Monday opinion.
Paul Krugman:
Here’s the narrative you hear everywhere: President Obama has presided over a huge expansion of government, but unemployment has remained high. And this proves that government spending can’t create jobs.
Here’s what you need to know: The whole story is a myth. There never was a big expansion of government spending. In fact, that has been the key problem with economic policy in the Obama years: we never had the kind of fiscal expansion that might have created the millions of jobs we need.
More discussion in bobswern's diary.
NY Times:
With his party facing losses in next month’s election, President Obama pressed his argument Sunday that the opposition is trying to steal the election with secret special-interest money, including possibly from foreign companies.
EJ Dionne:
The 2010 election is turning into a class war. The wealthy and the powerful started it.
This is a strange development. President Obama, after all, has been working overtime to save capitalism. Wall Street is doing just fine, and the rich are getting richer again. The financial reform bill passed by Congress was moderate, not radical.
Nonetheless, corporations and affluent individuals are pouring tens of millions of dollars into attack ads aimed almost exclusively at Democrats. One of the biggest political players, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, accepts money from foreign sources.
Mark Halperin: Why Obama is doomed. It's because he's picking on Republicans. You can see the incredibly steep plunge here (he's 48 on yesterday's Gallup):
WSJ:
Republican candidate Linda McMahon was asked again about World Wrestling Entertainment, where she had served as CEO until resigning to run for political office. She has faced questions throughout the campaign about raunchy content on WWE’s wrestling shows, including one instance where her husband ordered a woman to get down on her knees and bark like a dog.
"At the WWE, women really are powerful," said McMahon. She reiterated her previous comments that the show’s programming has changed over time and now has a milder TV rating.
At the WWE, women really are powerful. Oh, well, never mind, then.
NY Times:
[NY] Republican candidate for governor Carl P. Paladino told a gathering in Williamsburg Sunday that children should not be "brainwashed" into thinking that homosexuality is acceptable, and criticized his opponent, Democrat Andrew M. Cuomo, for marching in a gay pride parade earlier this year.
This asshole is the nominee of a major party? He gets lost in the sea of crazy this year, but this guy ranks among the worst of the lot. More discussion in Chrislove's diary.