Krugman Criticizes Editors Of His Own Paper For Being Soft On Rudy
November 2, 2007 -- 12:45 PM EST // //

Here's something else that's interesting about Paul Krugman's column today in The New York Times arguing that the media should be seeing Rudy Giuliani's chronic mendacity as a character issue. Take a look at this little nugget toward the end of the column:

To be fair, there has been some news coverage of the prostate affair. But it’s only a tiny fraction of the coverage received by Hillary’s laugh and John Edwards’s haircut.

And much of the coverage seems weirdly diffident. Memo to editors: If a candidate says something completely false, it’s not “in dispute.” It’s not the case that “Democrats say” they’re not advocating British-style socialized medicine; they aren’t.

Krugman doesn't say which "editors" he's referring to here with his "memo to editors." But I submit that he's clearly criticizing the editors of his own paper.

His demand that editors not describe something that's completely false as being "in dispute," and his demand that they not use the "Democrats say" dodge to call out something that's completely false, seems to be a reference to this New York Times piece from a few days ago on Rudy's prostate dissembling. It contained this:

Mr. Giuliani’s Democratic rivals would argue that they are not advocating government-run health care in their plans to extend coverage to the uninsured. But, beyond that, the 44 percent figure that Mr. Giuliani has been citing is in dispute.

Anyway, it seems noteworthy that things have gotten to the point where Krugman apparently feels the need to admonish his own paper's editors for not taking on Rudy's falsefoods forcefully enough. Shorter Krugman to Times editors: Tell your readers the truth. This is important.

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