Moral Derpitude
The Josh Barro post itself is read-worthy
Like Bruce Bartlett, Josh Barros laudable attempt to be a reasonable conservative is having the unintended effect of demonstrating just how unreasonable modern conservatism has become as he himself now notes:
Basically, Erickson is derpy. And Erickson has big appeal to conservatives because lots of them are derpy. But the country is getting less derpy, and in time the Republican party will have to get less derpy, too. Thats my project, and I dont expect Erickson to like it.
But things are actually a lot worse than Barro is yet willing to acknowledge; for the GOPs derpitude doesnt just involve the Ericksons and the Limbaughs, it extends to the partys supposed intellectuals.
http://www.businessinsider.com/erick-erickson-shows-the-worst-in-gop-2013-6
Barro likes to claim that market monetarism, which he insists has been a big winner, is an achievement of conservative reformers. Id dispute just about all of that, but never mind right now. The point here is that the virulent opposition to any kind of monetary expansion isnt just coming from the talk radio types, or the rank and file politicians. We have a modern GOP in which
Paul Ryan is considered a policy wonk, the leading intellectual among elected officials and he gets his ideas about monetary policy by quoting from Atlas Shrugged.
Then theres health care, where the leading GOP alleged wonk has just demonstrated, in case you had any doubt, that evidence and clear thinking matter not at all compared with the goal of opposing anything liberals might also like.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/moral-derpitude/