Anything can be a serious threat...

...with enough imagination.

John Hinderaker at PowerLine looks at the "threats" Paul Krugman is seeing: Sun Rises In East; Krugman Makes Fool Of Himself

After referring to "the wave of vandalism and threats aimed at Democratic lawmakers"--no mention of Eric Cantor's office being shot at, death threats against Sarah Palin, etc.--he continues:

What has been really striking has been the eliminationist rhetoric of the G.O.P., coming not from some radical fringe but from the party's leaders. John Boehner, the House minority leader, declared that the passage of health reform was "Armageddon."

Is that scary, or what? An "Armageddon" is "any great and crucial conflict." I think the debate over health care qualifies, and, judging by their own statements, so do the Democrats. Krugman continues:

The Republican National Committee put out a fund-raising appeal that included a picture of Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, surrounded by flames, while the committee's chairman declared that it was time to put Ms. Pelosi on "the firing line."

This is downright funny. Krugman, in his usual dishonest-but-ineffective way, forgets to mention the whole point of the RNC fund-raising appeal, i.e., "Fire Pelosi."

And the Weekly Standard recalls another threat that seemed perfectly OK with Krugman in the past:

This is the same Paul Krugman who wrote in December:

"A message to progressives: By all means, hang Senator Joe Lieberman in effigy."

Update: A friend of TWS reminds us that effigies were actually burned at Krugman's 2008 election party:

...We had two or three TVs set up and we had a little portable outside fire pit and we let people throw in an effigy or whatever they wanted to get rid of for the past eight years.”

“One of our Italian colleagues threw in an effigy of Berlusconi.”...