Remember when Jacques Chirac made a nasty remark about Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic and said they should try to make themselves seem a little more worthy of membership in the EU? Conservatives sneered. This was during the buildup to the Iraq War (all three countries in question were in the "coalition of the willing"), so of course conservatives were sneering a lot at Chirac and other representatives of "Old Europe." "New Europe" was forward-looking, eagerly shaking off the socialist yoke in anticipation of a free-market future, while "Old Europe" countries such as France and Germany were, as one Heritage Foundation pundit put it, "Socialist in outlook, resistant to change, and Luddite in their thinking ... stuck in the past, and one that is far from glorious."

Well, The New York Times had an article yesterday about three Eastern European countries facing shrinking GDP growth and skyrocketing deficits even as they plan to join the EU -- and the three countries were Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic. What's the trouble? Well, in Hungary, at least, according to the Times, the trouble is ... socialism. Or at least a Socialist Party that's struggling to ensure that citizens have a decent standard of living as jobs flee to lower-wage countries.

Right-wing pundits in America wanted you to think that our Iraq War allies from Eastern Europe are all happy capitalists while "Old Europe" does business following the tenets of Stalin and Mao. Or something like that. This is nonsense. Too bad so many people believe it.