As an op-ed this piece is average journalism. It focuses on one current issue. Since the piece is a one sided attack against a political "tactic", fairness and balance are not objectives, therefore not included. In my opinion, Mr. Kruger tap-dances (as most journalists do) around the central issue,..the constituancy of the base that (for many reasons)readily accepts statements as facts BECAUSE they came from THEIR party politicians therefore TRUE and requiring no fact-checking. Mr. Krugman's assertion "the politics of stupidity didn’t just appeal to the poorly informed" is the only oblique reference to the other than the politicians (the presumed informed media) yet doesn't address the realities of the "average voter". True analysts would (far from considering them stupid) probably give the Republican politicians and strategists on this and every wedge issue an AAA+++ for analysis of their constituancy, knowledge of how to manipulate them, what information to withhold (Ie:Democratic efforts to pass a bill that requires the oil companies to drill on their already leased and permitted 77 million acres of oil fields... or lose their permits, blocked by Republicans). Mr. Kruger's tap-dance... it is Un-American to to come right out and confirm that in MANY, especially political genres, as a collective body we ARE STUPID. But it is political and journalistic suicide to actually state the obvious, regardless of political affiliation. We are a point and click society. The tacticians and propagandists point and click, we follow the link to their objective.