Krugman: Conan the Deceiver

The key moment in Arnold Schwarzenegger's Wednesday press conference came when the bodybuilder who would be governor brushed aside questions with the declaration, "The public doesn't care about figures." This was "fuzzy math" on steroids — Mr. Schwarzenegger was, in effect, asserting that his celebrity gives him the right to fake his way through the election. Will he be allowed to get away with it?

Reporters were trying to press Mr. Schwarzenegger for the specifics so obviously missing from his budget plans. But while he hasn't said much about what he proposes to do, the candidate has nonetheless already managed to say a number of things that his advisers must know are true lies.

Even Mr. Schwarzenegger's description of the state economy is pure fantasy. He claims that the state is bleeding jobs because of its "hostile environment" toward business, and that California residents groan under an oppressive tax burden: "From the time they get up in the morning and flush the toilet, they're taxed."

One look at the numbers tells you that his story is fiction. Since the mid-1990's California has added jobs considerably faster than the nation as a whole. And while the state has been hit hard by the technology slump, it has done no worse than other parts of the country. A recent study found that California's tech sector had actually weathered the slump better than its counterpart in Texas. Meanwhile, California isn't a high-tax state: through the 1990's, state and local taxes as a share of personal income more or less matched the national average, and with the recent plunge in revenue they're now probably below average.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/22/opinion/22KRUG.html

Krugman isn't afraid to stand up to Mr Steroid Sniffer!

So here's the question: Can a celebrity candidate muscle his way into public office without ever being held accountable for his statements?

Hey this is America! So the answer is: "Probably."

looks who's in the White House now....

before it's curtains for California...

On the one hand, being in some ways a bright fellow & an actor, he does succeed in mimicking or reproducing the phraseology quite accurately. He "correctly" takes the position that all problems are due to an anti-business attitude that can be "solved" by cutting taxes.

So the things he says are basically what any Republican would say. But his accent & limitations in English somehow make the untruthfulness & illogic more naked & evident than they would be in the hands of a fully competent native speaker of English.

There is an odd mixed effect of someone who's truly expert in the areas of likeability, confidence, & charming the press -- but at the same time is absolutely ridiculous when approaching anything specific about economic & budgetary matters.

Everyone knows he a joke. Even the people who will vote for him know it. You can't shame those people into not voting for him.