Krugman on DEMOCRACY NOW was good.

<snip>

AMY GOODMAN: You wrote an interesting piece recently about Al Gore. What was it called? “Gore Derangement Syndrome”?

PAUL KRUGMAN: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: He won the Nobel Peace Prize last week.

PAUL KRUGMAN: That’s right. Yeah, this was, of course, a take. There was a -- you know, five years ago, four years ago, when people who pointed out that Bush was actually a pretty bad guy were accused of Bush derangement syndrome, it’s amazing now how people who five years ago or four years ago said what now everybody says were not only considered crazy leftists, were considered crazy. So I was making a joke now.

And Gore -- OK, obviously the American people tried to choose Gore as president in 2000 -- funny, the other guy ended up in the White House. And this denigration of Gore, 2000, also the press was -- the Heathers of the press, as people said, went after him in the 2000 campaign, but afterwards even more so, because it was a guilty conscience. It was trying to smear Gore to, you know, take the stain of illegitimacy off the Bush administration. And it hasn’t worked. Here’s Gore, more respected, more credible than ever. He’s just won the Nobel Peace Prize. Bush, around whom they tried to build a personality cult, is now in the doghouse, and it drives them crazy. People -- and the rightwing response to the peace prize is incredible, I mean, saying, well, you know, Osama bin Laden once mentioned global warming, so we can lump Gore in with Osama bin Laden.

AMY GOODMAN: Wall Street Journal?

PAUL KRUGMAN: The Wall Street Journal had an editorial. They never mentioned Gore’s name. And they instead listed, you know, a couple of dozen people they think should have gotten the prize instead. It’s just been wild to watch the -- it drives them crazy. But this is, you know -- in Conscience of a Liberal, I talk -- this kind of craziness, everybody who isn’t part of our gang must be smeared, must be totally discredited, this has been standard operating procedure for forty-plus years.

<more>

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/17/1352236

1. It wasn't just the Heathers of the press, it was the Chads as well.

2. The majority of the press slanders, libel and trashings was done prior to the selection of 2000 beginning in March of 99 not after and that was when it really counted, had this not occurred, I have no doubt Al Gore would've won in such a land slide as to make stealing the election impossible.

I do appreciate Paul's efforts to shed light on press behavior during this crucial time, I'm sure it's not easy for him.