(2003-10-09) Kling Contra Krugman Meta

Arnold Kling accuses Paul Krugman of lowering the level of political discourse in general through resorting to Class M (motivation (of others)) arguments instead of Class C (consequences of policies) arguments (Message Vs Messenger). He gives examples of Krugman's articles about Tax Cut (Imagine that we could somehow prove that the motives of the supply-siders were pure, and that they really did want to improve economic growth. Would that purity of motive outweigh the argument that the higher deficits will actually have the consequence of reducing growth? I would hope not.), School Vouchers, and the War On Iraq.