Why, Why, Why Does This Guy Have a Column at the New York Times?

Is there nothing he can say that is so stupid, and so pretend wise, while in fact pushing the fantasies of the rich so assiduously, that disqualifies him from blaring his worthless opinions to the American people?

Who else could I be talking about?  Thomas "The Mustache of Irrelevancy*" Friedman, of course, who gets another opportunity to beat us down with his worthless opinions.

Here's a taste of his "Centrist" drivel today, in which once again he refuses to identify the obvious source of this nation's problems, the Republican party:

"Congress should be borrowing money at these unusually low rates to invest in a 10-year upgrade of our crumbling infrastructure...But this near-term investment should be paired with long-term entitlement reductions...and tax reform that would be phased in gradually as the economy improves"

Friedman's idea of compromise seems to boil down to this:  Every time we enact a good Democratic policy, we have to let the Republican have a really bad policy.  This time, the price we have to pay for the proven value that economic stimulus represents is A) screwing poor people and everyone on Social Security and B) tax "reform," which of course never means anything but less taxes for the rich.  Sound familiar?  This is not centrism.  It is the century long demand of the Republican party that the poor be made to pay for the damage the rich cause.

Here's another taste:

"In some cities, teachers’ unions really are holding up education reform. But we need to stop blaming teachers alone. We also have a parent problem: parents who do not take an interest in their children’s schooling or set high standards....Reform requires a hybrid of both teacher reform and a sustained — not just one speech — national campaign to challenge parents and create a culture of respect and excitement for learning. Obama has failed to use his unique bully pulpit to lead such a campaign."

So the problem with the decline of public education in this country was caused by greedy teachers and irresponsible parents.  Notice something left out of this account?  No blame for the Republican jerks that really don't give a damn about anything but cutting their own taxes, and routinely vote down any attempt to adequately fund an education system which they took advantage of in their youth, but which they now would rather drown in the bathtub with the rest of the government.  But no, it's the fault of teachers and parents, and Obama too, because he was supposed to use his "bully pulpit" to get the Republicans to stop their sabotage of government.  How he was to accomplish that I have no idea.

And a final tidbit:

"But it is capitalism, start-ups, risk-taking and entrepreneurship that make these safety nets affordable, which is why we need more tax incentives for start-ups...and more cuts to regulations that burden business. Unfortunately, promotion of risk-taking and risk-takers is disappearing from the Democratic Party agenda. Its energy and excitement is focused much more today on wealth redistribution than wealth creation."

This could have come out of any hard line Republican's mouth.  No comment from Friedman about what the Republicans have been up to the last couple of decades.  No, it's all the Democrats' fault for not cutting taxes and regulations.

The frightening thing is, I think this guy might just be stupid and gullible enough to believe what he is saying.  But why doesn't he say it in private, and leave the rest of us alone?



*As distinguished, of course from The Mustache of Doom, John Bolton.