While all economists have an ideological bias...whether slight or pronounced, most whose blogs I read or come across tend to lack an overt partisan bias that overshadows their writing.

Well, that's more than I can say about Paul Krugman. He has long since left behind his scholarly, respectable stature as a somewhat obscure but serious Princeton economist in favor of a dark gleeful descent into his new role as Partisan Democrat Rock Star Pundit for the New York Times. And why not? More money, more fame, more attention, more women (well, maybe not :))....but considerably less face among his peers and among readers who respected him and his work even when they had respectful differences.

He's frequently slippery with stats, truthy with assertions and light on sources in his columns (now known as "Krugmanisms") and I've seen him called on it many times. But I'm not Paul Krugman writing on matters of great import in the Times, so I won't go looking for links to show you. ;)

Any way, Megan McArdle raises this whole issue again after ruffling some liberal feathers with an earlier post on Krugman's chronic pessimism:

Paul Krugman is voting for doom. It's worth keeping in mind, however, that Paul Krugman has predicted eight of the last none recessions under the Bush administration.

She then Krugman Doom Quotes spanning that last 7 years. Funny have a read.

With that in mind, going back to that first Megan link, she says:

I took some flak on liberal blogs for pointing out that Paul Krugman has been the voice of doom on the economy for nigh on a decade. But there was good reason to think that there might be a recession, my critics cried.

Here's the problem. What's the one time that Paul Krugman didn't forecast a recession? That would be when we actually had a recession . It just wasn't a recession that could be blamed on George Bush.

That last link is to Mankiw, a rather partisan Republican economist in his own right it must be said. But what he digs up is still worth a read:

One hears that George W. Bush likes to give people nicknames. So I hereby propose that he himself be known as Chicken Little. After all, he has been running around saying ''The sky is falling! Hurry up and pass my tax cut!''....With one exception, the economic data don't support such gloomy views. The unemployment rate has ticked up slightly, but it is still lower than anyone would have thought possible only a few years ago...There's no mystery about why the administration is so eager to pronounce the economy flat on its back -- Mr. Bush wants to use fear of recession to bully Congress into rushing through his tax cut,...Has there ever before been a case of a U.S. administration deliberately undermining confidence for the sake of political advantage?<?blockquote> NY Times, 02/21/01.

The recession would start in officially in about a month.