I like Austan Goolsbee

Sure, he's a (mostly) dishonest and disingenuous left-wing hack.  Sure, he distorts the basic concepts of economics that he surely must have learned at Yale.  (If a mouth-breathing truck driver from the Detroit area can understand the basics, then surely Mr. Goolsbee has surpassed such knowledge by leaps and bounds.)  And sure, he was a key figure in the $800 billion debacle that we're no longer allowed to call the 'stimulus package.'

Intellectually, I have no use for the likes of Austan Goolsbee.  But, I don't know man.  He seems like a pretty cool dude.  When he flat-out lies to my face, he seems pretty amicable in doing so. When he occasionally drops the charade and admits to what we all already knew, he seems like a... well... a pretty cool dude.

Today I watched a lengthy video clip from Sunday's ABC morning show.  Apparently Goolsbee made the headline.  That was a stupid headline, as far as I'm concerned.  Mea culpa?  From this president?  Get the fuck out of here.  That's like saying that Liberace should learn to appreciate naked women.  Certain things just aren't going to happen.  I should stop eating deep-dish pizzas with pepperoni and sausage, right?  Yeah.  And unicorns should come down and offer us all free rides to Atlantis.  Stupid.

From what I could see, the headliner was George Will.  Not so much because he provided any detailed analysis (as he occasionally does), but because he summarily laid waste to the newfound Democrat talking point regarding polarization.  Since Jeb Bush offered his quip about how Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush might fare in today's Republican party, the Dems have been all fired up.  To summarize Will's point - the last seven Republican nominees have been who?  Bush, Bush, Dole, Bush, Bush, McCain, Romney.  Yeah, a real bunch of right-wing firebrands there, eh?  Stupid.

In contrast - Mondale, Clinton, Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Obama, Obama.  Yeah, get out your scorecard and go issue-by-issue.  Where are the conservative Republicans?  Where are the non-liberal Democrats?  Yep.  Stupid.

So, by virtue of crystallizing the ignorance of an oft-repeated lie, Will wins the headline battle.  But let's speak frankly here.  George Will really isn't very cool.  He's a holdover from the old conservative establishment who tries to pick his spots and fit in with the new, Constitution-focused, conservative movement. The old conservatives aren't very cool.  And, to be quite honest, neither are the new conservatives.


 

Dorks.

But what about that Austan Goolsbee?  I don't know man.  I understand that he's a dishonest tool.  I understand that his policy recommendations have cost each of us at least $3,000 and haven't really produced any useful results.  I should dislike this guy.  But I don't.  He seems pretty cool to me.