...Nonetheless, many in the news media will try to make the campaign about personalities and character instead. And character isn’t totally irrelevant. The next president will surely encounter issues that aren’t currently on anyone’s agenda, so it matters how he or she is likely to react. But the character trait that will matter most isn’t one the press likes to focus on. In fact, it’s actively discouraged.
You see, you shouldn’t care whether a candidate is someone you’d like to have a beer with. Nor should you care about politicians’ sex lives, or even their spending habits unless they involve clear corruption. No, what you should really look for, in a world that keeps throwing nasty surprises at us, is intellectual integrity: the willingness to face facts even if they’re at odds with one’s preconceptions, the willingness to admit mistakes and change course.
And that’s a virtue in very short supply.
emphasis added
Jeb Bush, for example, has declared that “I’m my own man” on foreign policy, but the list of advisers circulated by his aides included the likes of Paul Wolfowitz, who predicted that Iraqis would welcome us as liberators, and shows no signs of having learned from the blood bath that actually took place.
Meanwhile, as far as I can tell no important Republican figure has admitted that none of the terrible consequences that were supposed to follow health reform — mass cancellation of existing policies, soaring premiums, job destruction — has actually happened.
Conversely, he notes Hillary Clinton supported trade agreements in the 1990s, but now is critical - so does this mean she's a flip-flopper, or has she learned from experience? Two guesses how the press will spin that.
It's obvious that Paul Krugman has been paying attention to what's been going on in the world over the past few years, and is increasingly dismayed by the inability of political leaders to learn anything, admit mistakes, or be called on that by the press.this guy is becoming for me more and more interesting touted by some right winger's as smart and honest i agree but he to my knowledge wasn't making these kinds of statements than, so now i'm curious how the republicans see him now as that same intellect or somebody that doesn't seem to be on their side or should i say willing to mislead by misinforming on behalf of their propaganda efforts?you know that seems to be falling apart we've seen those making claims expecting others to go along with the farce only to find out it might not be that kinda party for those no longer willing to soil their name and legacies.
O'Reilly comes to mind.
