THE SMART PILLS ARE GOING TO WEAR OFF

Paul Krugman today:

There aren't many positive aspects to the looming possibility of a U.S. debt default. But there has been, I have to admit, an element of comic relief -- of the black-humor variety -- in the spectacle of so many people who have been in denial suddenly waking up and smelling the crazy.

A number of commentators seem shocked at how unreasonable Republicans are being. "Has the G.O.P. gone insane?" they ask.

Why, yes, it has. But this isn't something that just happened, it's the culmination of a process that has been going on for decades. Anyone surprised by the extremism and irresponsibility now on display either hasn't been paying attention, or has been deliberately turning a blind eye....

Yup -- and you know what? If we somehow manage to get through this debt crisis without major damage to the country (except, of course, to the needy beneficiaries of the gutted programs, whose suffering we always find tolerable), then the same people who've suddenly learned that Republicans are crazy are going to un-learn it.

The GOP has been crazy and extreme and intransigent for years, but those in the political elite who have recently seen the scales fall from their eyes noticed the craziness only because this aspect of the craziness threatens the comfort of financiers and other plutocrats. As soon as that's not the case again, the newly insightful will go back to being blind again.

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(UPDATE: Link added.)