…only when there are tax cuts to defeat. That seems to be an accurate description of the political left’s attitude toward government over-spending. After years of bashing Bush’s tax cuts because they create deficits, Paul Krugman suddenly changes tune and claims they don’t matter at all. (See Don Luskin for a great run-down or Krugman’s sudden change of heart). Of course, now we have a Democratic Congress who will try to spend loads of money on ineffective government programs that Krugman loves, so what’s a trifling little thing like a deficit? That’s so yesterday.

Of course, when tax cuts are involved, you find loads of liberal switching on many issues. Take Social Security. When liberals needed ammo to use against Bush’s tax cuts, Social Security faced a crisis. But when Bush actually tried to do something about the crisis, the left’s collective response was “Crisis?!? What crisis?” For examples see Krugman or the New York Times op-ed page.