ZOMBIE CONTENTIONS

Me, I won a Nobel Prize. So there!

John Henke, over at The Next Right, reminds us of what a keen observer and indefatigable researcher New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is. Krugman’s column today investigates the claim by “some commentators” that the current protests against Obama and ObamaCare are no less spirited than “the campaign against Social Security privatization [waged by liberals] back in 2005.”

Henke presents Krugman’s findings: “Seriously, I’ve been searching through news reports on the Social Security town halls, and I can’t find any examples of the kind of behavior we’re seeing now. Yes, there were noisy demonstrations—but they were outside the events. . . . So this is something new and ugly.”

Then Henke presents his own findings:

• NW Progressive Institute, March 2005: “a boisterous crowd which frequently interrupted the discussion with shouts and hard nosed questions. … Democrats in the audience who were interrupting the panel…. the crowd erupted in anger… Democrats in the audience started shouting him down again.
• Savannah Morning News, March 2005: “By now, Jack Kingston is used to shouted questions, interruptions and boos. Republican congressmen expect such responses these days when they meet with constituents about President Bush’s proposal to overhaul Social Security.”
• USA Today, March 2005: “Shaken by raucous protests at open “town hall”-style meetings last month … Santorum was among dozens of members of Congress who ran gantlets of demonstrators and shouted over hecklers at Social Security events last month. Many who showed up to protest were alerted by e-mails and bused in by anti-Bush organizations such as MoveOn.org and USAction, a liberal advocacy group. They came with prepared questions and instructions on how to confront lawmakers.”

What could possibly account for this lapse by Krugman, who after all won a Nobel Prize? How could a guy as—well, average—as John Henke come up with search results missed by a guy as—well, brainy—as Paul Krugman (thinks he is)?

My guess is that the difference comes to ideology and search criteria. Henke, who is a conservative and ostensibly has an awareness of media bias, knew enough to strip down his search to include only the keywords protest, Social Security, and town hall. Krugman, who is a liberal and, hence, disinclined to believe in media bias, probably complicated his search by adding either Democrat or liberal. Either term will return 0 finds if the other keywords are potentially damning to liberals or Democrats in any way. (And if Krugman used the Times’ dedicated search engine, I am willing to bet he turned up less than 0 finds.)