Can Comrade Krugman Count?

Peter Barry Chowka reports on Comrade Krugman's plea for socialist medicine:

A curious phenomenon is emerging. The reality of Sicko's disappointing box office figures notwithstanding, supporters of government-run universal health care, who latched on to the movie long before it was even released, seem undeterred in their increasingly messianic mission. It's as if - six decades after the campaign for socialized medicine began during the post-World War II administration of President Harry S. Truman - they can finally see their goal coming into view. Nothing, not least the disappointing box office receipts of a movie, is going to stop them.

Among the hundreds - if not thousands - of Sicko box office truth deniers is Paul Krugman, professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University and New York Times columnist. On July 9, in a typically histrionic column "Health Care Terror," Krugman wrote,

"For more than 60 years, the medical-industrial complex and its political allies have used scare tactics to prevent America from following its conscience and making access to health care a right for all its citizens. I say conscience, because the health care issue is, most of all, about morality.

"That's what we learn from the overwhelming response to Michael Moore's 'Sicko.'"

Overwhelming response? Krugman must believe the hype and his own wishful thinking.

Here's the numbers on Comrade Moore's film.I guess not everyone thinks a country like Cuba where people ride bikes to work and don't have electricity all week can provide great health care.