The Kroog Versus Useful Idiots

Oh my.  Seems Paul Krugman has called out Marcy Wheeler of FDL, which is a bit like the lefty blog equivalent of pro sports players calling each other out, only without Jim Rome being involved.

Oy. I sort of missed the controversy over Jon Gruber and his contract with HHS. For those who haven’t been following this, Gruber — who is one of the three or four top health care economists in the nation — turns out to have a large research grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, for modeling the consequences of various reform plans. This has led some people, mainly Marcy Wheeler at Firedoglake, to question Gruber’s objectivity.

The truth is that this is no big deal. Gruber’s grant is from HHS, not the West Wing; it’s basically the same kind of thing as, say, an epidemiologist receiving a grant from the National Institutes of Health. You wouldn’t ordinarily say that this tarnishes the epidemiologist’s credentials as an independent analyst on infectious diseases, unless you want to say that nobody receiving a research grant can be considered independent.

Makes sense to me, I didn't pay much attention to the Gruber matter either.  Krugman goes on to explain why it's standard practice.  But then Paul draws a line in the sand at the end:

What the folks at Firedoglake should ask themselves is this: do you really want to become just like the right-wingers with their endless supply of fake scandals?

Ouija mama. That'll leave a mark.  It's the kind of thing that's even got BooMan backing The Kroog.

This could be handled by disclosing it below the body of the piece, so I don't think Krugman really explains away the problem that he acknowledges. But, in any case, this is an issue for Gruber and his publishers, not the Obama administration. Hamsher makes it sound like there has been an ethical breach on the part of the administration for failing to disclose that someone they have cited as an expert has a research grant from the government. I don't have to tell you how that standard would work if applied universally. Suddenly, being expert enough to get a research grant would render you non-credible as an expert. Moreover, the government pays the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) for their non-partisan analysis and quote them as inerrant scripture. There is no principle that is being violated here in hiring an expert and then quoting their analysis.

Marcy Wheeler uncovered something interesting and possibly disconcerting in Gruber's contract and lack of disclosure. Jane Hamsher has turned that into yet another broadside, ridiculous, factually-challenged attack on the Obama administration.

Double Ouija mama.  I'm with BooMan and Kroog here.

Number one, we have enough factually challenged attacks from the Right on the Obama administration.  Loading up the crap cannons from the Left doesn't make any sense unless you really, really would like to see the Obama administration neutered in favor of some truly dangerous idiots in the GOP taking over.

Number two, there are plenty of factual attacks you can be making on Obama, mainly his economic crew and the stories we keep finding out about how we got played for fools...and we're likely headed back in the ditch as a result.  Try looking into those, guys.

As the primaries reminded us, Obama Derangement Syndrome isn't the exclusive property of conservatives, Wingnuts, or Republicans.