Vatican with then President Evo Morales of Bolivian and with the Pope.
The fact that South American leftist dictators are rumored to keep their money, at least a portion of it at the Vatican Bank and that they all receive money from Putin hangs over that meeting.
Sander should come clean about that meeting and about his financing for this campaign,
1
I am sick of the pearl clutching from the pundit class about Bernie. You are the same people who ignored Trump’s ties to organized crime, the racism and sexism. Zephyr Teachout didn’t say anything that wasn’t true about Joe Biden. It’s clear the pundit class are in the tank for Biden. Biden doesn’t excite anyone and if the DNC engineers his win, I will say I told you so when he loses to Trump.
3
But, but Hillary lied when she said Sanders didn't campaign for her.
2
Four yrs ago, Krugman chided Sanders supporters and lectured them to vote for the neolib--and he's doing it again. Biden is soft on Social Security--like Obama was at times. Biden is soft on regulating banks, but not on punishing criminals. Following the lead of other media, the NYT lets Biden get away with not accounting for a long political career of meeting the Republicans 2/3 of the way. But isn't that's what the Democratic candidate-selection process all about? Finding the candidate who meets the Republicans exactly to the extent the media and Wall St think is proper?
I guess Sanders is running strong, judging from this piece, Hillary's hilarious bashing of Bernie, the NYT's recent anyone-but-Sanders endorsement, and Warren's attempt to corner Sanders by disclosing a comment that I suspect he made, but in a more complicated context. What next from the desperados? A draft Hillary campaign?
3
One fact pattern Dems have to avoid...connection with immigrants in socialist countries coming to the US and supporting Bernie's socialist policies. Whether you agree or not...it is a dangerous link that would unite Repubs and bring four more disastrous Trump years.
Bernie is a big zero. Hillary talks in depth about this. But for the Democrats to actually nominate him is the longest shot. No Dem politician wants to spend their Billions on a non party candidate. He lure the liberal Dems with a ZERO track record and proposes stuff that no country can afford. He is also unelectable. A small matter to consider. But to trash Biden is a big mistake. He's even less welcome than ever. He will probably try a third party run and be a spoiler again so that Trump can win. Dream on Bernie and all who sail with you.
If Biden can't handle this he should quite now.
Bernie has apologized for that op-ed. This very newspaper reported on it. Krugman is doing the same thing he accuses Bernie of doing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/21/us/politics/bernie-sanders-apologizes-joe-biden.html
1
In endorsing Warren and Klobuchar, the NYT hopes (1) to sink Sanders in Iowa and (2) to wrench the conversation away from class politics to identity politics.
Krugman's smear is a part of the scheme. As in 2016, K smells a cabinet post in his future if he plays the game. May he again be bitterly disappointed.
3
I'm sorry but if Sanders is dishonest then so is the NYT, Washington Post, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Shareblue etc.
Paul your entire argument is basically "Fake News" dismissal of hundred of various articles over the decades praising Biden for being 'serious' about cutting social security and medicare consistently. Not just Joe but more importantly is his financial backers and what they want/believe. Even if Joe changes his tune because we demanded he do so, we are not who he is beholden too. Joe is nothing if not a consistent politician, consistently wrong on segregationists, busing, crack/cocaine sentencing and tough on crime mass incarceration, credit card company sweetheart deals and bankruptcy bill protections, the War on Iraq...shall we go on, at the end of the day the recent sudden turn is unconvincing. I can see why the Times sorta kinda endorsed Amy over Joe because she proudly owns her GOP positions. I don't like it but at least it's honest.
Bernie's attacks can all be directly sourced to your columns or news articles in the NYT. To dispute them is to say your paper lied about the Grand Bargain. So which is it?
4
Respected Sir,
You are pointing that Sanders team lied and you are kind of correct.Sarcasm is difficult and Biden failed to convey it when he talked about Ryan, and Bernie's team took advantage of it.
Biden is incoherent once in while so that mistake was expected.But I had high expectation from you. If you are not lying you are misguiding your readers by hiding complete facts.
First, the example you gave, about the Jews is not sarcastic, and Biden comment was.
Second you don't mention that that in next line Biden said "So we need a pro-growth, progressive tax code that treats workers as job creators, as well, not just
investors; that gets rid of unprotective loopholes like stepped-up basis; and it raises enough revenue to
make sure that the Social Security and Medicare can stay, it still needs adjustments, but can stay; " .
What are these adjustments ? definitely not expansion when he says "but can stay". Now aren't you being hypocrite and using same Trumpian tactics you so abhor.
This is not how Democrats will win 2020.
It is indeed telling that Krugman is animated about the use of Biden's video piece out of context rather than the multiple videos and reports of when Biden worked to cut back Social Security and Medicare for people who helped build this nation and are now aged, including the 60%+ of African Americans who depend on SS for their entire support in retirement. Yes Mr Krugman, we can see where you stand, and it is not with we the people. Turn our faces away from the real problem, that a front-runner for President has a nasty history he'd like to hide which has caused millions of poor and elderly fear for their income and health care. Shame on you.
2
I will never vote for Bernie Sanders. I do not consider him an improvement. He is too old, too grouchy, too much of a loner, and not actually a Democrat.
I will be voting for one of the other people who is running for the office. I have written in a name before when neither of the major party candidates was acceptable. I will do that again if necessary.
In a survey of my wealthy Harvard College '77 classmates, roughly 80 percent identified as Democrats AND roughly 80 percent favored Social Security reductions. It's plain to see that the Democrat elites who will not need Social Security fear higher taxes and will vote accordingly.
70
@trenton
:(
@trenton Talk to more people in the same income bracket as your classmates. Many of them do not believe in cuts to SS.
3
@trenton
What "survey"?
Was it a real survey or poll? Who conducted it?
How were responses gathered and how were
results tabulated?
How many were asked, and how many responded?
And what constitutes "wealthy"?
4
As I look at the positions of the Democratic Presidential Hopefuls, I constantly consider the lyrics of the Rolling Stones song (Keith Richards/Mick Jagger), "You Can't Always Get What You Want". The lyrics in question go something like,
"You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes, well, you might find
You get what you need".
And what we need is a candidate who can soundly beat Donald Trump. That means not too far left for all the moderates (independents and republicans). Maybe I want Medicare for All, Free College/Vocational School, Emergency Environment Controls, Radical Gun Control, etc., but what I need is to beat Donald Trump and his gang of sycophants to at least reverse the tail-spin we are in.
That's why I have to support a candidate like Joe Biden who can bring along those moderates AND the African American vote necessary to win. No, he's not perfect, but perfection isn't what I need now.
5
Bernie's tactics are too closely mirroring trump. Dems generally are not ruthless, esp in comparison to the republicans - and absolutely vis-a-vis trump repubs.
He is not a Democrat and his bernie bros/militant supporters forewarn big problems for Dems in the general election. They are stubborn, often mean, and will not vote for anyone else. We know this; better for bernie to go out early.
It is not enough to be fervently angry that our systems and lives are rigged at various levels. Yet, you must have solid policy prescriptions - step by step - based on history/reality and a way to even bring that change. Truth: the world is rigged; trump has just exploited all the cracks towards a mega-banana republic.
Bernie is right to point out obvious injustices that exist BUT he is not a changemaker. He is a protester in chief and we'd be better served with him in the Senate for VT.
He really does need to be exposed for his inherent and learned weaknesses. Warren also hurts herself in often clinging so tight to him.
7
Nice try, Dr. K. But your argument is a fizzle. Biden did indeed thoughtlessly parrot the then conventional wisdom about Social Security, just as he thoughtlessly voted for the Iraq War. For Biden, being a team player is more important than being intellectually or morally right. Ah, well, FDR was wrong sometimes, too, but on the whole . . .
4
It seems Pied Piper Bernie has captured a disturbing number of your readers Paul. We should all brace ourselves for troubling times ahead.
4
NYT is now genuinely scared that Bernie is going to win. The frequency of attacks on Bernie are directly proportionally to his increasing momentum.
9
@Tru4evr
There is no conspiracy - Bernie did the same to Hillary Clinton - go to the fact check sites.
You may prefer his policies but that is not a reason to put your head in the sand regarding his extremely bad character and underhanded and unethical behavior - he is too much like Trump in that regard for my liking.
1
I think that Sanders is emotionally exhausting. He flails about with his arms and hands like a kid in grade school who wants to get the teacher’s attention. Then when he gets his chance to speak, he sounds highly agitated. “It’s my way, or the highway” from Sanders perspective.
He needs to take a chill pill.
I’m all in for Joe Biden.
3
I am disappointed in you Mr. Krugman.
Don't like Bernie? Fine I don't either but criticizing him for 'lying' about Joe Biden by quoting the wrong speech and then admitting that he held that position in other speeches is just petty and nit-picky.
Did I miss an announcement that today was National Pick-On-Bernie day or something?
I am well aware that the Times doesn't like him. Anyone that has been reading since 2015 knows this. However you can do better than this or if you can't then maybe Bernie isn't so bad after all.
8
Social Security benefits have repeatedly been cut. First they were partially taxed, then the part which was taxed was raised to 85%. Then the retirement age was increased from 65 to 67.
3
I supported Bernie Sanders in the last election but now I believe that his minions have become a Bernie Cult and all they do is berate people on twitter, Facebook etc, etc. There is not difference between the Cult of Trump and now the Cult of Bernie.
5
@Virgil
Rather than call them a name, why don't you challenge their assertions? You may find it more... challenging.
5
Thank you. As a Democrat, I agree that responsibility needs to be taken for the ad and a clear apology given. . . for the sake of those of us seeking to reverse the post-truth pattern of politics.
3
Cutting Social Security is actually cutting the living standard of old people. Those with other sources of income will find the cuts mildly annoying; those who depend on Social Security will find them painful, and those who are just managing to survive will find their existence more stressful, painful, and in many cases shortened.
Nobody ever puts the Social Security discussions in these terms.
4
Sanders' campaign has had lots of problems and he always distances himself and claims ignorance. Where does the buck stop, Bernie? The tone and substance of a campaign's actions (and a country's) should come from the top. I'm with Hillary in terms of liking him--I don't. She's right that he hasn't apparently accomplished much (he got a post office named once, I read). He also is NOT a Democrat yet for the second time now he wants to use their nominating process to try and become president. As for his policies, he seems to get away with waving his arms a lot and yelling about what's wrong with everything (so cute!) but is never held to account for how exactly he would fix things. Unlike Warren, who was called on the carpet about Medicare for All, and then got policy wonks to figure it out and explained her plan. Why does Bernie get a pass on this? I'll give you two guesses.
9
Dr. Krugman: I wish you had read this online news article before you decided to criticize Bernie Sanders so unfairly:
"Fact Check: Joe Biden Has Advocated Cutting Social Security for 40 years," by Ryan Grim, the Intercept, January 13, 2020.
https://theintercept.com/2020/01/13/biden-cuts-social-security/
12
NYT has always disliked Bernie. This is some troubling skewed reporting.
1
At worst, the Sander’s newsletter mischaracterized Biden’s statement as “lauding with Ryan and agreeing with him that social security and medicare should be cut”, when it was more accurate to say “Biden mocks Ryan and disagrees that major cuts to social security and medicare are needed, but then suggests that social security and medicare could cut benefits from those who don’t need it to save costs.” To see this, look at Biden’s words, quoted in the Politifact article, directly aftet the statements made in the video: “Now I don’t know a whole lot of people in the top 10th of 1 percent or top 1 percent who are relying pn social security when they retire. I don’t know a lot of them. Maybe you guys do. So we need a pro-growth, progressive tax code ... [that] raises enough revenue so that social security and medicare can stay, it still needs adjustments, but can stay.” The “adjustments” likely refers to making benefits means tested, which is cutting the benefits for some based on a determination of whether or not they need them. So what Biden likely means is “yes, Ryan is crazy to suggest we dismantle benefits to pay for tax cuts, but we could still strip them from people who don’t need it ao it can be paid for by a progressive tax code.” It is naive to think that, just because Biden is suggesting a cut only for privileged people, that this does not constitute a cut. Indeed, it sets a precedent for cutting benefits to more as the definition of “need” changes.
3
@Babborino
Very informed and well reasoned interpretation, especially concerning S.S. means testing.
But I think Biden is referring to progressive taxing (and it economic consequences) in order to pay for benefits (even with adjustments) - not the other way around.
1
Flip-flopping on the part of Bidden in this important issue of Social Security makes him unfit for the presidency.
Who or what assures us that, if he were elected president, he wouldn't go to the "old ways"? Nobody can stop a dude once he is a president.
Bidden is rather obscure and stays on the surface of issues, avoiding direct compromise on anything.... Just vagaries.
6
Why should we be surprised?
Sanders did the exact same thing to Hillary Clinton!
If Sanders supporters had gone to the fact check sites like Politifact and FactCheck - they would have been aware of this back then!
He is up to his old tricks - he is like Trump in the respect that if he thinks he can't win fair and square - he will lie and cheat.
He even seems to have "crowd size" type issues.
When Hillary won the primary by over 2 MILLION votes - Bernie called foul against the process -
-yet once again the fact check sites said - no not true.
7
@Meg
Are you aware that there are always "pile on" votes, as in this case, after a nomination contest is mathematically clinched? It mostly represents the bandwagon effect for the winner and depressed voter turnout for the loser, rather than the true popularity of the winner. This happens every four years and will happen again this spring - it's meaningless.
1
@carl bumba
Basically you are saying that Democracy and voting is meaningless if it does not support your candidate.
1
@Meg
What? No, just late voting states in the primaries, like late voting time-zone states in the general election (since the media, just in America, call it like a horse race) are effectively not part of the process. Therefore, Hillary's almost 2 million spread over Bernie and her 3 million plus spread over Trump both occurred largely at the very end and are basically meaningless.
1
Really who cares? This is politics. No one votes for someone because of facts. They vote how they feel. The only way to beat back the establishment is to use whatever tools are at your disposal. Using a video that is edited to show your opponent's past views is just another trick. Do I like it? of course not, but change will only happen when every establishment figure is removed from office and embarrassed.
@NW
The reason it matters is because false claims like this are designed to change how people feel about a candidate.
If Biden should become the nominee - and false claims like this are taken seriously )like they were with Clinton) some independents who voted for Trump last time may do so again.
5
@Meg But that is only if Biden is wins the nomination! Also, Clinton lost the election because she didn't campaign well enough and was the perfect foil for right wing trolls. Bernie is a far different and better candidate.
@NW
Trump picked up and fanned the flames of a lot of Berne's false arguments against Hillary once Trump also secured the nomination.
In addition, there is no excuse for such poor behavior and lies from Sanders.
1
The Bernie cult members are again out in force. Bernie's people put out a doctored video, and got caught. They also put out a false hit piece, calling Biden "corrupt," for which even Bernie had to apologize. This same thing happened in 2016 when the bros did this sort of thing, and it helped elect Trump. Bernie lets his bros and campaign people do the dirty work, and then issues a weak "apology" to make it look like he doesn't know what is going on. If he can't control his campaign, he can't manage the country as President.
Social Security needs to be fixed, and there are many ways to do it, some good, some very bad. If Trump is reelected, nothing good is going to happen with Social Security. If Bernie is nominated, he won't have a chance after Trump and his Republican and Russian buddies are through with him, and nothing good is going to happen. We can't afford another four years of Trump and McConnell. Bernie needs to be responsible for what his campaign people and some of his followers do. If needs to be called out, and we owe Professor Krugman a thank you for his column.
6
This incident comes a no surprise to any of us who, in 2016, were subjected to the vitriol, abuse and harassment of the Bernie Bros.
6
Krugman is right. Biden has wanted to cut Social Security for 30 years. Biden engages too much with Republicans who know how to lead him on. Biden is very egotistical and easy to cajoll? Anyhow, Repulicans have Biden's number in that he wants to be Mr. Compromiser... Pre-emptive compromise is what doomed Barack Obama's greatest achievments in his first two years of his administration.
But what will beat Donald Trump? Not these detailed academic hard to understand dogmatic arguments! Just a few straight forward sentences. Elilzabeth Warren will raise incomes and taxes on the wealthy. Amy Klobochar will get a lot of good legislation passed to make America richer and more secure - and to fight global warming.
Keep it simple. Most potential voters in swing states don't read much. I went to college for 10 years and it took my half an hour to get to the bottom of the implications of Mr. Krugman's critical comments about Joe Biden today. Joe is very middle of the road Democrat. But he's better than Trump.
That's not a good campaign to run on to beat Trump, any way you slice it.
2
The truth is that Social Security is something like a pyramid scheme. The younger generation puts money into the pot and the older generation takes it out. Responsible people have worried about the long-term viability of Social Security since...forever. Various fixes are proposed from time to time and they have their day.
This process is common in policymaking. People float ideas that don't look so great 10 years down the road. Krugman is correct that we have to be careful about cherrypicking from the record of politicians who have considered whatever latest great idea is out there. That's their job.
And Bernie supporters should be aware that many of Sanders' ideas won't be enacted and are unlikely to survive the test of time also.
1
We get it, Paul. You don't like Sanders. Just put it in your byline and write about something else. These articles are tedious and disingenuous.
8
Bernie Sanders appears to be an angry man. During his debates he has been combative and not always a pleasant person. Is this who we want running our country? I think he is desperate.
9
I think Krugman is over optimistic and there really are STILL some reasons to worry about the sustainability of the current Social Security formulas. I think Biden is wrong to have moved away from that discussion. But at least Biden seems capable of reading and listening to arguments rather than just telling people what they want to hear.
Absolutely not a lie.
In context, Biden was signaling to the policy wonks at Brookings that he'd be willing to consider means testing social security.
Biden may well have been sucked in by the conventional wisdom, but whose opinion matters more: the wonks at Brookings or elderly working class voters in Iowa?
You know who wasn't "pulled in by the conventional wisdom" that we need to cut social security?
Vermont Senator, Bernard Sanders!
How many times does this guy have to be right before you people get on board?
8
@-brian All he wants to do is give away free stuff, which he has zero chance of getting enacted, so of course kids like him. And why is he even running in the Democratic primary? What happened to his claim if independence from parties?
To answer your question, "Should janitors be forced to keep working because corporate lawyers are living longer?"
The answer is yes if people keep voting the way that they do. We're asking for this treatment from our politicians by voting Republican. If Americans want to shoot themselves in the foot in this manner, then screwing over janitors and preserving corporate lawyers is exactly the way things will go.
4
Candidates should not lie about one another. Voters shouldn't get tied in knots about previous policy positions of their candidates. Voters should not even get tied up in knots about current policy positions of Democratic front-runners, since their dream policies aren't going to get voted into law anyhow. They should be focused on the team the candidate will build, the judicial nominees, how versed they are in the issues, how grounded and centered. Their policy positions give an overall view of the direction they'd like to take the country, but I'm not worried that a Warren or Sanders presidency will result in free everything for everyone.
1
This is not going to hurt any Democrat against Trump. In Trump's 2019 budget were a $26 billion decrease in Social Security spending over the next 10 years. Also, $1.5 trillion in cuts to Medicaid over the next 10 years, which would be achieved by moving payouts to block grants.
1
Bernie is the most trustworthy person running for President. It seems that pundits and others with a stump look for any chance to jump on him. Beat up on everyone equally or on nobody at all. Bernie should apologize, but what about Warren, Buttegieg, Biden, Klobuchar, and anybody else who has been mistaken?
2
This wasn’t a mistake. It was a flat-out lie. There is a difference.
1
@Laura
Biden flat out lies on a daily basis, e.g., on his position on the Iraq war.
1
@JL No, he's not. Take a look: vettingbernie.org
Paul K. is merely doing a hatchet job on Sanders, for reasons that are not clear. Krugman knows full well that there was no error and no fabrication by Sanders. Krugman is way, way too smart to not know exactly that Biden is highly capable of strutting out an "across the aisle" deal that cuts SS and Medicare. Bernie merely reminded him, and us, of that liability. C'mon Paul.
10
Federal Budget deficits could be characterized as boosting private sector income and wealth today. Thus, the fiscal stimulus offsets some of the negative impacts of the tariffs, now in effect. This deficit stimulus is possibly at the expense of future generations.
The negative impacts on efficiency and productivity from tariffs and the positive impacts of both fiscal stimulus from the trillion dollar deficits and rollback of environmental regulations ( also possibly at the at the expense of future generations) impact different segments of the population very differently. More important is the fact that different segments of the population are very different in their ability to offset the negative impacts on efficiency and productivity from tariffs.
The segments of the population whose wealth and income are primarily derived from labor, are mostly unable to offset the negative impacts on efficiency and productivity from tariffs. They generally must pay the higher prices that tariffs cause for all products made from steel and aluminum, and many items that come from China such as bicycles and Christmas tree ornaments. Additionally, some new tariffs on goods from Europe are being considered. Furthermore, the reductions in productivity and efficiency caused by trade restrictions that disrupt supply chains and raise input prices reduce the ability of most workers to obtain higher wages from their private sector employers..."
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4315039
Everyone knows what "adjustments" to Social Security means, and it's not good for recipients. Add Mr. Krugman to the Times' list of hit men on Sanders.
7
The political candidate, like the captain of a ship, is responsible for the actions of his minions/crew. This speaks ill of Sanders and confirms suspicions of Biden.
But, at the end of the day, either Sanders or Biden is preferable to Trump.
"times that try men's souls", indeed...
3
I feel that Krugman concern trolled this one. Honestly, Bernie needs to take Nader-level responsibility for what happened in 2016, not recapitulate the same mistakes. Bernie needs to be a positive guy, promoting his ideas, offering fresh answers and new directions, not criticizing others or engaging in needless tiffs. Instead, rather than say his ideas are better, Bernie and his team would rather criticize their competitors. Trumpian indeed. Bottom line is that Bernie seems to relish the confrontations and encourages a destructive streak where precipitating a failure is used to prove the need for change. Frankly, this brought us Trump. What we learned is not that Obama's moderation was bad, but that Obama's moderation was great! So, maybe you should have given us Hillary to "prove" the need for new ideas. Wow, Hillary would have been a disaster /s.
4
Making me think Bloomberg may just be the best bet to beat Trump. That's what it's all about at this point in time.
4
Krugman's criticism of Sanders and his campaign is reasonable, valid, substantiated and worthy of respect.
Clinton's smear of Sanders is despicable, and more likely than not designed to divide and damage the Democratic Party.
Evidently, Clinton has decided that if she cannot president, she will insure that no Democrat can beat Trump. Despite Sanders's misdeeds, I now have much more respect for him than for Hillary Clinton.
Disclosure, I am Warren supporter. not a Sanders supporter, but I previously thought of him as an honorable man with integrity.
4
There was less substance and more hand waving in this latest attack from Krugman on Sanders than just about any I've seen in the past. Much ado about nothing. Somehow Sanders is Trumpian because someone in his campaign said that Biden had supported cutting Social Security years after Biden had supported cutting Social Security?? Trumpian is lying tens of thousands of times as president.
8
I don’t trust Sanders and I always felt that he’s just out for himself , not the Democratic party which he is not even a member of .
He’s always grouchy and quite frankly I believe he lacks the grace and diplomacy needed on the world stage to correct Trump’s shameless behavior.
And you know what ? I believe Elizabeth Warren when she said that Bernie told her a woman couldn’t get elected . He might not have said it in that exact matter , but I believe he said something to her that was not nice .
Thank you for this editorial . Everything said here is true .
16
Why does the good professor make no mention of the possibility of means testing for SS benefits? It is ridiculous that I receive a check every month, as I am extremely comfortable, financially. Did I pay in? Yes. Is it "my money"? You could make that case. But that's beside the point. As I see it, I paid into an insurance policy and I shouldn't be able to draw benefits unless I need them.
3
Might I be imprudent to suggest a few observations.
1. Suppose this person paid into an annuity and did NOT receive any income in the end. I don’t think (s)he would be happy. Yes, I know SS is NOT an annuity, it is more complicated than that because there is a welfare component.
2. If this individual is satisfied with his/her financial comfort, I have a recommendation (or two). Give it to a worthwhile charitable cause or perhaps better still, send it back to the government to help stabilize the long term possible problems for SS.
1
@JimBob
money that you pay in is your money.
If you don't want or need it, give it to a older widow with limited means. that would be fine.
1
@JimBob
Then donate the money—maybe other wealthy folks want their money back so leave us alone.
1
Interesting Dr Krugman blames Bernie's staff when it is clear Sanders exaggerates and lies to win, just like every politician. He lied about Warren and he lied about Biden.
12
Bernie Sanders still has not admitted that it was his supporters who fell in with his paranoid rants about being treated unfairly and then either stayed home, voted for Trump, or voted third party that got us Trump.
He is dangerous. Some people mistake his yelling for passion. It isn't. His only "passion" is the socialist idea that he developed as a college student radical that he has been waiting for 50 years to have an audience for.
Psychologists know that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Sanders' past behavior cost Democrats the election. So will his future behavior.
And neither he nor his "Bernie Bros" will ever fess up to how destructive they have been to the vulnerable in our society.
9
@Travelers There is a lot of white male privilege going on the Sanders camp.
Joe Biden has been saying we need to cut social security benefits for literally decades. Now that he’s running for Prez he says they need to be expanded
The man is a corporate tool and a panderer. If you trust him with your retirement benefits by all means vote for him in the primary—but caveat emptor.
6
@Philip Cafaro
well the problem is, I don't see the Republicans or Trump concerned with shoring up SS or creating affordable healthcare.
No one could be worse than them.
2
@Carla Right. Biden is better than Trump.
1
Paul, when do apologize to Bernie and his supporters for the things you did in the last election, especially given you got the last election wrong?
4
As an Independent voter disgusted with Mr. Trump and his minions, I see the Democratic circular firing squad as troublesome. Here in Texas, virtually the only television ads we see are from Mr. Bloomberg, whose policies I find attractive. Especially about the need to remove Mr. Trump, and his pledge to pursue that goal even if he is not the nominee. The only person I see "criticizing" Mr. Bloomberg is ... Mr. Trump, who in his adolescent fashion calls him "mini-Mike". (Mr. Bloomberg is 5'8", two inches taller than the average male, but Mr. Trump at 6'3" apparently wants to "tower" over Mr. Bloomberg's *actual* wealth and business success.)
107
You are right they Steyer and Bloomberg are the only ones not engaging in the circular firing squad. It is troublesome. And dangerous for the country.
5
@Steve Kennedy
Not to be picky, but…
a. Bloomberg is 5’ 7”, though he managed to add an inch to his Wikipedia page. Sort of like when he added three inches to his driver’s license.
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/bill-de-blasio-height-tall-mayor-bloomberg-height-short/1959631/
b. The average height of males in the U.S. is 5’ 9”, not 5’6” (You might mean the global average, which would not only be irrelevant, but also incorrect. It’s 5’7”, not 5’6”.)
c. Bloomberg’s height should have absolutely no bearing on his candidacy, but in fact it WILL. It’s just how people are – they associate height with leadership. It’s not fair, but it’s real.
d. Yes, Trump should stop the name calling. He should be bigger than that.
6
Points of order: the average height of the adult American male is said to be between 5’9” and 5’10”, while Bloomberg himself once stated he was 5’7”.
4
This nomination and election are too important for any candidate or his/her campaign to misrepresent any other candidate. The country simply cannot afford divisiveness within the Democratic Party. As Truman said, "The buck stops here." Right now, Sanders doesn't seem to have that attitude; he should.
2
Seems pretty minor to me, kind of hyperbolic to call a slightly out-of-context video "Trumpian," as Krugman does. Was it a smart move to use an out-of-context video of Biden, no.
But, the sentiment in the video was, in fact, true;There is a whole archive of C-Span footage on YouTube of Joe Biden calling for cuts and spending freezes to Social Security and Medicare, etc. Krugman plays this off by saying it was a different time when all the Democrats were saying the same thing.
Weird that he doesn't caveat it by pointing out the one guy for whom you can't find any record of advocating cuts to these programs is, in fact, Bernie Sanders.
8
Thanks to Bernie, the democrats, in fact the country is more progressive. However a self confirmed socialist will never win the presidency, the GOP media machine will equate Bernie with Venezuela, or Cuba as it just successfully happened in the UK. A stubborn non compromising self proclaimed socialist in Corbin just got trounced by a buffoon like Boris Johnson. Murdoch and his hate for profit racket of misinformation was instrumental in the UK election. In fact Socialism is much more popular in the UK. The GOP media cabal will convince enough voters that if we elect a socialist Bernie we will look like the socialist Venezuela or Cuba!
I believe the democrats have the greatest chance since FDR to reset the much needed political trajectory of America, which means a democratic capitalist like Warren. This is because this election will NOT be about policy but about personalities of Trump versus the democratic nominee. In life as in politics those who took bold chances at moment of greatest opportunity, reap the rewards. If the democrats don't elect a progressive candidate, we will be back the status quo of Clinton versus change in Trump. The country is ripe for a change, the democrats cannot have a prevent defence strategy and nominate a corporate aka moderate democrat, or they and the country will lose again! Warren is the closest to FDR since FDR and if we are courageous to make the right choice again we will reap the rewards perhaps for another half century.
3
The argument about whether moderate Democrats, Republicans or Liberterians will cut Social Security is downright waste of time.
The 30 trillion dollar price tag (non-partisan GAO) for Medicare for all is the thing that is going to sink Social Security .....and Medicare. Liberal Progressives are rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.
4
I'm pleased to read this from Mr. Krugman. It reinforces everything Hillary Clinton said about Sanders in that Hollywood Reporter interview, and I have complete respect for her courage in stating so clearly why Sanders should not be the candidate. I wish more senior politicians were as honest and forthright. Sanders' campaign is based on anger. We have someone whose entire modus vivendi is rage in the White House already.
9
The American oligarchy thanks you and Dr. Krugman for doing their dirty work for them.
2
This assessment, which, like the ed-board "endorsement," likens Sanders's style to that of Trump, reads to me as further evidence of the corrosive effects of insularity among elite commentators. It is dangerously out of touch to think that mobilizing have nots to demand structural change and greater equality is the same as mobilizing them to demand fascism. Everything I see coming from the NYtimes seems to convey some kind of befuddled bafflement at how Bernie Sanders could be gaining so much support, and to assume that it must be somehow nefarious mesmerizing and dirty tricks of dangerous foot soldiers. When I visited rallies for Sanders after the Los Angeles debate, I discovered that the so-called "Bernie Bros" were nearly all women and people of color, people who are working two jobs and not able to make ends meet, listening to someone tell them they deserve health care and access to education. Not that shocking that they are listening, really. Except to those who know the numbers, but maybe not the people. Talk back to those who fight dirty against Sanders in the party, and then perhaps I will take you and your colleagues a bit more seriously.
12
I see the formation of a Democratic circular firing squad here and in other recent stories.
We must not let this happen. It will be hard enough to defeat Trump with total unity.
4
There's a not-too-subtle subtext here that anyone would be a better choice than the person currently occupying the white house. While the implication is true, and I will support whoever runs in opposition to trump, I am still hoping for a less juvenile, more issue-oriented campaign. Let's not stoop to back-biting, name-calling and distorting the past. Hillary, Bernie, and the rest of you, behave yourselves.
4
Sanders has continually displayed the Trotskyist nature of his character; my way or the highway! He has made a career of sitting on the back benches lobbing "progressive" grenades with the full knowledge that, as an Independent and not a Democrat or Republican, he will never have to implement anything. That said, if he is the Democratic nominee I will hold my nose and vote for him as he is infinitely better than Trump!
9
The "Bernie Bros" moniker is offensive. Is this a politically incorrect statement too make, yeah... I think it is. But these are the times we live in. So along with other words that describe a race or gender that have been deemed offensive...it should be taken out of the vernacular...or to be used to show that those who are using the term are doing so to demean or undermine supporters of the Sanders campaign.
10
I often agree with Krugman but revising Biden's history at this late date is, well, too late. After all, is there any Republican side of any issue that Biden has not been on? He's a Republican in Democratic clothing, and a pure unadulterated corporatist. Period. Not changing my mind on that and I'm older than he is and yet still able to string together coherent sentences. knock on wood.
9
Paul, let's cut to the chase. Who, if anyone, are you currently supporting for President? As we get closer the primaries, this piece of information is what's heavily influencing what everyone's saying.
3
Can we get over that this is called a primary where criticizing your opponents is a given. BTW there a many clips of Biden advocating for SS cuts. Guess they just picked the wrong one.
9
Thanks, Paul.
Keep fighting!
1
You forgot the windmill part :-)
This squabbling among the candidates, delightedly stoked, facilitated, and even at times initiated (through "leaks") by the media, is not surprising but nevertheless dispiriting and disgusting.
Let's keep our eyes on the ball, shall we? The objective is to defeat Trump. There is no knight in shining armor among these candidates. There is no Kennedy-like figure that could fire up and unite all Democrats. Not this time, so let's get over that and get on with it.
Every time I see the candidates at these debates I experience a moment of warmth and affection at the totality of good intentions and goodness represented on that stage. Any one of those up there is more humane, competent, compassionate and intelligent, even humble, than any Republican who has ever run. That includes also Tom Steyer whose candidacy won't go anywhere but who is full of selfless intention. They are all good people. And while I have serious reservations about Biden and Buttegieg, if either of them were to win the nomination, I would support him with all I've got.
Please let's not eviscerate our candidates, nor make statements of not supporting whoever ends up the nominee.
4
I watched the video and it isn't clear at all what Biden is saying. He may be advocating means testing social security or something like that but it certainly isn't obvious.
Biden's inability to articulate coherent policy positions is more concerning to me than a potential misrepresentation by a political rival.
Krugman's overreaction to this boils down to a preference for a political candidate much more than some sort of ethical stand against this kind of tactic.
14
"Bernie Sanders is no Donald Trump."
I totally agree Mr Krugman. It is also fair to say that neither is Joe Biden or Elizabeth Warren.
3
One thing is for sure, since almost the first day that Sanders announced he was going to run in the 2016 primary opposing the "annointed one", the marginlization and negativety aimed towards him and progressives in general, has, right from the beginning, been pretty relentless and it has been consistent throughout the MSM across the board in both the print and video media, so, in many ways you can't really blame the increasing "pushback" that has been forthcoming by both Sanders and progressives in general.
The problem is now that Sanders is sitting at or near the top of the leader board, he represents a "clear and present danger" to the corporate/establishment wing of the party a large part of which is the MSM and neo-liberals like Paul Krugman.
So, realistically, none of this should come as a surprise. Sanders has always been among the most popular of politicians in America, yet, the establishment regularly dismisses the reasons why that is the case and, more importantly, what got Donald Trump elected in the first place.
I am curious, going forward, if Bernie Sanders is ultimately the nominee, how will he be treated by the Washington/New York media/political "establishment" then? Although I hope I am wrong, since the "status quo" is their top priority, I have a feeling, no matter what happens, in the Presidential election they will attempt to do the Republicans work for them and Americans in general will ultimately be the far worse off for it.
19
As a lifelong lefty, I've occasionally noted the seemingly instinctual formation that my fellow travelers often assume under pressure - the circular firing squad.
I understand that my plea will fall on deaf ears, but I feel obliged to make it regardless (yup, another feature of the left). For those so caught up in internecine struggle that they neglect the war that should be being waged, please, please, pretty please lower your weapons and join forces to defeat what Tim Egan so recently and rightly called actual "evil."
11
Nice to see Mr. Krugman is in full on Bernie-bashing mode.
Interesting to note:
1) Biden claiming the video is doctored is somehow labeled a 'misstep'--not a lie.
2) Meanwhile, according to Mr. Krugman, Senator Sanders is 'flat-out' lying and 'smearing' Joe Biden, by simply pointing out the fact that Mr. Biden has, on numerous occasions advocated cutting Social Security.
In fact, the Politifact piece to which Krugman links, quotes Biden in the same video stating, "it [Social Security] still needs adjustments, but can stay". Is there any question here that 'needs adjustments' is a euphemism for 'cuts'?
So according to Mr. Krugman, the Sanders campaign has 'smeared' Mr. Biden by pointing out his proclivity for cutting Social Security by highlighting a video in which Mr. Biden argues for cutting Social Security.
And naturally, this inscrutable logic forces Mr. Krugman to question Sanders' character--while maligning his followers for good measure--and compare him to Donald Trump.
All in a day's work I suppose.
26
I am at an age and stage of my life in which Social Security is as important and crucial to me as is the reduction in carbon emissions to the environment.
I pay extremely close attention to what politicians do AND say when it comes to those two issues.
I have been paying into Social Security since I was 16. I am many, many, many moons past that age. I am not alone in that category.
And here I thought only the other party picked on the weak and the oldest members of society.
Pete Buttigieg is beginning to look better and better every week.
4
Bernie looks to expand Social Security, but the status quo hate him.
8
@Marge Keller
Great. I am a strong supporter of Mayor Pete. I believe he may well be the best candidate to go against Donald Trump. A major impediment is he looks boyish. He's now 38. If elected he will be 39 when he takes oath, which is not that young - JFK was only 43; TR was only 42 when they became presidents. Both looked much more mature. Looks matter. Then he's gay, which is also a problem. But his intellectual maturity, GRAVITAS, ought to make up for those weaknesses.
Thank you, Marge.
2
@A.G.
He may not make the cut this time around, but I am hoping he will become more seasoned in the next four years. I truly think he's the real deal and is the best the Democrats have thus far.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
2
Ultimately if Social Security matters to you, between Biden and Bernie, who do you think has the better record and who do you trust more if the "consensus" swings again towards pushing for cuts to SS? Isn't that what matters?
17
I don't see this Trumpian element in Bernie supporters. At his really in Washington square park in 2016, the nicest, smartest people were there. At his meetups, i see a lot of old lefties who are smart and kind and worried about their grandkids' future. His volunteers text me all the time, and they're polite and smart and engaged. My 20- something kids love him, but they'll vote for whoever the Democratic candidate should be. This picture of Bernie being hateful and untruthful is false. Interesting how so many - Warren , Hillary, biden, krugman - have dumped on Bernie at the same time. They must have seen some polling data that scares them...
19
@rjw It's not false. It's just not your experience. I assure you my experience is as valid as yours, and their vitriol and contempt is completely alienating many potential allies.
3
Whatever the outcome of the Democratic Primary in June, Americans should vote for the nominee and his/her "PEOPLE" platform. I now take Trump seriously instead of the incredible campaign clown of 2016. We all should.
7
There's always been 'an ugly edge' to Krugman's treatment of Sanders---from way back. Never gave Sanders the basic respect of policy analysis. Now he worries that Sanders is raising money.
Krugman has shown he wants to fit in with the Democratic Party traditional leadership. To say anything positive on Sanders' ideas is to lose prestige and influence, and get the label 'left wing'. Some said Krugman wanted to be appointed Treasury Secy by President Hillary, and she cited Krugman in a debate. That's what motivated his slander of Sanders.
Biden told rich donors that they have nothing to worry about if he's elected. He was known as Mr. MBNA.
Sad to see Warren rudely reject Sanders' handshake on camera. Most debaters shake hands as common courtesy. Of course I'll vote for her if nominated, but......
Krugman says he doesn't want to "go overboard here"? But he does. We need our Nobel Prize Economics winner to get off this nasty tit for tat stuff.
If PK is at all interested, let him at least discuss ways to finance health care for all--generations after dozens of other capitalist democracies have done it.
How to finance other benefits that millions across the world have--- low cost college, and family/child care and worker protections.
Does all that interest Krugman--the famous liberal economist-- at all? We have to understand why he is so hostile to a liberal candidate who would be centrist in other advanced countries.
What does Krugman think of FDR's New Deal?
16
New Deal? In today's woke environment, that was something supported by a bunch of Southern Racists. Bernie Sanders? He supports manufacturing in the US - xenophobic you know.
Now if Krugman would just present his plan for desegregating NYC's racially segregated public schools that would be great - show the folks in flyover country how it's done.
2
Forget both Bernie and Biden. Right now Trump should be under oath at his own trial, but he's out and about on the other side of his moat, embarrassing us at yet another international forum. After 232 years of male presidents, PK fails to mention what would work even better. A female president is better positioned to look after our needs from early childhood to old age survival in a fairer, more balanced, modern economy. Trump is a composit of every bad characteristic distilled into the worst male boss that we've ever had down at the office. The need for the one thing that really needs changing in the American presidency has never been more obvious than it is now. We're done with men running the country. The NYT got it right.
5
I'm a Vermonter and have watched Bernie for decades. He is a cynical career politician who has built his career on the irrational fears of the Vermont electorate. Regardless of your take on his policy positions (and I tend to support them), he is just as crude and dangerous an ideologue as those on the right. He is an ill-mannered narcissist, and has accomplished nothing of substance in Washington. He is a stark contrast to the venerable Patrick Lahey. A decent public servant who has served Vermont and the country with honor, commitment and decency. Never Trump. Never Sanders.
7
Democrats fell prey to the military strategy of divide and conquer. By now you should know the Republicans are conducting a hostile takeover.
7
The funny fact is that Social Security will have to be reformed or it will go bankrupt. Of course Sanders and his supporters don’t really care. Soak the tax payers and companies dry to fund freebies for their base. To the Socialists the term “Democrat” is meaningless. They will not vote for anyone except the hard left candidate who promises them the most “redistribution/confiscation” of wealth to enrich themselves.
2
Excuse me but I'd rather see "confiscation" of the taxes that we pay and have them returned to us in benefits rather than as now being handed directly to the ultra- rich and to the corporations who pay no tax at all but benefit from our largess.
3
@Paul
It is very clear from the context that Biden still wants "adjustments" to Social Security...and based on his record he definitely does not mean adjust it to make it more generous by eliminating the upper income cap on pay roll taxes.
He means one of the following:
(1) Means-testing
(2) Chained-CPA.
You know this. Why are you mis-representing what Biden meant in 2018 on SS?
8
Between this and the Clinton story, it absolutely depresses me to see such infighting and the circular firing squad among Democrats, at a time when we're going to need every last vote to defeat Donald Trump.
4
Right, but that's what primaries are about. Competing against opponents so , ideally, the stronger one emerges and s/he will be able to THEN oppose the Republican
1
I think Krugman's claims are more dishonest than Sander's campaign. He makes false equivalencies with his white supremacists example. Even his editorial agrees with the Sander's campaigns basic point that Biden has a history of supporting cuts to Social Security. Maybe the video was poorly chosen, but it hardly makes Sanders a liar. It's a shame that we read Krugman's great analysis of what ails our economy only to have him not back up his own analysis by at least giving Sanders a fair chance. I've mostly stopped reading Krugman's articles after he did the same thing to Sanders in 2016. And, I'm not a Bernie bro. I may not even support Bernie in the primary. I do think the mainstream media should give him a fair chance though.
11
I appreciate Krugman for calling out this bad behavior. My sense of Bernie is that he’s more focused on self interest than helping the Dem platform succeed. He may not be the jerk Trump is, but he shares populists tendencies and that makes me wary of him. Plus, who in their right mind wants as President a guy in his late 70s who just had a heart attack. I’ll gladly vote for Bernie over Trump regardless but only if he is the Dem candidate.
3
@Wendy
Come on Wendy. What "bad behavior" are you talking about? Did you see Biden's speech(es) that are in question?
2
So would Biden actually choose a Republican running mate - as HE pushes 80? Sorry Joe, bipartisanship died the same time the Republican party did. And a few year's earlier too. Joe learned nothing from his Obama years.
7
Lets remember that at the top of the Sanders campaign are people like David Sirota who was a huge fan of Cesar Chavez in Venezuela, a big fan of Maduro, a gigantic fan of Venezuelan Socialism. How wonderful, ah new day of fairness will,dawn with Bernie. As if.
3
It's a shame that so many readers routinely accept what NYT and Dr. Krugman crank out. Bernie Sanders and his campaign did not lie here. This involves (mis)interpretations only. Claiming that lies were cast is spin bait, itself.
Bernie's campaign tweeted THREE examples of Biden speeches that show his willingness to reduce soc.sec. and medicare programs and think Biden should explain these views before elections. Dr. Krugman is addressing only the last one here which Biden delivered to the Brookings Institute in 2018 as a presidential candidate. This was clearly the LEAST objectionable one for progressives and was probably chosen by NYT to draw attention away from the other two examples offered. But even here, the issue is whether Biden's statements should be taken at face value or whether they were meant in jest, which is NOT at all self-evident.
(Personally, I think it wasn't in jest.) Everyone should watch this speech and put it in context and decide for themselves. One thing for certain, Bernie's campaign did not 'flat out lie' about it. Therefore, it is Dr. Krugman and NYT (and Politifact) who are misrepresenting the matter here. If voters do not watch these speeches themselves and just accept an interpretation given to one of them by NYT they are being foolish.
10
Frankly, going back to the 2016 primaries, when one considers the constant villification of Sanders and progressives in general who dared run against the "annointed one", one wonders why ANY article like this written by anyone from the NYT or any publication would honestly be regarded as being fair, complete and factual. I know I wouldn't, yet, there are those who will, unfortunately, accept it face value.
One also has to wonder when after her debacle and waffling with her Medicare For All Plan where after her polls started to drop and Amy Klobuchar who has NEVER polled above barely 5% in the national democratic primary polls, it is clear the NYT, other than Barack Obama, continue to endorse "losers". In that case, they didn't break with convention.
Let's face it, if Sanders or any other "progressive" were the nominee, they would more than likely endorse Trump.
5
"There was nothing in his remarks that should bother progressives." There is a lot in Biden's remarks then and earlier that should bother progressives.
7
Bernie and his supporters trashed Hillary’s reputation repeatedly in 2016; this time they have more than one opponent though, so they are backstabbing the two most serious opponents. Bernie is only looking out for Bernie and he doesn’t care who he torches.
2
@Matt How is it trashing her record that she gave private speeches to Goldman Sachs? How about her "public positions" versus private feelings? How about her and Obama's overthrow of Libya has created another failed state? HRC lost in 2016 because (a) the Electoral College is undemocratic. But that has always been true. Then she lost because she failed to campaign in Swing States. That defies logic on so many levels. If she were such a great candidate, she would not have needed the DNC to cheat for her (Wasserman Schultz, Brazille), Comey's review of her emails, the release of damaging emails by her people from Wikileaks. There's no way a strong candidate would have been impacted by Jill Stein, Susan Sarandon, sexism, Bernie Bros or any other hosts of preposterous excuses. Take a little responsibility for being low energy, supporting fracking, NAFTA, crime bill and being a corporatist.
1
Even a novice Sanders supporter knows how and where to go for background information on the various candidates. Its idiotic to assume that the entire membership of the movement hinges it's behavior on the ferocious Tweet of an over zealous supporter with a short temper.
There's enough video of both Joe's and Bernie's political history to make comparisons without help from pundits or fans on either side. Bernie knows that. All told, he's apologized for an easily riled supporter who let the spurs get to them. He's not apologizing for the facts of the matter.
Go to Youtube and watch Joe's Social Security/Medicare slash and burn speeches. Peruse old C-SPAN videos and find duplicates of the same. Read transcripts of Joe's speeches in the Senate.
Here's the deal. The bottom line is that we know Joe. We, the retired, who struggle on to the tune of a few hundred dollars a month and help from the local food pantry. We who have no dental care, eyeglasses, or hearing aids when we need them the most. We who stand in line at the Senior Center waiting our turn for our stipend of peanut butter, bread, canned vegetables and soap. We understand Joe. We don't need Bernie Sanders or pundits like yourself to explain him to us.
Joe once said he'd be willing to prostitute himself for big money donors. The video of him saying it is on Youtube. We believe him. Why wouldn't you? In a nutshell, Joe is the arch enemy of anyone depending on Social Security to live.
4
Why are Democrats self destructing in an environment of Republicans marching in unison as one?
2
If Bernie supporters abandon the Democratic ticket because he did not get it, they are cutting off their nose to spite their face.
With a Democrat in the White House you have a seat at the table. With the other guy, not only will you be ignored; there will be retaliation.
1
Paul Krugman - been reading you for years and I appreciate your thoughts both on the economy and politics. Perhaps people would say I am short-sighted. From my vantage, people want to defeat Trump electorially. That is the sum and total of efforts of which I applaud. While I like the presence of Bernie Sanders and his thoughts brought to the forefront, I do not think Sanders could be elected president. Why? His MO has always been as an "outsider" and an Independent. I like that about him. Speak truth to power was his power all along. Democrats and Independents want to vote Trump out - with a clear and demonstrative statement this coming November. Bernie lately has hurt more than helped. He should get on board to what is happening on the other side of the political aisle. Focus on the shared goal of ending Trump's presidency ASAP.
1
I was a diehard Bernie supporter in 2016 and I still voted for Hillary in the general. Most Bernie supporters I know did the same. Stop blaming Hillary's loss on Bernie supporters. She lost because she was unpopular and no one liked her.
And let's say Bernie gets the nomination this time (which is a very real possibility) - will all you Biden and Buttigieg and Warren folks pledge to swallow your pride, stay unified, and vote for him in the general election despite it not being your personal preference? Or is that a question we only ask of Bernie supporters?
4
It’s a question that mostly gets asked of Bernie supports because they are the only ones with a substantial “or bust” movement.
6
@Daniel "She was unpopular and no one liked her" is an odd way to describe someone who won the popular vote. She's not George McGovern.
4
So, who are you going to believe, Krugman or your own lying eyes?
3
There are these viral factors that seem to affect the way people vote: immigrants (undocumented as well documented), health care (now and for the next four years), cost of childcare and cost of education (beyond high school). It is taken for granted that there will be no recession.
Nobody (well, almost) is thinking about social security and medicare, one way or another. Nobody is going to vote based on whether social security and medicare will be solvent in 10, 20 or 30 years.
Unless the democratic party comes up with specific policies/objectives in these viral areas, look for another four years of Trump. Who said what about social security and medicare sustainability is not an will not be on the ballot.
The last thing in the world I would expect from you Paul is calling out any Democrat supporting the Status Quo of Biden who is just another Hillary shill and far from an Obama.
2
It’s apparent that the NYT has decided Bernie is too old, white, male and socialist for their liking.
6
Editorials are by definition supposed to have opinions. What’s your point?
Since SS is a topic today, could someone show some actual numbers? The overriding opinion seems to be that SS is in trouble. Then again I read somewhere that SS has a trillion dollars in cash and that other agencies take money from SS at will. What is true?
How anybody can LIVE (not just survive) on SS is beyond my comprehension.
74
@ingrid g The US SS is solvent, but models predict that it will begin to go into the red in 2035. What your politicians don't tell you, is that many public pension systems in industrialized countries are long in the red, but the difference is simply made up for with government subsidies from tax income. The US should actually be happy that the still have a solvent public retirement fund! If it slips into the red in 15 years, a couple of signatures and the deficit is paid for - give up a battle ship or two and it should be no problem.
30
@ingrid g
https://larson.house.gov/social-security-2100
Legislation has been introduced that would change the path, keep the system solvent and increase the lowest rung of benfits. Information is at the web address above. The bill is dead in the McConnell Senate, of course.
I don't understand why every Democratic candidate hasn't embraced this legislation as a Day 1 priority. They could campaign in every state on how they will save the system for ordinary people.
Medicare is harder, but the structure of this bill probably also contains the elements that system will need to be saved. Not to mention the seeds of financing universal health care.
36
@ingrid g ---Actually it has over a two trillion surplus that's slowing being whittled down by millions of retirees drawing benefits. Once that is gone benefits will be cut somewhere around 23% unless the program generates more revenue to sustain current outlays. By law SS can not pay out more than it takes in.
4
Joe Biden wants to cut the social security that millions of people depend on. Shame on him.
6
Did you READ the column? He did NOT say that - except long ago, when everyone including Obama was saying it. This is the whole point of the column!!!
2
In my opinion, there is one fundamental issue in politics. Who pays for the campaigns? what do they get in return? We are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars every year. And I honestly think there is a lot of smoke and mirrors , distracting us with everything else. Including this article.
2
I would like to see Mr. Krugman elaborate on the ways we need to support social security, as he did in the newsletter I received this week, particularly on the need to tax incomes above around $137K for social security.
4
The Sanders team is the best thing that's happened to Donald Trump in a while. The irony is that, when somebody else gets the Democrat nomination, many of the ex-Sanders group won't support her/him and won't even vote in the election, and Trump will be re-elected. I don't think you would/will see that behavior from the Biden crowd.
5
@John Duffy
The door swings both ways, maybe you ought to support Sanders and Medicare for All?
2
I am a Sanders supporter, and I do find this very troubling, though I doubt that it will be enough to change my vote. The Sanders campaign should issue a correction and apologize.
3
@Sarah If it were true, that would be appropriate. But it appears that it's not actually true, and the smear is coming from the NYT's direction.
1
Sanders did apologize for his campaign aides, but the point is that they even did it. Beware of zealots of any stripe, as I learned in college, where I was marginalized for my non-conformance in Marxist and Christian circles when I pointed out to both groups how much they resembled each other. Millionaire Social-Democrats like Sanders and Warren, and their zealous supporters, should actually listen to what the American people want-- reasonable reform in healthcare, education, taxation, and to reduce the military industrial complex-- instead of throwing stones. Keep religion and rigid ideology out of politics.
3
Paul Krugman splits hairs.
According to him, Biden did not say what Bernie quotes ( "Social Security/Medicare should be cut in order give the Rich a tax-cut"). But Krugman concedes that Biden did share the then existing "consensus" (that Social Security/Medicare should be cut to make up for the budget deficit caused by the Tax-cuts to the Rich)!
The point is this: Biden (and Obama) would bargain over Social Security with Paul Ryan & Co to balance the budget! The Billionaire Populist Donald Trump would give bigger tax cuts to the Rich than even Paul Ryan but would not cut Social Security/Medicare. He doesn't care about budget deficits! Bernie would actually increase Social Security/Medicare expenditure, if necessary! He is fiscally responsible and would balance the budget by taxing a few "cents" off the Billionaire class!
125
@T. Ramakrishnan
The point is, if you read the article, that Sanders took a statement where Biden was reporting on what Ryan advocated and treated it as if it were Biden's thoughts.
Krugman sees no problem with Sanders challenging Biden's older views, by the way.
22
@T. Ramakrishnan Even taxing the billionaires at a high rate would not solve our budget issues.
6
@T. Ramakrishnan Actually, no, the point is that Sanders misrepresented facts. I'm really not happy to see an argument that the misrepresentation doesn't matter because you've got another basis for an accusation made of up a combination of guesses, extrapolation and just plain made up stuff.
16
Bernie is a victim, his people claim, victimized by the Times, by Krugman and by any writer who is critical of him or gives him insufficient attention. The similarity to Trump in this regard is striking. That Sanders has a cult-like following adds polarization to the Democratic race. We don't need additional polarization.
16
@blgreenie Spot on. It's all a big conspiracy against Bernie. This is what happens when politicians have a cult following.
Amen.
What Sanders' supporters, and all supporters of every Democratic candidate, need to realize is that the country simply cannot afford these kinds of attacks and divisiveness. Too many of Sanders' supporters disengaged when he wasn't the candidate in 2016 and look where that got us. This time the stakes are even higher.
If you want a viable democracy to continue, vote blue even if the nominee isn't your favorite.
6
Don't pretend there isn't a real split in the Democratic Party between Establishment Democrats who became neoliberals under President Clinton and Democrats who believe we need FDR style reform to undo the growing economic inequality and loss of the living wage for workers and the debt loading down college graduates - and the cost of healthcare that has lowered the expected length of life for ordinary Americans. Today the consensus is to vote for the Democratic Party candidate as vastly better than Trump.
Don't stir the pot - did you notice Nancy Pelosi promoting Medicare bargaining some drug prices? She gets it.
2
I think every Democratic candidate wants Medicare to negotiate drug prices, just as every candidate wants to make the country carbon neutral by 2050. The differences between candidates is not as great as many believe. The pragmatic wing (Biden, Klobuchar and Buttigieg) believe the fastest way to achieve Medicare for all is through a public option; Sanders and Warren believe it’s through a top-down implementation, with Warren being more flexible on timing.
3
@Saint999
TWENTY-FIVE drugs out of thousands over ten years. That is hardly bargaining for a better deal from the drug companies.
2
What we currently have appears to be a kleptocracy operated by people who either cannot tell the difference between the truth and falsehood, or simply don't care.
I believe the consensus is this is something that we as a nation can ill afford.
We do not need more liars and thieves as candidates for government posts. I can accept it if a candidate says "Well, at the time I thought 'X' but now I think I was wrong and it should have been 'Y' ". I can accept an honest, admitted mistake, or a change in position with an explanation as to why the position was changed. We are human, we all make mistakes, even political candidates.
But I want honesty on the part of the candidate.
I would wager my last dollar to think that I am not alone in this. Does anyone want to take my money?
3
I would trust Paul Krugman on any issue, anywhere. The Times less frequently. But when it comes to Bernie Sanders, it is my belief shaped over years of reading that the editorial writers have closed ranks to thwart his growing movement against the 1%.
The job of the Times within the current order is to write occasional exposes but leave the system intact. It endorses (kind of) Warren because she will not lead a movement. Its mission is to stop Sanders, is possible, with any piece of evidence that surfaces and can be used.
8
Don't think so. Krugman's criticism stands on its own quite strongly. Trump has proved you can't "crash" such a huge " status quo" as the US system without dangerous results (you know, like civil war) and same goes for Bernie even if my heart is with the socialist vision.
1
Sanders is himself a good, compassionate and idealistic man. He was fighting in solidarity with African Americans and the LGBTQ community long before it was fashionable to do so.
Because of his principled stances, Sanders was excluded to the fringes of the corrupt American political sausage making industry.
As a result, he does not have a large army of polished "insiders" around him and as with any outsized figure, a small cloud of grifters and bomb throwers clings to his personality cult trying to make a quick buck or get clicks.
Sanders now has a real chance of winning. He should take himself more seriously and clean up some of the grifters and bad-faith actors that have hitched a ride with his movement.
In the final analysis, America would be lucky to have as compassionate a man as Sanders in the presidency.
Sanders-Warren 2020.
6
And he should join the Democratic party.
@M Carpet
Sanders is running on the Democratic party's ticket.
If he wins, he will be a Democratic president with a Democratic platform.
If he loses, it will not matter. He is 77 and this is his last run. There will be others after him operating within the Democratic party pushing for economic justice.
Paul, I was with you until words 320 through 367 in which you state the following.
“Rather than admitting that it smeared a rival, the campaign is going around claiming that Biden has a long record of trying to cut Social Security. There is, unfortunately, some truth in that claim — but it doesn’t excuse either the original lie or the refusal to admit error.”
So there is “some” truth to Bernie’s statements; however, we are now to believe that Biden will abandon decades of serious minded thinking and not cut Social Security if elected President. Biden seems rather convincing to me when he talks about reaching across that aisle and cuts to Social Security are next after tax cuts on the priorities list of those across that aisle.
Then you state at words 789 through 810 of a total of 875 words.
“While there is a Trumpian feel to some of what we’re seeing from the Sanders campaign, Bernie Sanders is no Donald Trump.”
So does the second part of this statement remove the damage to Sanders by associating him by way of “feel” with Trump?
So then I wondered, why would Paul be so intellectually dishonest?
10
@Mr. Anderson, Yes indeed, why would Dr. Krugman be so intellectually dishonest? I wonder myself. I have lost a lot of respect for Dr. Krugman over *his* smears of Bernie since 2016.
1
"Trumpian?" I was hoping Mr. Krugman won't repeat his 2016 crusade against Sanders, but here he goes again. Please stick to economics.
14
@Rilke If assigning "Trumpian" to Bernie isn't a smear, I don't know what is.
3
The whole "Bernie or Bust" movement has been co-opted by Russian and Right Wing trolls. Support it and you are supporting Trump and the Republicans.
7
@Brez Go Bernie.
Mr. Krugman, not sure if you are aware, but the NYT already made an endorsement and it wasn't Joe Biden. You are literally saying "yea this is true, but its still a smear". What?
This year, like in 2016, Dem Sanders critics (like Obama critics) are engaging in vile, racist, and sexist smears and downright erasure with the infamous "Bernie Bro" myth which is eerily familiar to the "Obama Boys" slur from 2007. The gaslighting continues with statements like #VoteBlueNoMatterWho which is often followed by #NeverSanders. This should tell you why Sanders supporters are abrasive - he is not seen as part of the Blue and has been smeared and rejected by Liberals, while remaining in 2nd/1st place in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. This double standard with supporters and in the media, matters (inb4 criticizing media is "Trumpian")
Everything Biden "changed his mind on", Sanders has been an advocate of since the 80s. These folks know they don't stand a chance going toe to toe with Sanders on policy, and thus we are seeing David Brooks writing drivel such as "Let's vote based on ideals not ideas". Lol.
Sanders isn't perfect by any means, but unless you are under some legal obligation to not outright criticize Biden, and instead are doing thinly veiled criticisms in an article aimed at Sanders, I encourage you to write a proper critique of Biden and compare his record to Sanders'.
7
Sanders might better be seen as a "member of the blue" if he would deign to join the party he wants to lead, and from which he wants support.
Seems that since NY times has endorsed Amy and Liz we shall now see hit pieces on all the other candidates.
5
@Henry
Was Paul part of the endorsement committee for the Times? I don't recall seeing his name there. In any case, we are on the opinion pages here. Moreover last time I checked it was still legal here in America to criticize political candidates or to support the candidate of one's choice.
6
Might part of the issue here be that Biden has honestly become more progressive, as I think Warren honestly has? This is from USA Today, 2011, a caption to a picture of the NYC US debt clock:
"The National Debt Clock, a billboard-size digital display showing the increasing US debt, on Sixth Avenue August 1, 2011 in New York. US Vice President Joe Biden said Monday he was confident that Congress would approve a major austerity plan to avoid a debt default as he met with skeptical members of his Democratic Party."
https://www.usnews.com/debate-club/does-the-united-states-need-a-balanced-budget-amendment
As several have noted, I think it's OK for Bernie to bring up his competitors' entire history to show his consistency.
But I'm still 'upset' over the Bernie-Liz debacle, as I still think the Democratic candidates, as part of showing they are better than Trump (I know, I know, who wouldn't be...), need to 'mind their manners' especially as the we approach the primaries. Bernie Spring/Summer 2020 // The Democratic Nominee November 2020
1
OK. So as soon as its clear that Bernie is going to win, the NYT publishes TWO hachett articles on him on the same day after ignorning him for years. (See Hillary's attack on Sanders.) You guys are impossible hypocrites! You fully admit Biden has been promoting cutting Social Security then quibble about how Sanders has attacked him for it.
The NYT and you dont get it. Most of the problems you have reporting and commenting on have been caused by the rise of the Oligarchy in America--the wealthy, the corporations, the MIC, who have destroyed our democracy and our environment. Yet when a candidate SERIOUSLY opposes this Oligarchy the NYT and you first totally ignore him, then attack him. What's going on?
10
"This consensus wasn’t based on hard thinking; it was about the attitude politicians were expected to display.”
In his attempt to defend Joe Biden from supposedly unfair attacks by the Sanders campaign Mr. Krugman has in fact exposed one of Biden’s major flaws as a presidential candidate: his “centrism” is not a principled and coherent political philosophy but rather a strategy of political calculations, surprising clumsy at times for such an experienced politician, focused on consistently staking a position within the bounds of the establishment’s mainstream. So if attacking the welfare state is the norm at the time he will do so, if arguing for the need of cuts to social security benefits is what the political establishment believes he will support that argument, if going to war in Iraq is the Washington consensus he will vote for it, if neo-liberal economic policies are in vogue he will defend them, if economic inequality becomes a central issue in political discussions he will at least pay lip service to it… The role of a presidential candidate is to articulate a vision, an agenda, a set of priorities, regardless of whether her or his positions are “popular” or aceptable to the punditry or the political establishment. Only with such programmatic clarity can a president lead in debates about how to tackle the central problems of our time. Negotiation and compromise are of the essence as well but a good leader starts from well stated and coherent principles.
3
Rick Bernie,” Wilson observes, “is every cliché the Republicans want to run against. He’s a North-Eastern liberal. He’s 375 years old. He just had a heart attack. He doesn’t scan as president. He scans as an associate professor of poetry at Bennington Community College.” Wilson reinforces his warning by citing the recent British election in which an unpopular populist goofball from an unpopular party named Boris Johnson obliterated Jeremy Corbin, who Wilson calls, “Bernie Sanders with an English accent.”
“I could make a hundred ads about Bernie Sanders without breaking a sweat,” Wilson asserts. He’s talking about the kind of campaign that would leave voters, even many who can’t stand Trump, trembling in fear that a Commie President Sanders would start sending capitalist aristos to the guillotine on Day One.
“I mean this for Democrats in the best possible way,” Wilson claims. “I’m not trying to pick your candidate. I’m just telling you this guy is absolute poison for you. And you will lose 45 states…”
Wilson (Trump hater) quote and warning:
2
I agree with this. I don’t need another grumpy face for 4 years but Bernie will never carry America.
5
Sanders and Biden have had long Senate careers. There are many Senators who will come forward to verify Biden's ability to work with them. How many will come forward to do the same for Sanders? Few. He has not been a popular figure there.
3
Adios, Prof Krugman. Your endless attack on Progressives ends here at this house.
6
said the establishment guy.
biden is so vulnerable against trump it's not even funny.
biden has 10 video of him saying those things
if you think trump won't use that against him
you are truly dumb and mistaken
5
Bernie, you have done what nobody else has ever been able to do - get me to vote Republican or simply not vote. If I wanted a lying dog for a president I could just vote for Trump. Corrupting that video to misstate Biden's views on Social Security was low. If you win the nomination I will just stay home. You have shown yourself to be no better than the jerk we have now.
4
The NY Times, of course, never tells a lie. ;)
9
Flip between the "NYT picks" comment tab and the "Reader Picks" comment tab and you'll see exactly how the media literally picks and chooses winners.
7
I have never seen a thorough analysis about the "voted for Bernie in the primary and Trump in the general" crowd. My suspicion has always been that the majority of these people were Republicans who took advantage of open primary systems to vote for the most disruptive Democrat in the belief that this would weaken the enthusiasm for Hillary. They got their wish when Bernie deceived himself into thinking that he was the One True Progressive. Unfortunately, their bet is still paying off.
1
There are two things about this that worry me:
1. The combo of sanctimony and “screw you,” from the followers of St. Bernie. Your guy’s a pol, okay? He’s not Jesus, and he’s not immaculate, and he doesn’t get everything right, and these angry snits over having that pointed out are dangerous for the whole idea of getting Trump out of office.
To follow that up, there’s a real streak of dumb in the Sanders campaign. The Medicare for All, right now, is dumb—politically dumb, financially dumb, and yeah, I read his proposed Bill and his campaign statements. The vagueness and shiftiness a child could hear in his interview with the NYT is dumb, and people will hear that. And the dismissal of anything serious on race and gender because old-line Marx says the economic determines everything is why Bernie’s doing so-so with women and badly with African-Americans.
A primary’s a chance to figure this stuff out, not dismiss it and go play in traffic.
2. The overlap with the way Trump plays. Sorry, but it’s there. And it’s an infant’s version of sharp political elbows, which only works among infants. Compare to what happened when Obama REALLY got attacked over his pastor—he gave pretty much the best speech on race of the last fifty years—or the decency with which Joe’s shooting his mouth off for marriage equality was handled by that Admin.
If Bernie’s that righteous, he needs to BE righteous. And more honest about what he can and can’t do.
And let’s just dump Trump, okay?
6
Sanders has apologized. Why hasn’t Krugman’s piece been amended to reflect that?
13
@Paul Krugman
Thanks, Paul. The no apologies no mea culpas never wrong ever schtick is getting so very old. All of the candidates are humans with human failings who occasionally make mistakes.
19
@Paul Krugman
The whole context of the clip showed that Biden talked about making "adjustments" to Social Security. It doesn't take a Nobel Prize in Economics to understand what that means (cuts).
47
@Paul Krugman
The edit was entirely appropriate because it separates the wheat from the chaff. The "wheat" is the call for social security "adjustments", which can only mean cuts in the context of the debate and is the best interpretation given Biden's long record of advocating for social security cuts:
Here's the full quote, both the meat and the bun, with the meat of the matter in caps:
"So we need a pro-growth, progressive tax code that treats workers as job creators, as well, not just investors; that gets rid of unprotective loopholes like stepped-up basis; and it raises enough revenue to make sure that the Social Security and Medicare can stay,
IT STILL NEEDS ADJUSTMENTS, but can stay;
and pay for the things we all acknowledge will grow the country."
Biden shouts keep it and whispers cut it.
44
I'm an avid reader of the comment sections of the NYT political columns and lately it's surprising to see how out of step the NYT columnists are with their readers who seem to strongly support the candidacy of Bernie Sanders. Why does this publication continue to vilify (unfairly, in my opinion) a very popular candidate like Bernie Sanders in favor of the establishment candidates?
7
@Eric Oh I hope you do comprehend that the readership of the NYT (paid) is not in any way shape or form reflective of the voting public as whole right?
My willlingness to remain a subscriber is being sorely tested. In both print and podcasts the Times is clearly biased against Bernie Sanders. Some times in subtle ways (great picture you chose for this op-Ed). Challenge his positions if you like, but give the man a fair hearing. It is frankly disgusting to insinuate that he has anything in common with Trump.
7
This is like an argument at the VFW hall. The way to avoid being called "crabby" is to avoid making crabby comments.
3
“This is bad; it is, indeed, almost Trumpian. “
“I don’t want to go overboard here.”
Whoops, too late Paul! Man overboard!
5
How is this “almost” Trumpian? It is Trumpian. Not so much the initial lie, but the subsequent doubling down. Classic. Pathetic.
2
Bernie is shameless. He will say anything to win and he has a strong base of supporters who are enthusiastically behind that approach. Kind of like a cult ... reminds me of someone else who will be on the ballot for president in 2020.
4
Trump wants the faux socialist Sanders to win the nomination because Sanders is poison. He hates Democrats. Like Trump, he doesn't play well with other. His base was horrible with Clinton and will repeat the play with Biden. They berated lifelong liberals ( like myself) as " neo liberal shills" and Republicans. They gave the win to Trump and will do so again when Sanders loses the nomination.
4
First Hilary, now Paul. I would say to the both of you, both share blame for our current insanity. We would have been better off if the DNC didn’t sabotage Bernie in 16, admit that and we can talk. Hilary needs to go away, take your money and just go. You lost, no one likes you, we voted for you out of disgust.
5
Please read Ryan Grimm's article at The Intercept for some facts on Biden's forty year history of wanting to cut social security and medicare. It is so much more than just one speech. The Oped section of the NYT has really gone downhill overall I am afraid.
https://theintercept.com/2020/01/13/biden-cuts-social-security/
Sanders is rising to the top in polls and the knives are coming out, especially for neoliberals at the NYT.
4
Paul, this one book, and its seminal diagnostic quote, gives the boot to the entire corrupted Empire control of the world’s UHNWI “Ruling-Elite” and 0.01%ers signaled now at the Death of Davos:
“The U.S. state is a key point of condensation for pressures from dominant groups around the world to resolve problems of global capitalism and to secure the legitimacy of the system overall. In this regard, “U.S.” imperialism refers to the use by transnational elites of the U.S. state apparatus (hard & soft powers) to continue to attempt to expand, defend, and stabilize the global capitalist system. We are witness less to a “U.S.” imperialism per se than to a global capitalist imperialism. We face an EMPIRE OF GLOBAL CAPITAL, headquartered, for evident historical reasons, in Washington.” [Caps added]
Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Humanity, 2014 Robinson, William Cambridge University Press
4
Thank you for the truth about this
3
To those who blame Bernie for Hillary’s loss, it wasn’t Bernie who sat on the board of WalMart paying deplorable wages with no benefits to their employees. My town might never recover from what has been done to us. And, Hillary was also going to be judged by the things her husband did, and NAFTA took our jobs, and when the people counted on welfare, he and Newt Gingrich gave us welfare reform. Bernie was hollering to get wages up, and do you think Hillary would listen? It wasn’t Bernie who prompted the piece from this newspaper which called Hillary a “congenital liar”. “Remember the story she told about studying The Wall Street Journal to explain her 10,000 percent profit in 1979 commodity trading? We now know that was a lie....” (1996 NYTimes, “Essay, Blizzard of Lies”, William Safire) And, they want to blame, Bernie?
3
"The Sanders campaign has flat-out lied about things Biden said about Social Security ... This is bad; it is, indeed, almost Trumpian."
Calling Sanders "Trumpain" discredits PK and the NYTs in the first paragraph. The article goes on to accuse Sanders of the same thing Warren has done - Biden's stand on SS - yet where do we see Warren in this story - o yah the NYTs endorsed her.
"I don’t want to go overboard here. While there is a Trumpian feel to some of what we’re seeing from the Sanders campaign, Bernie Sanders is no Donald Trump."
This language is extreme, not overboard. There is nothing about Bernie that is "Trumpian". They are entirely opposite people and candidates. Drawing that comparison discredits the NYTs and PK. They should both apologies to Sanders.
While it's important to call out falsehoods, the comments written here and Warren's agreement with Bernie's claim of Biden on SS show signs that this article maybe entirely misplaced.
In the end this poorly written peice is only helping Trump to another 4 years. Nearly every poll shows Sanders beating Trump. Dissuading voters against Sanders with Trump comparisons is low. Shame on you PK and NYTs.
2
this population is pitiful, and has been so indoctrinated by free market capitalism that even bernie sanders seems like a radical to the 'voting public'. the nyt endorses klobuchar and warren...well just fine!
hillary clinton says that no one likes bernie - we'll see what his hordes of supporters think and what options they choose for future action.
vox populi!
2
He also lied about HRC and Social Security also..along other lies. Making her also responsible for the bills her husband signed. Bernie also called Hillary Rodham Clinton “unqualified” to be President of the United States!
5
Today's column is a great waste of a great mind!
This country is under siege and being relentlessly drowned in the Trump-GOP-right-wing media swamp of lies and disinformation. Why? So they can make our precarious democracy a right-wing Republican, hardliner, Christian, capitalist utopian authoritarian state, with all the power located in the presidency, the 1%, big corporations and big polluters.
So Professor Krugman, don't waste your valuable time on devoting an entire column to picking on Bernie's admittedly bad idea to imply that Biden is against Social Security. Okay, mention it; maybe embed it in a column that has far more important things to say. Please prioritize the topics for your columns. This country just goes from one Big Lie and constitutional crisis to the next under Trump and GOP rule, so there are plenty of critical topics to choose from.
Time for the Democratic family to stop the negativity, pessimism, squabbling, and fighting with each other over who our presidential candidate is.
Our house is on fire, and the Trump Republicans are the arsonists. We can't have the people who can put out the fires turning the hoses on each other.
2
Paul, with respect to your studies and erudition, you and other beltway types would do anything to keep a Sanders presidency from happening - including slanting this piece: from the vague but misleading headline, to burying the fact that there is substance to Sanders' campaign's claim, which you eventually admit, deep within its later paragraphs.
As a smart grandfather who pays a lot of attention and now distances myself from smug ineffective liberals, I don't pretend to have your vision, but even I know that the core positions with which a successful presidential candidate comes into office, are far from the final legislative outcomes of their administration: they are starting points, immediately subject to bargaining, to hondling if you will. And Sanders is no stranger to reaching across the aisle to use the mechanisms of our government, to 'get things done.' Ergo - no gridlock, no socialism: just an incrementally more just eco-system.
Think about it.
2
Well, sure, but, the average US citizen doesn't base who they vote for on facts, so no harm done. Truth is hardly a thing anymore.
Which politician doesn't lie and what Americans are not susceptible to this disinformation? It certainly is not the majority of either.
We should stop pretending like their is any kind of rational thought going on in the US except by the people everyone hates, you know, the honest people.
1
SS is not an entitlement.
2
I am so tired of this newspaper’s constant put-downs of Bernie Sanders. When you look at the number of his supporters and their diversity, how can you say that his politics are divisive? He, and we, are justly angered by the money and greed that has corrupted our political system. To portray him as a grumpy old man is the worst sort of stereotyping. And to ever suggest that he has anything in common with Trump is an outrage. Biden’s record on Social Security concerns me. I haven’t seen the video, but this attack on Bernie strikes me as just another attempt by the New York Times to discredit a candidate that the DNC loathes and the establishment fears.
2
Elizabeth Warren has also come out and criticized Biden for his support of cutting social security in the past. But the NYT wouldn't want to report that since they have endorsed her.
2
Too heavy handed. "...almost Trumpian."
I think that was taking it too far.
2
I think Bernie was responsible for the "election" of Donald Trump. During the 2016 campaign, just locally, I was amazed over and over by the uninformed and outright false things Bernie's supporters said about Hillary Clinton. And I am no fan of Hillary.
But Bernie seems to excel at capturing the minds of people who are badly informed about history and facts, and at winning the unquestioning loyalties of such people--who think Bernie's every utterance is the unquestionable word of God and who seek vengeance on anyone who disagrees with him. That's awfully similar to Trump and his followers.
Bernie's anger, his preaching, the spittle flying from his mouth, his finger he likes to point in (women's) faces, and his scanty record of actual engagement and accomplishment would be a great fit for one of those deliberately obnoxious sports talk shows. Not the presidency.
2
Wow. Didn't think I would see a Democratic Party candidate stoop this low. No way I could vote for Bernie in our CA primary and this may dictate who I should vote for to block Bernie. I have no doubt Bernie told Warren a women couldn't be President now. I guess once you get too close to power you lose it.
2
OMG! We’re repeating 2016!!
Then Bernie Bros were so upset that THEIR candidate didn’t win the nomination that they “took their vote and went home sulking.” Most refused to vote at all, or voted Third party and 12% of Bernie Bros actually admitted voting for Trump!
Now here we go again! AOC and others joined up early to endorse Bernie. For some reason, this 71 year old woman (Me!) cannot understand the immense appeal he enjoys from Millennials and Gen Z?
When cameras showed him at the Iowa State Fair, he actually had a scowl on his face as he moved quickly through the crowd, refused to shake hands, or stop and chat...just bulldozed through.
I’ve been in politics a long time and I just CANNOT see him as POTUS. We are now enduring a man who screams and is full of hubris in the Oval Office...the thought of another dark, scowling face, lecturing us that he knows what is best is so terribly off putting!
5
SS can easily be fixed. Increase the amount that is taxable. $110,000 is ridiculous. This cap’s aim is to help the rich. To make the change more palatable drop the deduction percentage to 2.1. Half. And no cap. The receipts will now increase by 20 percent. Sell it as a way to help grand-mom.
3
I became a Krugman fan during the Bush years when he seemed to be able to apply cold analysis and intellect to unravel the non-stop assault on reason and good sense. Unfortunately, and it seems coincident with his move to the city, and closer to the Clinton orbit, he has lost his way.
Maybe it is like David Frum never being a cool kid, a greasy dork was the usual impression, and finding a need for even a mediocre brain in the conservative movement, found a home and gave undying loyalty. While Krugman was never as odious a creep as Frum, a similar mechanism is now going on.
It could also be that Krugman is naive and gormless when it comes to people in general, and is easily taken in and manipulated. Either way, the nonsense being written about Sanders is depressing. If only Krugman had the brains to actually analyze and model the good sense and insight of a Robert Reich...
2
I couldn't agree more with Paul Krugman, they demonized Hillary, denied Elizabeth Warren's claims... Bernie has to put country first, not himself, not his ego.
3
Many of us here in Vt have been waiting for Bernie to start being treated like a normal candidate. He is a very angry, thin skinned, old man who does not like to be questioned. We know him so well that he refuses to be interviewed by our own left wing weekly newspaper He slid under the radar in 2016, but this time, he has no Hilary to abuse and blame for his own angry bro situation. Yes, Bernie helped Donald mightily the first time, and he's on track to do it again.....and probably sell some more books and meet more celebrities and become even more obnoxious.
2
Paul Krugman-you need to apologize!!! Your analogy equating Bernie with Trump is grotesque and way out of line. At the most, the Sanders campaign is guilty of distortion. I’m sure there are hundreds of examples of Biden doing the same over the course of his long and disreputable political career. Biden is guilty of trying to have it both ways over and over again. He is NOT a progressive and never has been. On the contrary, he’s carried water for GOP policies like segregation and mass incarceration and now wants to “explain” those away.
Please apologize for this disgusting hyperbole about the Sanders campaign. You owe it to your loyal readers like me.
3
I'm not so sure that Sanders will be better than Trump. He's an extremist in the other direction, and his followers are every bit the cult that Trump followers are. He and they are the flip side of the exact same coin Trump his followers occupy.
If he's nominated, I'll stay home. I may even hold my nose and vote for Trump on the basis of "the devil we know."
1
It takes a hefty ego to run for President. But what we do not need is another toxic narcissist. Been there, done that. So yeah, if the Bernie Bros are acting badly, Sanders needs to rein them in and apologize. The buck stops there.
3
Just as he did in 2016, Bernie and his bros are playing dirty politics, no different than Trump but more insidious because Bernie wraps it as being “progressive.” Also like Trump, his ego has no boundaries. Bernie loses to Trump. Count on it.
1
Biden has said social security Medicare and Medicaid need cuts multiple times. Pick a better topic to smear Bernie next time Paul.
All you did is tell people if you want to save Social security benefits then vote Trump.
3
"But right now, Sanders and his campaign are behaving badly,....
Biden styles himself the best alternative to Trump and the Democratic team. Where's Biden's answer to Sanders and for the nation here? Krugman defends Biden. Pathetic.
Running against Trump will take a lot more from Biden than Krugman defending him over an issue with reporting by Sander's campaign.
Biden is incapable of spirited defense and here we have an example. Krugman should not have occasion to comment on this. Biden should have set the Sanders tream straight and made clear to the Trump team that similar distortions will not be tolerated.
2
This is ugly. On the eve of Trump's Impeachment trial PK of the NYTs publishes that Bernie Sanders is on the same level as Donald Trump?
"I don’t want to go overboard here. While there is a Trumpian feel to some of what we’re seeing from the Sanders campaign, Bernie Sanders is no Donald Trump."
One of the final lines of the article. You think? If Sanders is no Trump, why write that twice in the article? Once again the NYTs (aka DNC, 1%, Wall Street, corporate advertisers) will stop at nothing to dissuade voters from Sanders. The vast majority of polls show Sanders beating Trump so instead of fighting to put an end to Trump it publishes an article comparing Sanders to Trump?
If Sanders did something wrong, yes it is as important to note but writing he is Trumpian? Voters are suppose to take that seriously and vote against Bernie - is that the idea for this article?
The NYTs is playing a very dangerous game just as it did in 2016 claiming Hillary would win by 85% in the run up to election day.
Judging from the comments here - there appear to be a lot of questions concerning the accuracy of this accusation on top of the Trump / Sanders comparison. I believe PK and the NYTs owe Sanders an apology. Sanders and Trump are polar opposites. There is no comparison. I find that far more disturbing than the SS accusation. The NYTs obviously has an agenda.
2
Joe Biden is the consummate insider politician. He sends messages while always retaining "plausible deniability." And that's the case with his Social Security denial.
For example, Biden has supported a compromise deal with GOP senators. While he didn't personally call for cuts in Social Security, they did.
Of course Joe will claim that the "deal" wasn't finalized so he wasn't actually calling for a cut. But he was sending signals that he was willing to put a SSI cut on the table.
But that's not Biden's real problem. A French investigative journalist has looked into the Hunter Biden issue. While he did not find anything "illegal", at least not on Biden's side, he did uncover a sleaze factor of enormous proportions and several lies by Biden about what was really going on in that deal.
Sadly, you won't read this story in the NYTimes. But for those interested in some serious journalism the article and video can be found here. https://consortiumnews.com/2020/01/13/new-documentary-sheds-light-on-ukrainegate/
1
I can't believe how many people are distoring what Krugman has said. Really? Playing a blatantly wrong video is lying. We are going to excuse a lie because of the 11000 lies of our president. Real information. Real videos. There is enough out there to attack Biden and Biden's history. Don't make it up.
2
Paul Krugman for whatever reason has been wildly criticizing Bernie Sanders since Sanders first began a run for the presidency. I find the Krugman criticisms without merit and offensively intemperate:
https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/743613394264166400
Paul Krugman @paulkrugman
Not so much a whimper as a whine. I don't think Sanders will ever
endorse Clinton, even against Donald Trump.
Mark Murray @mmurraypolitics
This is the way the revolution ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper
6:17 PM - 16 Jun 2016
2
We’re talking about trustworthiness, right?
Actors this year got caught paying large sums of money cheating to get their less than academic kids into a top college and we rightly want justice for that but Biden’s political clout gets his son a highly paid job in Ukraine, one he never could have gotten himself, and we’re supposed to nod in approval and just focus on Bernie’s low-level flubs.
In the end, the New York Times has just chosen two candidates moving forward and therefore has ample reason to make the others look like Kryptonite. What about their ladies here?
Warren wants the USA to pay for all transgressions starting from 1776 not realizing the world was different back then and Klobuchar smiles respectfully all day unless she doesn’t get a fork for her salad! Someone running for President of the USA should think of small details like that and not blame them on other people!
All the New York Times has done here, is to remind us how news organizations don’t just report on the news, they also make the news in order to influence our decisions. So who analyzes these news organizations? How they are built? The personalities and desires behind them? The long term plans?
Most of that just gets shoved under the carpet as if it wasn’t there.
We come to the NYT because of excellent and interesting reporting but we should never forget that all news outlets have goals to reach and some of those goals may not be all that desirable for the informed public.
1
Just so I understand--Sanders' campaign puts out a video that appears to have Biden calling for SS cuts and agreeing with Paul Ryan. Biden says it's not true and it is a doctored video. Krugman basically says it is true that Biden wanted to cut SS and that the video is not doctored, but then goes on to call Sanders and company a bunch of liars who should apologize to Biden. Wait a minute-- Methinks the old "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck"may apply here. Krugman should apologize to Sanders and the readers of the NYT for writing a confusing, convoluted and inaccurate column.
2
Rofl biden has been an advocate for social security cuts for decades. y'all are desperate in your efforts to derail Bernie. comparing him to Trump, though, is such a transparent smear.
2
Paul Krugman owes Bernie Sanders an apology.
2
This is getting like two old drunks in a street fight swinging blindly and tripping over their own overcoats. We really do need term and age limits on candidates—an IQ test might be advisable, too.
1
Bernie and his supporters are socialist purists, virgins, holy, and without sin. We don't need socialism or capitalism, what we need is pragmatism.
3
@Roger
You sound almost as if you don't like Saint Bernard wagging his finger in your face.
Paul- you are the best writer the nytimes has to offer. don't let your own scepticism lead you down this road. Bernie's smear is not trumpian. you wouldn't spend the last paragraph clarifying your comparison if you didn't realize it's unfair and inaccurate. you can make a big fuss about this issue if you think it really warrants this much attention, but do it in a way that's reasonable, and doesn't look like another political hit job from a centrist media organization. it dilutes the efficacy of the article and disappoints fans (myself) who thought you were better than this. leave this kind of bad cross comparison analysis to David Brooks. you can and should do better.
1
Mr. Krugman, stop lying.
Anyone who's been paying attention to centrist Dem. politics of the last few decades remembers the scores of statements Biden has made in support of cutting these programs. Stop lying.
2
We haven't heard much about the horse race this time around, We have heard a lot of moaning about how many candidates still are viable. The problem this time is that it's too good a horse race and we still don't know how it will turn out. The chattering class keeps pointing out doom just around the corner. I still see the broad field left and see a plan of riches. I have my favorite, I was surprised to find myself in the group of highly (over) educated; Pretty good for a B- student, but I'll take it. I love both good old Bernie and Joe, but the truth is they are Grumpy Old Men, now that I'm old enough to be a geezer I know these things. I will be happy to vote Blue no matter who but believe we are at the point that we need big changes. Quite frankly we need someone who has grown the ovaries to clean up the mess we boys have made. We will all have to take some bitter medicine and watch out for the quick justice of the wooden spoon.
Apology has been given, so now what?
1
An important consideration for any candidate for President is what sort of "coat-tails" he/she will have. Will this particular candidate draw people to vote for Senate and House members of the same party?
My concern about Sanders is that he has NEVER been a team player. Sanders has always been concerned with Sanders winning, period. Thus ZERO coat-tails, eg: Zero improvement in the prospects for re-taking the Senate if Sanders is the nominee.
The same can't be said for Warren, or Klobuchar, or Biden, or other potential nominees. All these three have already campaigned for Senate and House candidates.
2
This is exactly the way I want to read about an issue like this. So many political stories we read refuse to address nuance - or worse yet, some search for nuance where it doesn't exist to suggest an air of fairness, when it actuality that approach often disenfranchises one of the sides.
This however broke down each part of the issue and did not absolve Sanders of his actions because there is a worthy attack to be made against Biden. We need to stop doing the politician's work for them by conjecturing about what they meant or acting as though the net result is all that matters, and start holding them all as individuals to account on the way they speak about issues, their opponents, and themselves.
1
Didn't Bill Clinton, after losing a primary to Paul Tsongas, falsely accuse Tsongas of wanting to cut Social Security? Clinton won the Florida primary on that and then labeled himself "the Comeback Kid". Paul Tsongas, who everyone liked because he seemed so honest, seemed shocked by Clinton's treachery and the Tsongas campaign never recovered. Is my memory right?
If I'm right, by this time we voters should know better than to believe what one candidate says about a rival.
What actually kind of damaged Tsongas’ campaign was, well, dying in a plane crash.
1
Biden talks like Susan Collins who, while speaking has perfected to such an enormous degree the high literary art of inserting hidden qualifiers into everything that it has become functionally impossible for a listener to decrypt what, of substance, is actually being said.
He's like a cook that spices his food with every spice in his cupboard. The result is awful.
Here's all the awful stuff that Biden has stood for over the years: Iraq War promoter, draconian student-loans-forever. Don't take my word for anything. Read the record !
Here's the teaser: “I really like Dick Cheney for real. I get on with him, I think he’s a decent man.”
– Joe Biden, speaking at George Washington University
(October 2015)
https://rootsaction.org/news-a-views/2036--joe-biden-i-dont-think-500-billionaires-are-the-reason-why-were-in-trouble
4
Bernie will not be elected to our nation’s top office if he becomes the Democratic candidate against Trump.
He is too left-leaning. I’m surprised that his supporters don’t realize this. The candidate who is most in tune with the average American, who is not enamored of European-style social policy, would be the best bet. I think Bloomberg would be a contender--he’s got the clout and the money to slam Trump. Biden might be a distraction, with Trump frantically smearing him all through the campaign. Warren is coming across as petty and establishment-stiff. Klobuchar is too new. We have to face facts—in elections that depend increasingly on vast amounts of funding, the one who outspends has a distinct advantage.
Right now, our overriding goal is to get Trump, the literal enemy of the people, out of office. Then we can work on a hurdle more formidable than the Trump administration—campaign finance reform.
3
@Susan They realize it, they just don't care because they want to burn down whatever they can -- how incredibly selfish do you have to be to run for office at his age?
Sanders as candidate would be disastrous. Bluntly -- and I will be castigated for this -- he is a close to being a communist as one can get and still win an election -- at home. Nationally, no chance.
I say this as one raised in Canada by professional Communists, back in the day. Renamed LPP when the CCP was outlawed, it was otherwise unchanged. Bernie would have fit right in.
Bernie -- and Warren -- have no realistic plan for funding their proposals. A few cents on the ultra-rich won't get there. I knew a Finn, professional but not management, about a decade ago; Finns have cradle to grave everything state provided-- but her income tax rate was 56%!. On top of VAT, other levies.
No free lunch, folks.
Biden is the choice to defeat Trump.
6
I am glad to see Krugman and others calling out Bernie and those he tolerates in his campaigns. I am increasingly disgusted by all the genuflecting that goes on to "St Bernie" as if he benefited from the immaculate conception and is God's gift to the Democratic Party and the nation. He is an overhyped inflexible hack who shines only in comparison to Trump, hardly a challenging test of competence and character. For the good of the Democratic Party and the nation we need to nominate any one of the able candidates running against him. All would be more qualified to lead the country.
6
After reading this opinion, it doesn't sound like the Sander's campaign lied at all.
6
Hearing the anti-Trump people spend the last five years attacking "older white Americans," I would not trust the Democrats with Social Security, especially the "woke" ones emphasizing youth and diversity. Do you really think they would go to bat for seniors in a climate of fiscal austerity???
51
@david In a word, YES! As an "older white American", I'm not entirely sure what attacks you're referring to. Has there been challenges to the status quo? Yes, but when we were "young white Americans" in the 60s and 70s, we were doing the challenging. What we seem to forget (probably due to age), is those challenges echo many of the challenges voiced today.
Given the stated record of the GOP and conservatives in the past 30 yrs toward Social Security and Medicare, I know Democrats would go to bat for these programs far more quickly than the folks on the other side of the isle. As for Trump, face it, his only interest is self-serving and the same can be said for all his supporters. I'd trust them less than I would the old school conservatives.
29
@david
Neither Trump nor the Democrats are calling for fiscal austerity. The political climate of the country has changed in recent years. Socialism has a much bigger following now among young people than older people. Yes, progressives will go to bat for seniors as well as for other vulnerable people.
8
@david Have the seniors gone to bat for anyone under 62? The older white Americans I know refuse to believe scientists that say climate change is making the planet unlivable, they don't care about anyone but white people, they don't want anyone besides themselves to have affordable health care, and they can only see the present, not the future. Democrats have protected Social Security as much as Republicans, you have nothing to base your accusation on. I am an older white American and I'm ashamed of the baby boomers.
10
Finally, some truth is revealed about the charlatan Bernie Sanders. Sanders is an enemy of truth regardless of his target. That squares perfectly with his Marxist ideology and should not be a surprise, aside from its revealing by Paul Krugman. But there is method in the madness that has allowed this angry, aging, divisive, troglodyte his time in the limelight with the curtain set to come down. He rouses the naïve youth and stirs up selfish excess, promising power and control, but only his way. As such, it is good to a point as he energizes the electorate, but like in 2016 when he cost Hilary the election, enough is enough, and now it is time to squelch this momentum before it does more damage to the other candidates seeking the nomination.
With the NY Times endorsement revealed, columnists must now get in line and Bernie Sanders must be trumped by Biden who appears to be the lead candidate to get the Democrat nomination. Bye, bye Bernie. Thanks for stirring the pot; now please go away quietly. Your time will never come.
4
This is getting ugly. They are practically doing Trumps job for him providing ammunition for his campaign. Biden is not an intelligent person. So much of the Democrats corruption is coming to light just because he got in the race.
2
It amazes me that Sanders, who's a do-nothing windbag who got nothing done in 30 years in the Senate, can fool millions of people into supporting him.
7
Hillary Clinton on Bernie: “Nobody Likes Him, Nobody Wants to Work with Him, He Got Nothing Done.”
2
If Joe were a real leader, he would admit what he said, and defend it... saying "it was a different time"... or "we needed cuts because spending was out of control" etc...
he is saying none of that.
https://twitter.com/People4Bernie/status/1214369620871630849
3
This is a disappointing article from Mr. Krugman. Another unfair hit job on Bernie....when they keep adding up like this, all unidirectional.....it can't be a mistake. Disappointing.
Biden has, at best, given mixed statements on Social Security. Is it possible that Bernie's camp overstated it? Possibly but not likely. Biden needs to clarify what he means by "adjustments".
With that said, to then project the false equivalence that Bernies' surrogates are on par with Trump?
Wow.
Shame. Shame. Shameful. Shameless.
5
Huh. So he just apologized to Biden for something else. And now Hillary's going around saying nobody likes him and that he's a sexist (dovetailing Warren's comments). And now you're saying he's Trumpian in his refusal to apologize (then, waaaay down at the bottom, walk it back). Isn't this garbage an argument from silence? Is he even personally aware of this? Isn't this another no-calls-made Internet smear article (except a call perhaps from Clinton people. Who knows? Paul is silent about it.) coinciding with Sanders' surge in the polls? Are you doing what you are accusing Sanders of doing?
You don't like Sanders. Okeedoke. Don't smear him by accusing him of smearing when he obviously didn't.
5
I saw the video of Joe Biden advocating cutting social security for myself. Not sure why the New York Times now said it did not happen.
I have been a long-time reader of the NYT. However, after a series of anti-progressive articles, I am beginning to see biased reporting in favor of establishment candidates. This is a big disappointment. I always though the NYT was a thought leader.
Am debating about cancelling my NYT subscription and spending my money with other advertisers.
7
Want to turn off average American voters? Nominate Bernie, and turn the 2020 campaign into a rock fight between 2 angry old white guys. Voters will sit this one out in disgust, Bernie will lose, and Democrats further down the ballot will be in deep trouble.
2
“Hillary vs. Bernie on Frankenfood”, Huffington Post, June 23, 2015. And you blame Bernie?
2
Blue, no matter who.
1
The Clinton Democrat’s, or the years when Wall Street thinking ran the party, were disturbing and probably much the cause for the party’s current problems. There are still remnants of that thinking. I think Obama was surrounded by too many Clinton Democrats. That said I think the depth of Joe Biden’s experience ca avoid that trap if he stays conscious and awake to the current crisis caused by income inequality and climate change that are the most compelling issues facing our next president. I am not sure I want to bet on him. Nor do I want to bet on the opposition which seems to be of the same ilk demonizing money and capitalism. I am pretty happy with NYT choices for change.
1
To those who criticize Bernie for being responsible for/not addressing some of his supporters' behavior toward other campains, that is incorrect. He is quoted in an article in today's NYT as disagreeing with an opinion piece from Zephyr Teachout that accuses Biden of corruption, and also says:
"Mr. Sanders told CBS News that he disapproved of his supporters demonizing political opponents online, saying “we need a serious debate in this country on issues.”
“I appeal to my supporters: Please, engage in civil discourse,” he said. “And by the way, we’re not the only campaign that does it. Other people act that way as well. I would appeal to everybody: Have a debate on the issues. We can disagree with each other without being disagreeable, without being hateful. That is not what American politics should be about.”
5
The problem with this editorial is that it never tells us what Biden actually said, what portion of that the Sanders campaign quoted, and what Biden likely meant by what he actually said. These glaring omissions are quite enough to make the entire editorial meaningless except to the extent it tarnishes the Sanders campaign with nothing substantive--and somewhat tarnishes the Biden campaign as well. Given the current political climate, the only effect is to damage both the Democratic Party and the nation.
4
I've been saying Sanders is the flip side of the Trump coin since 2015. And he's done absolutely nothing to disprove this opinion. He lies, he storms out of interviews when asked anything other than fluffy questions, and his supporters are so misogynistic it makes me wonder if it's the entire incel brigade or just a majority of it who loves some Bernie. He's also admitted the only reason he keeps running for the Democratic presidential nomination while refusing to join the party is because he wants to avail himself of the DNC's money while giving them nothing in exchange. Here's hoping he's sent to the dustbin of history this primary season.
2
They did that about Warren on ICE too. Warren said "We need ICE to be" doing XYZ instead. And Sanders supported started tweeting that Warren said "We need ICE".
2
I am not a Sanders supporter, but the NYT seems quite intent on damaging him whenever possible. It really is unbecoming of this paper to be so biased.
6
Dr. Krugman has made no mystery of whom he is pulling for in this race. I wish he would be honest and endorse her already.
Bernie, you're losing me and a whole lot of other, decent ordinary folks.
You're bigger than this. Fess up.
Yee, gads!
Jeesh.
Just what we need.
Another liar for a president.
As the saying goes:
Fool us once, shame on you.
Fool us twice, shame on us.
Grow up, Bern baby. Or be remembered as just another Lying President, save for the fact he's posing now as a Democrat.
NYT tying itself into a pretzel trying to make Sanders look bad
7
Straight out Bernie said it on the evening news and repeated it. There have been too many nasty perversions of facts from the campaign both now and in 2016. This is not to be overlooked.
it cracks me up how the nyt always uses the most unflattering pics of Bernie that can be found
7
Wow, what a catty column. Looks like an intentional hit job on BOTH Biden and Sanders. We get the NY Times has hedged its bets on Klobuchar and Warren, good for you. Now leave the others alone.
6
Sanders is consistent. He is not perfect and not my ideal candidate (I voted for Jill Stein---commence with the stone throwing....now) and I wish he'd veer farther left, which in this country is like returning to the real center. Biden is like a leaf in the wind. He will say anything his teams of bean counters will tell him to say. He is the quintessence of the neoliberal---hawkish (wants to defend our borders!), austere (just being pragmatic---when it comes to the needs of the poor, the elderly, the sick). Sanders has, to my enduring outraged chagrin, already said he will support what "centrist" bot the party will nominate. Krugman's worries---Trumpian? That's damned libelous---are misplaced.
4
Remember Saint Ronald's eleventh commandment (Thou shalt not speak ill of any Republican")! The last thing the country needs are these attacks by one Democrat against another: they are sure to be used by the Republicans. Let all Democrats agree that the replacement of Trump is, by far, the most important thing necessary for the continuation of our form of government, and direct their arguments to that end.
2
Bernie does have an abrasive mean streak. But has raised issues that need to be batted around and analyzed. Me, worked my way through college. Came out debt free - my grand kids now following the same path. What I would agree with is free Jr. College. To much future talent scared away by student debt. Today we have much more information in our world than 60 plus years ago. Twelfth grade time frame needs to be extended via Jr. College to Fourteenth Grade. Candidate wise on the Democratic side.Well, Joe and Elizabeth catch my eye. Klobacher clearly needs to be moved up into a cabinet level position. Problem: Two Democratic Senate seats would be opened up. Love the large Democratic field of candidates. Lots of up and comers getting exposure. Future National leadership material. VOTE!!
5
I know Sanders people who, having lost last time, voted for Stein.
They remind me of the Freedom caucus of the Republicans, right down to AAOC threatening to "primary" other democrats that do not meet a purity test.
Add to it, these charges of out of control "bro culture", and it's a little troubling.
7
I've always thought Democrats in their internecine warfare ate their young. It is now apparent they eat their old as well.
Even the NYT cant make a selection. This speaks to a major calamitous outcome for the eventual nominee. The candidates are injuring each other more than they are attacking Trump. All of the dishonor they are placing on each other will be used as free fodder by Trumps campaign against the "winner". Trumps election will continue the destruction of this country. Nothing else matters than the defeat of this monster. The DNC should have realized the school scrum is going to loose the election and found ways to reduce the number. Even reduce it to one, who would attack Trumps incompetence daily.
Forget about it! The Beast is out of its cage! Vote out Trump and the GOP! It's probably our last chance.
4
"Bernie alienates his natural allies," then-Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) told the Los Angeles Times just months after Sanders first took federal office. "His holier-than-thou attitude — saying in a very loud voice he is smarter than everyone else and purer than everyone else — really undercuts his effectiveness.” ...Bernie Sanders is not a team player, he likes to go at everything alone..it may the reason that he has only passed a handful of bills after 38 years in Congress...only attaching his name in the bills after others succeeded in proposing and passing. Bernie’s online backers mimic Trump’s misogyny and viciousness ..it is disconcerting and it should alarm all Americans
5
While I agree wholeheartedly with the thrust of your piece, Mr. Krugman, that Biden deserves an apology over this, I must also tender that Social Security does need some serious reforms, and has needed them for quite some time.
This is a program whose expenses are only going to grow in the coming decades, and it's one that should be subject to some means-testing. While many, probably a majority, of retirees need the support of Social Security, there is also a large minority of people who do not. Money spent on older people who do not need it is money being thrown away on the past, and not invested in the future.
Saying that does not mean that we shouldn't be careful and wary - proposed cuts from idiots like Paul Ryan and George W. Bush were rightfully distrusted. Nonetheless, some smart reforms are needed, and would make serious progress on our federal budgeting issues.
3
@Cristobal Everyone pays into Social Security based on their salary except those above $138,000. Tax the entire salaries of everyone for SS and the crisis is solved.
@Cristobal
Good morning. Social Security payments are means tested, 85% of the value of the payment is taxed at the recipients tax rate for payments over $34,000 for an individual and $44,000 for a married couple.
You say, "Money spent on older people who do not need it is money being thrown away on the past, and not invested in the future." This money of which you speak was paid into the social insurance system by american workers. The payments of current workers pay previous generations and pay into a reserve fund of Treasury notes. All taxes ultimately depend on the willingness of the people paying them. It would seem that the government could cavalierly collect 1.1 trillion dollars for the social insurance programs each year and then could say to a select group of old persons, hey you do not need these funds because you are old and also have some assets. That would not work out too well for the politician suggesting this course.
The average recipient receives $1476.07 per month, the maximum amount at full retirement age is currently $3,011. The number of persons who would not be financially harmed by your proposal is small.
Smart reforms sound good, start by raising the rate of return on the trust fund treasuries above negative interest. Then raise the income level subject to social security tax, and include all forms of compensation. That should help.
1
Trump has to go! Biden can beat Trump! I support Biden! PERIOD
3
As a Vermonter, I know Senator Sanders. I also know scores of unquestioning Sanders fans. The first thought I had when he announced in the 2016 race was, "I just hope he can find a way to loose graciously so all these young followers (who included my daughter) aren't alienated from politics for the duration of this Presidential season." Well, he couldn't. Some portion of Sanders supporters are not democrats by nature but religious believers. That is inappropriate in politics, and destructive.
3
Democrats have become radical republicans on Social Security. Last time out, Mrs. Clinton boasted on her website that as President she would means-test SS, thereby turning it into welfare - and history shows us how Clintons deal with welfare.
Then there was this:
"The Coming Plague of Poverty Among the Elderly: Clinton’s Plan For Gutting Social Security"
https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/04/the-coming-plague-of-poverty-among-the-elderly-clintons-plan-for-gutting-social-security
Now Joe Biden is on record as wanting to gut SS.
Well just what did people expect when they kept voting for millionaires?
Biden... Warren... Sanders... Klobuchar... Yang... Bloomberg.. Steyer... millionaires and billionaires.
Buttigieg is not a millionaire but he has signed corporate "book deals" which is the current way for business interests to enriching these people, so he's just as bad - just less successful at it so far
Unlike the NY Times, I never tell people how to vote, but I will definitely say this: people who vote for the rich lose the moral authority to whine that the government doesn't care about working people.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
1
As a guy who grew up in rural NC and experienced the difference between that America and later on Harvard Law then (especially) midtown Manhattan corporate law (before, thankfully, escaping), here's what the media--and the Democratic establishment--needs to understand:
Bernie is the most popular senator. Verified, in polling of all Americans. They like him because he’s genuine.
Hillary Clinton’s friends by contrast all work in biglaw--the largest corporate law firms--or on Wall Street, and live lives that most Americans (including ones who buy anti-Sanders stuff) can only begin to imagine. He’s not popular amongst the oligarchy; that's exactly why he’s popular with the majority. I’ll take it.
"First they ignore you, then they fight you, then they laugh at you, then they win."
4
Man, the gymnastics you guys at NYT will go through to make Bernie look bad is just embarrassing.
10
Doing the bidding of the credit card and student loan industry is not corrupt? Is it not a legitimate criticism by a non-affiliated campaign supporter? Sure, it may not meet YOUR definition, but is that based in the realities of the public at-large? Also, what of Biden's past FALSE claims of Civil Rights participation? What of his noted plagiarism?
After your antics in 2016 are you a credible source of criticism in this regard? Sure, not a direct opponent, but in opposition, yes, and as a de-facto surrogate of the anti-Bernie perspective, for sure. Are you the best messenger here? Some self-reflection might do this point of view some good. Just sayin'...
4
How do you explain this:
""When I argued that we should freeze federal spending, I meant Social Security as well; I meant Medicare and Medicaid; I meant veterans' benefits; I meant every single, solitary thing in the government." — Joe Biden defending the proposed balanced budget amendment, January 1995"
https://theintercept.com/2020/01/13/biden-cuts-social-security/
4
The problem for Biden in just "acknowledg[ing] that he has changed his position," is that he'll have to do that with respect to so much of his record in the Senate: his votes in support of welfare "reform," a bankruptcy bill that exempts credit-card debt, the racist crime bill, the war in Iraq and so on and so on and so on. Sanders' strength, by contrast, is that he has always been on the right side of these issues. In other words, Biden's time has come and gone; Bernie's is now (if only he weren't 78 and with a potentially bum heart).
Did Bernie's campaign misrepresent Biden in this instance? Sure. Did they get him right anyway? Yes.
Somehow, PK misses the forest for the trees. Last week, he laid the blame for the nation's crappy policies for children at the feet of Bernie's medicare for all plan. Weird.
4
Just a dose of reality—Sanders has not been on the right side of all those issues. He voted for the crime bill too. Unlike Biden, he voted against the Brady bill (background checks) and for the bill that holds gun manufacturers and distributors exempt from civil suits.
Everyone who has been in Washington as long as Sanders has reversed himself on issues because all legislation contains compromises that can be both good and bad. For example, the crime bill also contained the ten year ban on assault weapons, an issue important to Biden.
1
@SandraH.
Sanders apologized for supporting that bill, Biden did NOT!
Yes, women are better candidates, because their care for the elderly and children, in most cases, tends to be more genuine.
Go Amy and Liz!
4
@Jay Tan "Tends to be genuine." Talk about setting a low bar!
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
1
@Jay Tan: BTW, here's Madelyn Albright tending to show more genuine care for children:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM0uvgHKZe8
Before I considered your words, I though she was cruel. Thanks for the insight!
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
1
The NYT is right. Bernie fans would never come out to vote for Biden or Warren in the general. That is why it is imperative to elect Sanders as the nominee.
2
I really hope you’re wrong and everyone realizes that the choice is between the Democratic candidate and four more years of Trump.
"Biden did make a misstep in his counterattack, mislabeling the misrepresented video clip as “doctored,”
Joe Biden was a plagiarist way, way back and plagiarists lie. That's what they do because they have cultivated a comfort level for deceit and deception.
I never forgot when Biden was caught plagiarizing in 1987. That wasn't his first time nor his last.
It is because of that act of lying that I will never completely trust the man, even though I do like him for other reasons.
I understand a review of Social Security is probably warranted if for no other reason than to weed out those who are gaming the system. But that can be a very dangerous and slippery slope.
If any politician feels the need to tweak Social Security because the federal bank roll is becoming thin, then why not cut back on the many, many perks and financial benefits our elite elected officials draw from on a daily basis?
How about the buck stopping at THEIR door first?
3
@Marge Keller
I do like your comments. But I take issue with your attack on Joe Biden. If he's the nominee, I want him win. If he's made a liar, a dishonest man, it would be more difficult for him to win.
He did plagiarize, which instantly sank his presidential bid in 1987. Unlike many politicians, he's a very decent man. He's not a habitual liar.
2
Mr. Krugman, a surrogate of Sanders cited the wrong speech of Biden to make a point that you acknowledge is 100% true: Biden has repeatedly called for scaling back Social Security benefits. So the charge leveled against Biden is correct. It cannot be denied because there is ample video evidence.
The only error was that the wrong Biden speech was used to illustrate the point. To call this "Trumpian" is totally inaccurate and unfair. Now I understand you're an academic, and you are very concerned about the accurate use of footnotes and evidence. But Biden is using this to distract from his own record.
5
This is fair. Bernie is and should be better than that.
3
This is absurd. There are countless videos that show Biden vociferously and stridently defending cuts to social security and other social programs. If one video was slightly out of context that does nothing to erase the central argument that Biden has a draconian, abysmal record when it comes to standing up for the programs that are crucial to supporting average people in the US. I find it quite telling, Mr. Krugman, that this is the issue that animated you enough to write an article, not Biden's ugly use of health industry talking points to paint Sanders as taking away "choice" from Americans. In fact, only, under single payer will all Americans stop having to worry if a hospital or doctor is "in network" and if such a visit will bankrupt them. What choice is bigger than the freedom to see any doctor you want?
243
@Bartleby
It is quite unfortunate that millions of older Americans (especially those already on Social Security and Medicare), are so willing to vote against their own best interests.
If anyone needs any more proof that the so called "Democratic establishment" is against Bernie Sanders and his supporters all we need to look at is Hillary's latest remarks to The Hollywood Reporter. As I said in previous posts here, many of Sanders' supporters voted for Hillary. I am so disgusted by her comments I wish I could rescind my vote for her in 2016.
18
@Bartleby The Sanders campaign didn't present a video "slightly out of context". It edited a video, thereby creating false information. I don' recall any videos of Biden "vociferously and stridently defending cuts to social security". But if those videos exist, why didn't the Sanders campaign use those?
32
@Bartleby Why should others pay for your health care? Health care already is a mess because states and the Fed regulate it so much, causing plans that aren't national, don't get proper scale across the US, force options not all need or want, and present health care as a right to be have stuff from others unlike all other rights that suggest liberty and choice, not monopoly control. The VA, Medicare gaps, Medicaid issues, and others show government run systems are not panaceas.
We should all remember that, in their support of the Simpson-Bowles commission, Obama and Pelosi both voiced support for cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
6
Bernie is all about Bernie and always has been. He is NEVER wrong; he NEVER apologizes, and he NEVER corrects his BernieBros. Not much different than Trumpsters, really. I'll vote for whomever is the Dem candidate. But Bernie isn't some savior. He's just many degrees better than Trump!
3
Oh, did you see where Bernie apologized this morning, and Hillary refuses to support a candidate Sanders?
2
So obvious that the debate between the moderates like Biden and radical leftists like Sanders is about governmen spending. Sanders in his whole life as a politician always has always promotes government spending (to be fair, other than military spending), promising voters free stuffs. Yes, he has been always consistent on this (authentic?). However, anyone in real life knows that the story is not that simple. It is wise for any political figures to consider reasonable limits on any government spending including SS or health care spending, because if we do not, at some point, we may not have anything to spend and nobody will have any SS. However, the general idea is still to support (not to hurt) SS and government spending on the people in need. This is the position of moderates like Biden. This is why he attracts a lot of common sense driven voters.
However, this position should be confused or simplified to that by many GOP politicians who want to cut government spending or SS or health care to enrich their rich friends and donors.
One thing I am really worried about Sanders is his so-called authenticity or his stubbornness in his political positions -- (democratic) socialism forever. He is so arrogant and stubborn (to maintain his ego and authenticity?) that he expects that average American voters can tell the difference between his brand of socialism and Cuban brand of socialism, even with the most important election of our life time at hand.
2
Mr. Krugman, it feels like you wrote this in a highly emotional state. It would have been more helpful and effective if you laid out an honest account of Biden's history (and current views) on social security and then did the same with Sander's. It is getting so hard to make sense of what I read and hear in the media...as Taylor Swift says, "You need to calm down."
2
Funny thing about Bernie. He fully knows how the system works, the check on anything a president can do by a far right Supreme Court. Thinking big is one thing, but misleading your followers with assurances you can't possible deliver on is the same as lying. Bernie's handlers are even worse when it comes to the truth.
2
The Democrats don’t need to squabble at this critical time. They need to present a united front. Rival bashing is a childish and counterproductive tactic in any election but especially now.
So stop it!
2
It is sad that Sanders is resorting to Trumpian flexibility on the truth. He doesn't need to.
However, Sanders has always presented a ranting, maniacal, messianic approach to good ideas. Yet, a good president needs a sense of humor. Neither Warren, nor Sanders has such a gene in their DNA... nor Trump. Kennedy did, Clinton did. Good presidents have the intelligence and self-confidence to have a sense of humor. Hillary mistook ridicule for humor. Presidents also require gravitas. Good humor and a serious approach to important things are not mutually exclusive. The wisdom to apply both appropriately is the stuff of greatness... as did Churchill. No one in either party has shown either.
We Dems need a candidate, not a polemicist. The NYT endorsed one (not two) this week. Americans vote for meat and potatoes, sports, consumerism and any disinformation that makes them feel good. They don't vote for candidates with "electability" (whatever that is) or for people like Bernie (who loves to incite indignation), who still hasn't said what he would actually do.
1
The New York Times can (and does) pay a premium for what it takes to run a corporate-sponsored, private multinational news corporation defining itself (not surprisingly) as "independent journalism" and "our free press." (In the U.S., a private, corporate-owned news press = "our free press.")
And what runs a corporate-sponsored, private multinational news corporation that's now facing a potentially devastating wave of politically-engaged citizenry voting to fundamentally restructure this current corporate-run America?
Answer: The sharpest, most persuasive corporate propagandists money can buy.
So Krugman is just doing his job here, from the high corporate pulpit he's been given to most effectively do this job: spread corporate propaganda far and wide.
(In short, Bernie Sanders must be defeated at all costs.)
4
The problem with Bernie Sanders is that he sounds like some scolding old preacher with one or two sermons in his bag, and nothing else but a lot of passion.
He's right, of course, about some of America's problems, but he's going to be very vulnerable to a massive Trump-Republican slander campaign that may be very effective in swing states.
Meanwhile, lying about other people's records isn't the way to make Bernie Sanders sound like an honest preacher, with or without more than two sermons in the bag.
1
In the era of the most corrupt, immoral and divisive president we have had in my lifetime, by all means let's hold Bernie Sanders' campaign to a high standard no politician has ever met. Taking a few words out of context is standard procedure and the news media exploit those "gotcha" edits and repeat them endlessly. Joe Biden's campaign message has been, from the beginning, that he will "get along" with the likes of Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Devin Nunes, and Doug Collins, and "get things done" just like his old partner Barack Obama did. Appeasement never works with bullies. Republican bullies are stronger now because Obama and Biden did not stand up to them. I will not vote again for an appeaser.
2
But it's OK for Biden to make repeated false claims about the cost of Medicare for All.
1
We can't go from one extreme to another, that would be Trump to Sanders. I don't care if Sanders is building a movement or revolution or whatever his supporters want to call it. That movement is built on the festering outrage to Trump and that is not a sound foundation to move forward form. Trump is a blip. This country needs to get back on track with compromise and hard decisions - not empty promises and lies.
1
Biden is a creature of the past. Not only plenty of bad baggage, he does not see the republican party for what it is - corrupt, bought and paid for by lobbyists and bad acting industries, such as big oil, big pharma and big finance. These three industries alone have set back the U.S. in many ways, climate change, drug abuse and economic injustice, just to mention a few. Bernie has been aware of this growing corruption for decades now. Time to open the door, returning us towards the fresh air of honesty and morality.
1
Seriously now.....who really thinks Biden will cut Social Security if he wins? Think, people.
1
@Tom
"A leopard doesn't change its spots". Biden continues to claim he can work in a bipartisan manner with Republicans. This is one of the polices.
@Tom He has been trying to for 40 years so it's possible he would work with Republicans to get it done.
https://theintercept.com/2020/01/13/biden-cuts-social-security/
Right now Paul Krugman's behaving badly and needs to be called on it. Biden's lied about the Sanders campaign doctoring a video in which Biden states that Social Security needs adjustments to stay -- political speech for needs to be cut to stay -- and it's the Sanders campaign that owes an abject apology?
3
Krugman calling Bernie's actions "Trumpian" should raise serious red flags for all readers, and for me made this article difficult to take seriously.
5
Sanders needs to rethink his staff people. They are not serving him well, at all.
3
This story folks gives us the naked truth about Bernie Sanders - He's Donald J Trump in liberal clothing.
Sanders confrontation with Warren should have made every potential voter for the democratic party strike both of them off the list.
Warren sounded like a wimpy school child - I had visions of her talking to Putin and saying:"You lied about me, how can you do that, I'm a girl and I'm too sensitive and frail for you to do that!"
Sanders use of technology to put words in Biden's mouth sounds just like something that Trump would pull.
Their behavior proves we don't need either of these two on the ticket, under any circumstances.
1
Sanders just lost my vote.
He can get it back - he just has to do what's right.
If he continues to be unethical and to win by lying and cheating, then he is just another Trump.
And no one can out-trump Trump.
2
Krugman never liked Sanders. Senator MasterCard is his man.
2
One aspect of the Sanders 2016 and 2020 campaigns is the willingness of both his campaign and his supporters to tell lies about the other candidates. For example, many of his supporters are now claiming here and pretty much everywhere that Warren is a pathological liar and an elitist. That would be silly were it not so reckless, feckless and divisive. Win on the merits, folks. Not with this. Warren's character is and always has been exemplary. She has, throughout her life, acted on behalf of poor, working class, and middle class Americans. Sure, she's made mistakes. She's only human. Like your guy. The Sanders lies about Biden, which Krugman is calling our attention to here, are more of the same. We don't want another president and campaign that lie, refuse to apologize, are willing to resort to such dishonesty.
1
The Democratic establishment DOES NOT want Bernie. Yesterday Paul Krugman, today Hillary Clinton.
The question is who do you believe and want to lead this country? Deep down in your heart of hearts.
Then tune out the noise.
1
Biden has so much baggage that he will be fodder for Trump's vicious maw. The DNC and the entire status quo establishment want Biden because if Biden should happen to win, nothing changes and if Trump wins, they are all still sitting pretty. We need real change. Does anybody really imagine that anything Sanders or Zephyr Teachout (wrote in The Guardian) or anybody else says about Biden will be 1/1000th of the malicious, ugly stuff the Trump campaign will spew?
1
The Democrats are not automatically entitled to my vote because of their mediocrity. If the Democrats want to beat Trump, they might have to *gasp* try.
1
but those who said trump colluded with russia- those should not be called on that lie. they get a pass from krugman.
1
"Lying about a rival is bad, even if you don’t like his past positions."
Oh dear - I thought this was going to be all about Liz Warren and the apres-debate scene.
By this time Democrats should have a chosen candidate to throw all of their energies behind.. let February debate be the last one...no more bickering among candidates.... draw lots for who gets the nomination and everyone else vows to support
the nominee. Anyone will be vastly better than trump, but all our energy must be focused on removing trump and his stooges in the senate and house.
I see Dr. Krugman has the corporate dems fired-up on the Colonial Joe bandwagon. If Sanders lied about Biden it was unnecessary and wrong. The truth about Biden is plenty bad enough: Pro-war, pro-Wall Street, Clarence Thomas disciple, - a Trump-lite candidate to hopefully woo MAGA miscreants.
2
The reason I won't be voting for Sanders is because I can't tolerate his supporters. They're almost as bad as trump's people, just coming at it from a different angle.
1
Neither Sanders nor Biden are my first choices to be our nominee for POTUS. As a side, Elizabeth Warren is. And..Paul Krugman is always one of my go-to op ed writers. But let us please stop splitting hairs over who did or didn't say what. It is minutia when faced with the massive task ahead of us in ousting a sociopathic bully and bigot from his present undeserved position. People, and certainly politicians, change their minds. People, and politicians, misspeak. The political and social paradigms change sometimes taking years. But during this Trumpian Era a devolvement of reality and truth has occurred within a short period of time. I am not asking for a Kumbaya moment here. But there is going to have to be mini-ones. Because these present competitors MUST come together to support whole-heartedly the eventual "chosen one." And that goes for us, too.
1
Vote your conscience in the primary, and the Democrat who wins the primary. Don't split the ticket.
I don't care if Senator Sanders' campaign used this video. Biden has a history of supporting *cutting* Social Security.
Regarding Warren and Sanders moment: it is obviously a misunderstanding between both of them. To take sides thinking one is lying and the other one is showing favoritism or outright deceit on the media's part.
Senator Sanders does have a huge fault: he wants the middle class to be healthy wealthy and strong.
And that is unacceptable to the wealth class who runs this country.
It is amazing that Republicans can separate children from their parents, support white supremacist, support racism, support sexual predators, etc, but a Dem candidate must be 1000% perfect or they get trashed - and then the republican wins. Again.
2
Bernie is no Trump, but he is Ralph Nader, only with a solid ceiling of 20% rather than Nader's 2%. He is an ego-driven crank who will tell you exactly the way it is, but has no better answer for how he will govern than "We'll have a revolution!" He will lose this Democratic contest, and just as he did with Hillary he will ensure that his well of Bernie Bro's is poisoned against the nominee. Democratic Party kryptonite.
1
Unfortunately in Bernie Land there is a strong streak of nihilism. It was on full display back in the 2016 campaign when some of his supporters were attacking Clinton when she became the nominee and more recently no less a media outlet than the NYT has written articles about it resurfacing this time around. He's just been forced to apologize to Biden for some outrageous editorializing by one of his more loopy supporters. If Sanders doesn't win the nomination which seems more likely than not lets hope the mistake is not repeated.
2
@John HRC should have been attacked - she is a republican claiming to be a Democrat. Do we really need more of the same from the Democratic party - their republican light game is over.
1
So, to paraphase Paul K here, Biden basically said something like ...
"We should cut Social Security" - Biden, early 90's
"We probably should cut Social Security" - Biden early 00's
"Social Security should be cut" - Biden early 10's
"My friend Paul Ryan and I were discussing cutting social security" - Biden '18
"Biden has wanted to cut Social Security and said so as recently as 2018" - Sanders campaign
"You are taking our obvious nominee out of context! You need to apologize!" - Paul K.
Look I know the NYT, along with all of the other mainstream media is having a coronary at the thought of an actual liberal possibly getting the nomination, we get it, you're scared of a wrench getting thrown into the ultra-racist conservative vs Business friendly Neo-lib back and forth we've had for 40+ years. At least you made the small concession of stating that Sanders would be better than Trump.
I have an idea Paul, how about an article where you ask everyone who is firmly against the idea of "Medicare for All" if they support the idea of immediately ending the current Medicare, so they can't have that either. Then, press them on why we should keep Medicare for 65+ but not have it for those under 65, if that is their position.
1
Smear? Or "mistake" that tells a greater truth? Maybe calling these "dodgy strategems" is, oh, less starkly partisan...
Particularly after watching Sen S and Sen W marching arm-in-arm with smiles on MLKday. Despite the obvious play of certain partisans to butter up Sen K's supporters with including her in the turn of the "woman card". A strategy based on the reality that Sen W is sliding back, and that Sen K will not cross the 15% at the IA caucuses. In round 2 the only-a-woman vote goes to Sen W and Mayor B & VP B split the lion's share of the remnant.
Longer term, 4 out of IA muddle (maybe all around 1/4), 3 out of NH, but by Super Tuesday only 2 remain (& Bloomberg).
So the stratagem for Sen B- go for a knock out in IA. VP B under 15.
That said- apologize Friday (take Sunday control), accept a couple "resignations". MOVE ON!
But I didn't see any Time's talk about the breathtaking DODGY stratagem of Sen W, deploying he said she said no way to prove the negative. Ambushing Sanders knowing the mike was on, with fake anger. All scripted. To play the woman card...
A bad plan, given gender play made T Prez
No one votes Lockstep...
1
Gee, all you have to do is google NYTimes, Obama/Biden, cuts to Medicare/social security and a boatload of articles appears in the Times from around 2009-2014. Biden was a major player in negotiations for a "Grand Bargain" to cut both Medicare & social security. This isn't 40 years ago... this is very recent. Krugman danced over and sugar coated the long standing position of Biden on entitlement cuts. It's Biden that has a lot of explaining and convincing to do for senior citizens...
2
Obama was once against gay marriage. Consistently. Can’t be trusted. Let’s excoriate him. Proves he is not a worthy man and his political and ethical positions not trustworthy. Must be a bigot.
This is foolish. “Gotcha politics.” SS does need adjustment. Biden may have been wrong and right in how to adjust it over 40 years. I think it should be charged on income derived from investments (such as mine) and all other income so the rate can be reduced on labor and its benefits phased out on higher income. Maybe over $1 million? $1,5 mil?
Purity tests are foolish and self defeating. Especially for people in public life for decades. Not trying to make a cut at Sanders, but those who will look best will be those who accomplished least, though their idealism was and is needed in the mix.
And wasn’t Warren once a Republican? Didn’t she take money from big donors? Obviously, she like Biden, can’t be trusted in their beliefs on social security now. And Bernie supported gun rights more than either? Circular firing squad. Stop.
Mr. Krugman,
As your references state, Biden agreed with making "adjustments" to Social Security. It's obvious that the so-called adjustments would be cuts, not increases. So Sanders is correct.
Please don't continue to make false statements about Bernie Sanders.
Tom Ellman
1
Dr. Krugman and so many people at the Times really want to have something bad to say about Bernie Sanders. This is what you come up with?
“Centrism” means Democrats making deals with Wall Street, the health insurance companies and the giant corporations, trying to meet Republicans in a middle that Republicans keep pushing further and further radically right. That’s what Obama / Biden was all about. If you’d prefer that again, just say that, but don’t pretend there’s some nefarious conduct on the part of Sanders that makes your vote against him a moral stand. It’s beneath you.
1
I question why the man of the people’s lives in and represents the State of Vermont the one that’s what I have read has the highest white population in the country.
Professor Krugman's heel turn is complete. A decade ago you took Obama and Biden to task for falling for faddish political nonsense on Social Security. Now you scold Sanders for telling the truth about it. Reasonable people can disagree about what Biden intended to intimate in the video, but if he was trying to say he opposed Social Security cuts, that would have been a lie. He supported them, as you admit yourself, and it's completely reasonable for the Sanders campaign to call him on it, even if his words were characteristically muddled. You used to mock the political establishment for buying into this kind of style over substance nonsense, now you're chief finger-wagger.
1
If Saunders and his supporters are willing to be this dishonest I don't seem much point in voting for him,
1
I have met Bernie several times, and he is one of the most authentic and honest people I have ever met. He came to our school and told our students about the importance of fighting economic injustice and that they (yes, indeed that "they" includes all genders) can be, and have the right to be, anything they dream of. With that being said, it is clear that the only apology that is warranted is from the mainstream media.
First CNN, shame on you for accusing Sanders of being sexist from a "he said she said" argument from 2018. Warren has not even been asked exactly what Bernie said and in what context. It is clear to most reasonable people that what Bernie said to his friend (whom he asked to run for President in 2016) in private is that it is going to be hard to run against Trump as a woman because he is such a disgusting misogynist and will say horrible things like he did to Megan Kelly. This is a cruel fact and Bernie shouldn't be punished for speaking truth. Speaking of truth, Biden has threatened to cut Social Security over the years, so what exactly is the point of this article?
So, shame on you NYT for calling Bernie "Trumpian" for bringing up the very real issue of Biden's wavering and worrisome stance on Social Security. This is well documented beyond the video that everyone now admits has NOT been "doctored". I am sorry the video was not long enough for your liking, but to say he "flat out lied" and acted "Trumpian" deserves an apology, not a disclaimer endnote.
1
Joe Biden's record is a guy who has lived in Washington on the public dime for most of his adult life. He has produced little legislation of consequence and has been proven wrong in his decisions on nearly every issue of national debate. The only successful endeavors in his life have been the enrichment of his close and extended family and the perpetuation of his office. He has been so devoid of original ideas that he has felt the need to plagiarize as a substitute for the nonsense that he might otherwise spew. That he is in the lead of the Democrat Presidential polls demonstrates the void and utter weakness of the field.
2
Have we learned nothing these miserable last few years?
There will never again be 'nice' in our politics.
But then the HRC v. Obama battle saw sharper knives.
1
Good article.
Bernie- knock it off !
Say you are sorry and fire any liars on your team,
PS- Social Security could use some paring back.
My aunt, who never worked (old school) and married a doctor (who left her comfortable when he died) got 'surviving spouse' benefits from social security.
She had never contributed and she already had plenty of money.
3
It's great to see the liberal progressives eating their own. Maybe Sanders doesn't want a repeat of 2016 when the DNC put their thumb on the scale for Clinton.
Either way, this is great to watch.
I hope the times publishes a piece soon about the smears coming from the Hillary Clinton campaign today.
The myth that Bernie supporters are especially vicious is just that--a myth. It's promulgated by those who think that America should be governed from midtown Manhattan instead of from D.C. To take the example of Clinton's comments--in which she has supposedly said she will not endorse Sanders and said "no one likes him"--by "no one," she means the people she talks to at think tanks in Washington and in biglaw and on Wall Street in New York.
In reality, Sanders is the most popular senator--in empirical polling--among all Americans. Why does the majority like him?
For the same reason that the oligarchy hates him.
2
One might recommend watching the short video of Biden's speech rather than taking Krugman's interpretation on faith. The claims that the Sanders campaign "flat-out lied" and owes Biden an "abject apology" seem hyperbolic at best. In the speech, Biden proposes "adjustments" to Social Security and Medicare, which would seem at least to include means-testing. This is the "only way," he says, that these programs "get to stay." As Helaine Olen at WaPo noted last week, it hardly seems Trumpian for the Sanders campaign to point out that such positions may make Biden vulnerable to attacks from Trump were he to win the nomination.
6
According to graph#2 at bit.ly/EPI-study
The median (meaning everyone's) wage hasn't gone up since 1972 despite the GNP rising 150%. Roughly 90% of the gains went to the <1% (only 10% went to the 1%).
We also know that some workers wages did go up (tech/health) & some in good unions (7%) have floated. That means that the vast majority of some150 million workers & their families, have had to endure 48+ years of declining expectations in an econ that has grown 150%!
I've argued elsewhere that the purpose of politics in Anglo-Saxon civics is to impact economics (who get how much?).
(see:
https://ezcivics.com/02-a-macro-view-of-governance-the-mechanics-of-supply-demand-in-economic-policy/)
If you're on the flat side of that median wage line, you are probably hurting. If you're on the flat side of that line you are probably for Bernie. You might also feel desperate for relief. If you are 22 & worried about the planet being habitable when you're 60 you might also feel desperate.
The pre 1972 (possibly when Trumpsters think America was great) era was when median wage grew in lockstep w/ GNP was the era of demand side econ. Since 1981 we've been in the era of supply. (Supply side = wage suppression).
The inflection point of 1972 IS the major issue in our politics. Bernie is one of few committed to demand side econ & breaking the inflection point.
If you're on the declining side of that line you might feel desperate. In that case Bernie Bros actions are forgivable.
2
"Once upon a time, there was a peculiar consensus among media figures and would-be centrists that the long-run cost of entitlement programs was America’s biggest problem, that Social Security in particular was in crisis and that something had to be done, with the solution including benefit cuts."
If that was the consensus then can you tell us where Bernie stood on the issue at that time (by your own admission it was a mere 10 years ago)? I suspect he was on the right side of the issue then just as he is now.
That's true not just for the social security issue, but for a whole slew of issues - like the Iraq war vote. He is on the correct side of history even when consensus is on the wrong side.
That's why I'm voting for Bernie.
4
It was 2007, when Sanders was actively against marriage equality. The wrong side of history. If we want to hold politicians accountable for their past mistakes and hold them to that standard today, we need to hold them all accountable.
Sanders worked against marriage equality. Have fun with that.
5
@Jason Lotito This is the kind of criticism that some people think is effective but seldom seem to hit as hard as they want it to.
It's supposed to be some sort of gotcha but it largely ineffecitve.
The reason is that if you account for Bernie's record on gay rights he was by far and away ahead of all his contemporaries. Even articles that try to criticize him on the issue admit "By all measures, Sanders was ahead of his time in supporting gay rights." (Time article)
He publicly spoke out in favor of gay marriage by 2009. HRC did not until 2013. What was Joe Biden's opinion in 2009?
If you want to talk about gay marriage then let's talk about Biden's record on that vs. Bernie and see where we come out.
So yes I agree, we need to hold them all accountable in which case Bernie comes out ahead AGAIN.
2
This is not the “straight talk” by Krugman that so many comments here are stating. Krugman attacks the credibility of statements made by Bernies campaign about Biden’s record on social security but then goes on to demonstrate how Biden actually supported those positions at one time or another. Biden may not support them currently but it is not inaccurate to say that in the not too distant past, Biden was on board with cuts to social security. In reality, Krugman is using this as an opportunity to try an erode the credibility of the Sanders campaign who’s record on policy is clear and consistent. Equating Sanders actions roll Trump is not more than slander by association.
5
Around the same time, Sanders opposed marriage equality.
2
@Jason Lotito True, he voted against the Defense of Marriage Act but that wasn’t representative of his stance of gay marriage, which he has always vocally supported. He was looking at it from a state rights perspective. Sure, that was a popular conservative argument for voting against the bill but Bernies vocal support for gay marriage and gay rights was counter to any other congressman using the states rights argument.
This column gets to the heart of the Democrats' Achilles heel: we watch helplessly as the candidates lead their supporters into the 'Valley of Political Nothingness'. As evidenced by the utter disaster of 2016, the most qualified candidate for becoming President was innuendoed away by misinformation taken as gospel by the sheer volume of lies leveled by another Democratic Candidate.
Indeed, together with near parallel lies coming out of republicans' "Swift Boat" tactics, and relentless social media lies from the Putin Bot factory of propaganda, the very worst qualified candidate ended up winning the nation's top job.
And here we are today, four years later in the foulest predicament of America's history, right next to the legacy of our Civil War. It's past time to move forward. Candidates that depend on lies to win need be shunned: by any party.
3
It seems to me that Biden was definitely calling for cuts to Social Security. Ok, it was in the past, but it’s a true statement. Now that Sanders is ahead in the polls, it seems like there are many naysayers who are trying to take him down. Hillary Clinton is blaming Sanders for her loss, instead of looking introspectively at herself and her campaign. I believe it’s fairly common knowledge that Deborah Wasserman Schultz and the DNC we’re actively working for a Clinton nomination at the expense of a Sanders nomination. I do not believe that Warren is corrupt, but she is a “dyed in the wool” capitalist. Very few Americans, especially the media and corporations, want to admit that capitalism is the cause of our environmental problems and social inequality problems. Sanders recognizes this and is getting hammered for it. And, of course, the NYTimes is also putting their thumb on the scales for an anybody but Sanders nomination.
6
@Deborah Kahkejian
Let’s not malign capitalism—for all of its defects, it is still the best tool for economic prosperity. What is different today is that it is being manipulated shamelessly by the rich and powerful through money politics. What we really need is to take money out of the political process—a very difficult proposition, at this point.
1
If anything was learned by Hillary Clinton's defeat in 2016 at the hands of an individual with the worst approval rating in history, IF the democratic party does not get significantly increased voter turnout rates, they will lose AGAIN in 2020. In that Presidential election the largest block of voters,by far, were the ones that "DID NOT VOTE" and unless the DNC puts forth a candidate that can generate excitement and enthusiasm with especially, first time, younger voters, and especially independents, history will repeat itself and Trump will have another four years.
Of course, then again, neither the MSM or corporate/establishment really cares whether Trump is re-elected or not, they just care about money and maintaining the "status quo".
4
There he goes again. Just like in the 2016 election, semi-plutocrat Krugman starts attacking Bernie. I wonder if Krugman ever thought of writing a story about other candidates lies regarding Bernie's positions. Also, there are many, many videos of Biden making speeches in support of reducing Social Security and Sanders has every right to bring this out as an issue.
8
The Bernie Bashing is now in full throttle and will stop and nothing to demonize him.
"that Biden has a long record of trying to cut Social Security. There is, unfortunately, some truth in that claim"
and? What more do we need to actually hear? Added to the fact, that even in the speech he DID SAY social security needed adjustments?
Sorry, but I would much rather see Biden getting ditched than Bernie. Although I would vote for anybody instead of Trump, I am 1) not so confident that Biden will even beat Trump, and 2) even if he does it will kill the progressive movement in the short-term and the democratic party in the long run.
8
Bernie Sanders has been in Congress for 8 terms as a Representative and he's in his third term as Senator.
In all that time, with all those opportunities, he has accomplished almost nothing at all beyond naming a few Vermont post offices and certainly nothing in a bipartisan manner.
He'll be 78 years old this year, and he has serious health issues.
He will not commit to the Democratic Party yet demands the party's nomination.
He is not the person the country needs at this moment in time.
16
During the holiday break at a party, I was with about 15 engineer friends who, as far as I can tell, do not have online social media accounts, do not read NY Times, and do not watch Fox either. It was clear that quite some of them voted for Trump in 2016. However, they are so unhappy with Trump's behaviors now. They are very open to vote for other candidates. However, all of them are strongly against Sanders, more so to Warren. They are mostly happy with Biden (most have never heard of Klobuchar).
These are the swing voters who will decide the election.
6
Bernie himself is all over Facebook asking for contributions to fight off attacks from, among other organizations, “the Democratic Establishment.” I would vote for Bernie in a heartbeat should he win the nomination, but with appeals like this one he is already planting seeds of resentment among his supporters that will cause more disorder should honest voters ultimately choose any other candidate as the democratic nominee.
3
@Vig And your evidence that "seeds of resentment" are taking root in the minds of those of us who support Sanders? I, for one, am an adult who is fully capable of thinking for herself, reading what other Democrats say about Sanders, determining if he's been attacked, and deciding what I think and feel about it. I do not agree with everything Sanders has to say, but I do believe that he is the best candidate for the times. I intend to vote for him in the Illinois primary and for whomever the Democratic candidate turns out to be in the general election. I suspect the majority of Sanders supporters think the same. If the Democrats lose, that loss will again be determined by a variety of factors, not by solely by Sanders supporters who elect to stay home.
2
While it's educational to read commenters who can accurately quote from material used in Mr. Krugman's comments, we need to move beyond bickering if we're to chose a viable Democratic candidate to oppose Trump. I trust Paul Krugman to get this right, and I just cannot warm up to Sanders who doesn't go beyond being an angry old man with one or two reasonable ideas.
It would disastrous for the country if we are to have a repeat of the kind of press coverage that prevailed in 2016, where Clinton was dogged by "bad press". To quote the Shorenstein Center at Harvard, "overall, the coverage of her candidacy was 62 percent negative to 38 percent positive."
Let's be grateful to Paul Krugman for researching sources to get to the truth about the conflict between Sanders and Biden. Truth will serve us well in the search for the Democratic candidate who can beat Trump.
7
Sanders' apology to Biden for Zephyr Teachout's statement:
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/21/sanders-apologizes-to-biden-for-op-ed-101319
But that won't be enough for Krugman. What was that you wrote about smears, Paul?
6
Krugman didn’t even GET to that editorial, actually, and an editorial tacked to somebody specific is way, way different from videos that have been altered and appear as simply true.
1
"I don’t want to go overboard here."
Too late.
13
It's worth adding the Sanders supporters who went door to door in Iowa to badmouth Elizabeth Warren. And there's no way that the conversation that Sanders had with Warren about women running for president was ok, no matter what his precise words were. It was sexist to have that conversation in the first place. I'm afraid Bernie's proving that he's really not different from the other politicians, even if he's on the less awful side of the spectrum.
4
@Stephen Merritt I've been volunteering for the Sanders campaign in Iowa, and neither myself nor the folks I was with were badmouthing Warren. In fact, she's the second choice for almost all of us. The issue you're referring to was a phone script that was briefly suggested on the slack channel but not, to my knowledge, actually used.
I'm not sure what you mean about it not being OK to have a conversation about sexism in America... Women candidates absolutely are held to different standards than the males, and thanks to a long history of sexism that may make it more difficult for a woman to win. It's absolutely something we should try to change, but is it sexist to point that out?
3
The horror! A politician that lies! Except that phenomenon is so common as to be the norm. In fact, finding a politician, from any party, that does not or has not lied is impossible - it's baked into the cake. Now, try finding a columnist that doesn't also lie - there's a real challenge and there is certainly no point in wasting time looking for truthfulness here in these paragraphs.
9
Isn't this exactly the circular firing squad that President Obama warned the democrats not to emulate.
7
Maybe someone else can post the link to the complete video. I only found this, which only might be worth a look.
https://youtu.be/bAIlr1yikec
3
Hillary was right and is right: He may not be quite Trumpian, but he hasn’t gotten things done and can’t get things done because the people he needs to work with don’t like or trust him.
4
Policy is dependent on politics, which to a large extent is dependent on party—the ability to collaborate with, depend on, and, at times, cajole fellows members of one’s own party. Without party, your chances of enacting policy are basically just...theoretical. By that metric, Bernie is a terrible choice as the Democratic nominee. He’s not a Democratic senator, and has never been a successful policy enactor in the House or the Senate. He’s more professor than politician. I get that Bernie’s decades long zealous progressive purity is very satisfying to his supporters. Unfortunately, that’s not how we get policy enacted in the political system of the real world. Luckily, most democratic primary voters agreed in 2016. Hopefully that holds true in 2020 as well.
2
The reason the Sanders campaign has doubled down on Biden is because Biden has been and will be a deterrent to any progressive action. His record (especially the 2005 bankruptcy bill) reveals a careerist politician who mouths progressive platitudes while serving his corporate masters. A "centrist" these days is nothing more than Republican that is not completely crazy but will do nothing to improve the lot of everyday people. Even the word "bipartisan" is a joke that means taking a knife to a gunfight. The false equivalency of Sanders to Trump is one of the most disappointing things I've read in the twenty years I've been reading Mr. Krugman's column.
10
Exactly!
I hope Mr. Krugman’s next article clarifies this matter and explains why he minimized one of the dangers of a Biden candidacy:
appeasing corporate interests.
Obama, as much as I liked him in some ways, did enough appeasing for both of them.
4
Tell ya something I am completely sick of: these snotty little attacks on Barack Obama. Not least because at bottom, they are absolutely the same as Trump’s, “That poor, poor black kid, in over his head, probably a moozlim, too lazy and too feckless and not smart enough to fight for you.”
Or to put this another way, at bottom—they’re racist.
By all means, disagree or take aim at the drone strikes or whatever. But stop this other garbage, and at least think about these “neo-lib,” smeers too.
1
@Jack
In your version of the world there is clearly no room for compromise, no acceptance of differences and no option for reconciliation. Only in a world so at war with itself and caught up in disastrous ideological "purity" tests could anyone call Joe Biden a Republican. But there you go, spewing the exact kind of nonsensical hate that we're desperately trying to expunge from the White House. What a shame.
How long before the Trump campaign picks up this snippet of video and uses it in an anti-Biden ad? Or Trump parrots it in one of his pep rallies? Sanders must take responsibility and set the re cord straight. Now.
6
@Tim
So you think that the Trump team would not have found that video or several others on their own? Give us a break.
For God's sake keep your eye on the ball, Democrats.
We need to rescue our democracy from a budding far right authoritarian , and a cowardly Republican party.
End of message.
8
If Joe Biden is the nominee, I will definitely vote for him.
Dr K, if Bernie Sanders is the nominee, will you vote for him? Or would you prefer Trump? Maybe you'll stay home, but that's still showing a preference for Trump. I get the feeling that you will never vote for Bernie Sanders under any circumstances. You have certainly done everything in your power to undermine him at every opportunity.
You are doing to Sanders exactly what you (falsely) accuse him of doing to Biden - plus you outrageously claim he lies like Trump. That in itself is a much bigger whopper than anything Bernie has ever said. Shame.
15
@glassyeyed It’s as if you didn’t read the article. Krugman clearly states that Sanders’s would be a vast improvement over Trump but needs to acknowledge and apologize for this untrue smear. Geez.
2
I am a democratic socialist like Bernie and I support him completely. Nobody's perfect but Bernie is trustworthy and most likely to implement policies that will right the wrongs of many decades of republican sabotage. That said, I am also a pragmatist. And even if Biden were to foolishly fall for the fiscal responsibility nonsense coming from republicans once they lose the executive, he is still worlds better than the mobster-in-chief and his doomsday death cult supporters that currently run the country. And so, when it comes down to it, my vote will go to Biden in the primary and not to the candidate I really want because, let's face it, Americans are stupid and the smartest candidate they're going to elect in 2020 is Joe Biden.
8
Sorry Dr Krugman but you're wrong. How should one interpret "adjustments" to Social Security other than "cuts" of some kind. Sanders is right here.
6
@Steve
"Adjustments" as a word has no up or down. You and many others here are stuck on "cuts". However much has been advocated to raise the maximum dollar amount for FICA taxes as a way to create greater financial stability in both Social Security and Medicare.
In fact any change in the retirement and medical care plans are "Adjustments." It all comes down to whom and through which political party would be doing the changes, as always.
1
@C. Coffey Please we all know what he meant within the context that he made it. Adjustments meant cuts.
1
It strikes me that Sanders’ campaign strategy is not that dissimilar from Trump’s: Tribalism.
Sec. Clinton’s comment on Sanders was not necessary and unhelpful, although coupled with this column, her views seem plausible.
2
@37Rubydog Clinton and Obama need to stay out of the fight.
I predict that after someone other than Bernie gets the nomination, he will disappear into a hole. Just like he did in 2016. Hillary might have won if Bernie had supported her and got his rabid followers to vote. Shame on you Bernie. Bernie’s ideas may be important in the long run, but the issue is to win now; defeat Trump. Bernie, not everything is about you. Bernie, grow up!
15
@Peter Limon
Bernie DID support Hillary when she won the nomination. In fact he went 39 of her rallies to pump her up. Compare that to what has come out today regarding Hillary refusing to say if she will support Bernie if he wins the nomination. Pretty sad Hillary...
9
@Peter Limon Bernie's ideas are important, now. He is fighting for ordinary working people. There is no shame in that.
3
@Peter Limon
A hole?
After campaigning on her behalf in more events and more city states than she did herself? Setting a record no less?
He disappeared?
The man hasn't stopped campaigning.
Guess you missed the 2018 election too? Bern was all across the country.
Bern went on a Unity Tour after being made Outreach Chair by the Democratic Party.
During this time he made history passing the first War Powers Act in a bi-partisan coalition no less. The first time in 45yrs.
Sanders also took on the Fight for $15. Using punitive legislation, the congressional bully pulpit, the media, his million wo/man Revolution, strikes and even into the boardrooms of the largest corp. employers Sanders assisted American Min. Wage workers at Amazon, Disney, Whole Foods, McD's, Walmart and many more won a doubling of their wages. Over 1 million workers who now donate and support the mensch who helped them achieve this victory.
A hole?!
That describes someone else it would seem Peter. Grow up indeed.
4
Mathmatics produces a 'bell' curve for a reason. The middle is the majority and the 'tails' are the extremes... the places where the facists and the socialists live, in opposition to each other and the middle. America's 'majority rule' principle reflects this curve, so why are we bothering with the extremes?
In the case of Trump, without re-stating his opposition to the middle road, vote out his enablers and Trump has no power.
In the case of Sanders, who claims to be a socialist or the closet thing we have to a socialist candidate, his policies say socialiam but his attitude toward dissent says facism.
What matters is neither Sanders nor Trump live in the 'bell' part of the curve. Both live at one of the tails.
It's time for voters ( and I might add the MSM) to stop giving so much ink to the 'tails' and more to the 'bell'.
7
Bell curve is shifting and that was outside bell-curve yesterday is very much inside now. That is why so many people listen to Sanders.
7
@Stephen George The bell curve went out the window during the Obama years. Take a look at the class struggle and you will see that now the bell is inverted and there are fewer in the middle and more toward the edges.
Things changed since you were in school. Trickle down economics has mixed things up and your safe assumptions are what will give us 4 more years of Trump.
5
I don’t think so. Most Americans want and need Medicare for All and free community college or vocational education. Most Americans are struggling to afford expensive for profit health care and to pay for high interest student debt.
5
Trump has forever made lying the winning way. He's on his way to reelection propelled by lies. That formula will be with us forever. Of course it will be adopted by both parties. Those that don't,will lose. Virtue will not be rewarded.
2