In response to Republicans’ attempts to shirk the blame for their woes, Krugman diagnoses their downfall in the history of racism which underlies their anti-government stance.  ”The fault, however, lies not in Republicans’ stars but in themselves. Forty years ago the G.O.P. decided, in effect, to make itself the party of racial backlash. And everything that has happened in recent years, from the choice of Mr. Bush as the party’s champion, to the Bush administration’s pervasive incompetence, to the party’s shrinking base, is a consequence of that decision.” (read on here)