Update.

This is how we do it, baby...

If you want a quick lesson in skewing, read this line: "Guess who was named by one survey as the most influential left of center European thinker?"*

and then this: "In our recent readers ballot we asked you who you think are the thinkers with the most influence on the European left-of-centre political agenda."

Well that's a clear misinterpretation. A trick in the writing. They asked who influenced European thinking, and Krugs recasts himself as a "European thinker".

Nope. Re-read the question before the poll results, please. (I shudder to think how his economic expertise -- the prize winning skill -- has been dulled perhaps by poor reading skills prior to the expert economic analysis. Or perhaps it's just in the writing -- and characterizing the writing of others? -- where he falls short. Ah, these trying-to-do-it-all media stars today...)


* I honestly don't get why the ambition doesn't die down, once they are comfortably secure financially, and begin mistaking prizes for real-life results. Step back and enjoy what you've earned for yourself. Skewing and spinning ... why put your reputation on the line at the end of your career and all?

** I've always thought Krugman's "work" would play better in Europe anyway, where they don't have pesky Constitutions like ours that guarantee the individual unfettered rights, comparatively, to those our European ancestors preferred to ... opt out of.

*** Added: no, I wasn't shuddering literally.