Jonathan Adler at Volokh Conspiracy (via Instapundit) has a very good take down of the nutroots best and brightest economics-professor blogger, Brad DeLong:
Would you consider it sound for one academic to attack a paper written by another, calling it (among other things) “obviously erroneous” and “simply stupid,” based upon a third-party representation of what it says? And would you consider it responsible to use the third-party representation of said paper as Exhibit A for questioning why the author has a tenured job at a prestigious academic institution? You would if you were University of California at Berkeley economics professor J. Bradford DeLong, who has continued his series of attacks against University of Chicago law professor M. Todd Henderson. “I genuinely do not understand why Henderson has his job,” writes DeLong, pointing not to anything Henderson himself wrote but instead to what another academic blogger wrote about Henderson’s scholarship. [Yes, this is the same Professor DeLong who repeats baseless accusations against other academics and then, when asked to substantiate his charges, selectively edits his comment threads and then dissembles about said editing when called on it.]
Update: A post at The Moderate Voice reveals the depth of DeLong’s vindictiveness:
#9 on DeLong’s hate-o-list is particularly striking. Yes, you read that right. DeLong believes that Henderson should be fired for no other reason than that DeLong disagrees with him strongly.
It is terrifying that such a mindset sits in a prominent position at an elite university with power over who gets hired, who teaches what classes, and who is given the protection of tenure. Is there any doubt that DeLong doesn’t exactly place a priority on ensuring that Berkeley economics students hear dissenting views? The fact that DeLong used to hold high government office and may do so again gives additional reason to be concerned about his apparently authoritarian tendencies.
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Related Post:
Will Law Professors Rally Around (A Conservative) One Of Their Own?
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Comments
I've never understood why lawyers fancy themselves as economists. *cough* Robert Reich
True though, this economist sounds like a nut.
It is worth remembering that DeLong, whose life is a left wing parody of white privilege (Harvard, Larry Summers' protege, Treasury, Berkeley) once compared Thomas Sowell, who grew up fighting Jim Crow, to the vicious segregationist Orval Faubus.
http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2008/06/heathers-theyre.html
Peruse his submissions over at DU, and you will know DeLong is certifiably insane.
Does his being listed as a member of the late-lamented Journolist explain him and his actions sufficiently?