CNN should be ashamed of themselves for keeping a Republican smear merchant on their staff as an analyst. He acted like a pig during the primary and had to publicly apologize when he said on air that it was OK to call some women "bitches." And they still have him working for them. I know credible Republican talking heads are pretty hard to find, but this guy is out right garbage that should go out with the TV trash. Here's what he said to Blitzer:

Blitzer: Powerful new criticism of President Obama's economic rescue plan coming from the Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman. Did too much get cut out or is compromise the right thing to do?

Let's discuss in our strategy session. Joining us now, the Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons, and CNN contributor the Republican strategist, Alex Castellanos. Here's what Krugman writes in the New York Times today, among other things:

What do you call someone who eliminates hundreds of thousands of American jobs, deprives millions of adequate health care and nutrition, undermines schools, but offers a $15,000 bonus to affluent people who flip their houses? A proud centrist. ... [And] how did this happen? I blame President Obama’s belief that he can transcend the partisan divide — a belief that warped his economic strategy.

Pretty strong words coming from Paul Krugman.

Simmons: They are. And Paul Krugman's a very well-respected and seemingly very good economist. I'm not sure he's ever passed one single bill in the United States Senate. So if you take a look at it that way, President Obama's got a real challenge. Which is that he's got to get a bill not only through the House but also through the Senate, where he needs 60 votes and then he'll need some Republicans to go along to get cloture. So this looks like the best he can get to get through the Senate and get some money immediately into the economy.

Blitzer: In the Senate, he not only needed some Republicans to get above that magic number of 60 but he also needed those moderate or conservative Democrats who could have bolted as well.

Castellanos: He's caught between the rock and the hard place on this one. He's got Democrats who want him to spend more on the left and Republicans who say, hey, this is crazy.

And I know Krugman won the Nobel Prize, but so did Al Gore. It can't be that hard. (laughter.)

And if economists were that good, they'd all be rich and they're not. So let's take all this with a grain of salt here.

I mean, what the Democrats are telling the country now is, they're having a debate, 'We're gonna take a big pile of money and set it on fire. We're going to borrow it, make a big pile and set in on fire.' And the argument is that the pile of money is not big enough. So while the Democrats are having this internal debate, the message they're sending is: Big Spending.

Blitzer: We're all looking forward -- when we celebrate your winning the Nobel Prize one of these days -- obviously something you're looking forward to.