Sir, – I fail to understand how Paul Krugman's column on September 1st belongs under the heading "Economics" ("Political poseurs with a knack for public relations can con the public for a very long time", September 1st).
It is, as are most of his columns, simply an anti-Republican Party rant by an extremely biased observer.
Granted, Krugman did receive a Nobel prize in 2008 for economic analysis, but that in no way qualifies him as a political analyst. He consistently ridicules and belittles Republicans, while dismissing their policies, yet he ignores or glosses over the shortcomings of Democrats.
He mentions that he is “supposed to be evenhanded, and point out equivalent figures on the Democratic side, but there really aren’t any”.
His parenthetical dismissal of Hillary Clinton’s email “thing” disregards the fact that the FBI believes it serious enough to assign the investigation to its counterintelligence section.
Many US government personnel, from generals to low-ranking enlisted members and civilians, have had their careers ruined – and some are spending time in federal prison – for mishandling classified information. Yet he expects us to disregard the current situation because it involves a darling of the Democrat party. This is so typical of Krugman’s opinion columns.
I trust Irish Times readers do not rely on him for objective commentary on US politics. – Yours, etc,
JIM DOHERTY,
Maple Valley,
Washington.