I completely agree with this, and I'm really glad that Paul Krugman said it.
...for the past 14 years America's political life has been largely dominated by, well, monsters. Monsters like Tom DeLay, who suggested that the shootings at Columbine happened because schools teach students the theory of evolution. Monsters like Karl Rove, who declared that liberals wanted to offer "therapy and understanding" to terrorists. Monsters like Dick Cheney, who saw 9/11 as an opportunity to start torturing people.And in our national discourse, we pretended that these monsters were reasonable, respectable people. To point out that the monsters were, in fact, monsters, was "shrill."
Four years ago it seemed as if the monsters would dominate American politics for a long time to come. But for now, at least, they've been banished to the wilderness.
Add Pat Buchanan to the list, as if that racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic, far-right-wing freak should be considered a serious "analyst" by anyone listens to him. Add Sarah Palin to the list as well, for her outrageously out-of-the-mainstream views on just about everything, for her proud know-nothing-ism, and for her wild charges about Barack Obama "palling around with terrorists," etc. Add Michele Bachmann to the list for suggesting that there should be a McCarthy-ite witch hunt for members of Congress who are "anti-American." Oh, and we might as well add Joe the unlicensed, tax delinquent, far-right-wing "plumber" to the list, as he's made himself a public figure in support of taking from the poor and giving to the rich. Why on earth is that lunatic being featured on "news" shows, even post-presidential debate "analysis?" Maybe we should add the media to our list of "monsters?"
The charade continued far too long, this pretending that the skewed "reality" promulgated by the monsters was fact, was normalcy, was simply the way things were. The placid repetition of what we now see were outrageous, outlandish and sometimes evil fairy tales sank into the mental landscape of the public. Very few raised objections; those who courageously did so found their characters and reputations thoroughly trashed, their careers destroyed, whether they were career government employees, media pundits, or even flag officers in the military. It was indeed Orwellian: up is down, black is white, war is peace, it's not torture if I say it isn't, they hate us for our freedom. The unfortunate fact is that the monsters' fog lingers in the minds of many (maybe 25 percent?) of the population, who stubbornly cling to these evil fairy tales... our own Lost Generation, hankering to return to the comforting picture of the world so rigorously impressed upon them by monsters.