Krugman: "Wheee! The Heritage Foundation is engaged in frantic damage control"

[ProSense]

Same As They Ever Were

Wheee! The Heritage Foundation is engaged in frantic damage control; not only did its big anti-immigration-reform report turn out to be a steaming heap of, um, bad research, but one of the co-authors turns out to have a serious white supremacist background...all of this is just a bit of overdue poetic justice.

Remember, Heritage came up with the ludicrous claim that the Ryan plan would cut unemployment to 2.8 percent, then tried to scrub the result from its records. It produced ludicrous “studies” purporting to show that small farmers and businessmen were victims of the estate tax. And there are many, many more examples.

The truth is that Heritage has never been in the business of doing economic analysis; it’s just a propaganda agency posing as a think tank. And this time it finally caught up with them.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/same-as-they-ever-were-3/

Wheee!

[rdharma]

1. Heritage Foundation in a tizzy!!!!

[MsPithy]

46. Never, ever, ever

will I get tired of grumpy kitty.

[grahamhgreen]

51. But wait, aren't these the guys who came up with the individual mandate in Obamacare???

ROMNEY: Actually, Newt, we got the idea of an individual mandate from you.

GINGRICH: That’s not true. You got it from the Heritage Foundation.

ROMNEY: Yes, we got it from you, and you got it from the Heritage Foundation and from you.

GINGRICH: Wait a second. What you just said is not true. You did not get that from me. You got it from the Heritage Foundation.

ROMNEY: And you never supported them?

GINGRICH: I agree with them, but I’m just saying, what you said to this audience just now plain wasn’t true.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMNEY: OK. Let me ask, have you supported in the past an individual mandate?

GINGRICH: I absolutely did with the Heritage Foundation against Hillarycare.

ROMNEY: You did support an individual mandate?

ROMNEY: Oh, OK. That’s what I’m saying. We got the idea from you and the Heritage Foundation.

GINGRICH: OK. A little broader.

ROMNEY: OK.

[aggiesal]

2. I have only one thing to say about that . . .

[Enrique]

3. they also "reported" that Obama was removing the work requirement for welfare

and Romney made that part of his campaign, then when people pointed out he was lying, he pointed to the Heritage Foundation "report", as if that meant anything.

[NewJeffCT]

4. Isn't this where teabagger poobah Jim DeMint "retired" to?

when he left the Senate?

[leftynyc]

5. Yup

You can see he's doing a banner job for them.

[NewJeffCT]

13. couldn't happen

to a nicer guy, unless it was Rush himself.

[leftynyc]

31. Jason Richwine has just resigned

from the Heritage Foundation. As if that's going to keep them out of hot water over this.

[TacoD]

37. When will his Harvard dissertation committee resign? (nt)

[leftynyc]

38. No shit

Harvard should be embarrassed at their standards.

[1StrongBlackMan]

55. There is that academic integrity/academic freedom thing ...

that properly protects writings and research on controversial topics.

While I disagree ... strongly ... with his work, it is important that he have the freedom to discredit himself through his work.

[leftynyc]

59. I agree but let them get it

paid for by....say, Liberty University, Brigham Young, Old Miss (I actually have no idea if any of those have doctoral programs but you see what I'm saying). Having a doctorate from Harvard should mean something.

[vlyons]

60. yeah that's what I want to know!

Why didn't his academic advisers kick his butt out the door. Harvard has some 'splainin' to do about this.

[yonder]

48. richwhine resigns

nice ring to that, I think. When do we hear the obligatory "to spend more time with his family" statement?

[leftynyc]

58. I don't think we will

they're embarrassed enough. Demint just started and look at the mess its in.

[KamaAina]

22. The racist is relatively new at Heritage.

Wonder if DeMented recruited him.

[dothemath]

35. Right on, Jeff ...........

DeMint wasn't willing wait a few years to accumulate the millions of dollars that accrue to politicians 'through no efforts of their own other than 'selling their souls to corporate interests'. He quit, repeat Q U I T, two-thirds of the way through his term as senator to speed up the enrichment process. (can you spell P A L I N?). During one interview after his resignation, he made one comment about "term limiting himself". wtf?

I hereby nominate DeMint as posterboy for the kind of destroyer who poses as a citizen serving the wishes of his constituents.

The list is headed by a group of war criminals and includes hundreds of names. Please, everyone, do not pass up an opportunity to severely limit the number of those of DeMint's ilk that aspire to get on the list. Their time is up, and not a minute too soon.

[DJ13]

6. K&R

[bravenak]

7. Yummy!

Delicious!

[FSogol]

8. Good news.

[Eleanors38]

9. Hairytouch.

[freshwest]

10. Rich Whine Guy In Suit Still Clueless:

If reincarnation is true, what will he be next time around?

LOL.

[tavalon]

20. I love David Byrne and the Talking Heads

Thanks for the memory. Funny thing though, he may have been playing clueless white guy there but this is one of the least clueless men on earth.

[closeupready]

26. Yes, thanks for posting this, I'd forgotten about it, but

remember how, as I've aged, the song makes more sense to me now than when I was younger.

[seltzerwater]

11. Ummm.. Isnt that why it's Called the Heritage Foundation?

As in White heritage, not yours.

[harun]

52. Some people don't do the math.

[rurallib]

12. This is the first major policy type statement under DeMint isn't it?

I look so forward to more.

[Ikonoklast]

14. Diane Rehm loves her some Heritage Foundation 'think tank' guests.

Second only to the AEI guys, whose asses she kisses, Oh! so gently!

[navarth]

24. One of the many reasons I can't deal with Neutered Public Radio

Damn shame, when you think of how good it was before Reagan.

[WCGreen]

41. I stopped listening to that gas bag when she was defending the Bush henchmen whenever

a caller took their bullshit to task...

[WillyT]

15. HUGE K & R !!!

[Rex]

16. I have no sympathy for terrorist organizations

nor any hate group...they should all be handled by Seal Team 6 imo.

[Blue Owl]

17. Hmm, a think tank devoid of actual thoughts...

Only the GOP could come up with such a thing!

[Scurrilous]

18. K & R

[southernyankeebelle]

19. Well this is what they get when they put DeMint in charge. Lies, lies, and more lies.

Thinking isn't really their thing.

[tavalon]

21. This is not a new thing.

[closeupready]

23. Thank you, Mr. Krugman! K&R

Yet, watch the Heritage Foundation appear, yet again, on Stephanpoulos this Sunday Morning.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

25. I always thought the "Heritage" was "Inherited Wealth".

[SunSeeker]

29. Bingo. nt

[pinto]

27. Kick

[hibbing]

28. jagoffs

Hey,
It seems that racism has been so blatant and out in the open since President Obama was running I guess they might have thought everything was "fine". I mean the idiots at the McCain rallies and all the birther fuckwits and everything else this president has had to put up with, crazy.

Peace

[Half-Century Man]

32. Heh

Birther fuckwits....the new official name of ...birther fuckwits.

[MannyGoldstein]

30. Heritage Foundation: creators of the RomneyObamaCare scheme

And people wonder why I'm dubious...

[ProSense]

43. You know

"Heritage Foundation: creators of the RomneyObamaCare scheme"

...the real story:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021430496
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1432016

Don't you?

Obamacare Is Already Forcing Private Insurers To Lower Their Premiums
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022825372

Kentucky Will Expand Medicaid Under Obamacare, Cutting Its Uninsured Population By More Than Half
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022824456

[MannyGoldstein]

49. Those don't refute the fact that the Heritage Foundation originated the scheme

at least I'm pretty sure that's true - I'll look it up if you're disputing it, let me know. I remember them being at the signing ceremony.

As to BlueState10's account... I was there also when the sausage was being made. As I remember, it started by the Legislature asking Romney what he'd find acceptable. The Heritage Foundation plan was it. The legislature went off and did all of the work after that. Then, yes, Romney tried to gut it. (This is a good example of why triangulation is a catastrophe - the Right pretty quickly needs to sprint farther right to differentiate themselves from putative Democrats.)

[Sheepshank]

33. I'm guessing this is not the cycle for "Big Tent, welcome diversity" GOP strategies

and if it were, I'd say it's a huge *fail*

[Warren DeMontague]

34. Shine a big, bright light on these assholes.

And their friends.

And their enablers.

[chknltl]

36. Think tank tanks I think.

nuff not said?

[WCGreen]

42. old time news headline...

Love it...

[Hissyspit]

39. Author of Heritage Report on Immigration Plan Resigns

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-10/author-of-heritage-report-on-immigration-plan-resigns.html

Author of Heritage Report on Immigration Plan Resigns
By Heidi Przybyla and Jonathan Salant
May 10, 2013 4:35 PM EDT

The Heritage Foundation said one of the authors of its report that criticized a bipartisan Senate plan to revise U.S. immigration laws has resigned.

The co-author, Jason Richwine, had written a Harvard University dissertation in 2009 that said immigrants’ intelligence quotient scores were “substantially lower” than those of white Americans and that the difference “is likely to persist over several generations.”

Richwine is no longer employed by Heritage, said Michael Gonzalez, the group’s vice president of communications, in an e-mail today that didn’t give a reason for the resignation. Heritage is a Republican-leaning policy group led by former South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, a Republican.

The report released by Heritage on May 6 said creating a path to citizenship for about 11 million undocumented immigrants now in the U.S. would cost taxpayers $6.3 trillion over the immigrants’ lifetimes.

[sheshe2]

40. Kick and Rec!

Great job, ProSense!

I am loving this!

[99Forever]

44. Oh Hell yes! n/t

[AndyTiedye]

45. Ya Think?

[libdude]

47. Wow, not surprised

Thank you Mr. Krugman, no one should be surprised that this group has an underlying rascism streak in it. DeMint fits the bill perfectly. It is difficult to coverup this part of a persons
Thought process, eventually it will reveal itself, although it can be well hidden by the outward trappings of education, religious behavior etc. That is why I am convinced that the whole of the objections and obstructions to President Obama is based not on the ideological level but due to basic rascism.

[Half-Century Man]

50. Unthink Tank.

I had this cool WWII tank analogy joke to make, but ya know, Heritage just isn't worth the effort. Just like dog shit on your shoe, Ya wipe it off in the grass and never look back.
Hope all the money wasted on Heritage really hurts the investors.

[AAO]

53. I say fuckem.

[mucifer]

54. On Spanish Talk Radio Fernando Espuelas was having a great time with this.

[tiredtoo]

56. We have one of those bullshit think tanks

right here in Michigan also. They call themselves the Mackinac Center. And unfortunately many local newspapers will quote them as a source. We are calling the news out every time we see this and may be making headway.
But they do of course have the backing of the chamber of commerce and big money so it is an uphill battle.

[AverageJoe90]

57. May the damage continue to grow and grow.

This could finally be the day of reckoning for these scumbags. Let it be....let it be....

[SDjack]

61. Good job, DeMintie. nt

[BootinUp]

62. The prof is clearly quite happy

about this, I don't believe I ever saw him use the term Wheee! before.

[BootinUp]

63. Bill Maher on the Heritage foundation

[Populist_Prole]

64. Damage control alright; but for the wrong reasons

I'm sure they believe in what they said, and with every fiber of their being. It's just that they belately realized that what they said was impolitic, that's all. Hence the dmage control.