Posted 11:36 AM by Robert

Twit IV!

It's now almost noon on December 2 in California, site of the august Berkeley economics department, and Professor DeLong has been busy, busy, busy posting on his Blog today. He has copied an entire copyrighted article from the Economist about the Zimbabwean model of development! (Heck, that's "fair use" isn't it?) He's told us what's wrong with NAFTA. (And included for good measure a copy of yet another entire copyrighted Economist article.) And the Good Professor has even sorrowed over a ridiculous fouth-hand Slate report telling us that "The NYT flags a coming Esquire interview with a former White House aide who says that the administration is obsessed with the political impact of things and doesn't give two-hoots about actual policy: John J. DiIulio Jr., who used to head the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and is, it should be noted, a Democrat. And also, it should be noted, a person once charged with a White House portfolio of which Professor DeLong almost completely disapproved - but that doesn't stop the Good Professor from trumpeting and relying on Mr. DiIulio's credibility now.

Is it important that people know these things - especially that the Good Professor is telling his readers that Slate is telling its readers that the NYT's is telling its readers that Esquire will be telling its readers that a disgruntled White House aide thinks there's too much politics in the White House? It seems to be more important to the Good Professor than deleting a comment that has been sitting in his database for almost two days comparing another of his commenters to a "Nazi."

Is that polite, Professor?

UPDATE: One might also question the politeness, judgment and credibility of the Good Professor's failure to note that John J. DiIulio, Jr. said Monday that quotes attributed to him in a January Esquire magazine article are wrong and were never said. But the Good Professor is apparently just too busy, busy, busy with important things to get rid of accusations of Nazism from his comments or correct a good sliming of the Administration. Well, maybe he's waiting to just copy the entire copyrighted Economist article on the matter when that comes out.

FURTHER UPDATE: Matt Drudge reproduces the underlying memo of John DiIulio. It's foolish phrasing and incoherent writing style seems to call into question Mr. DiIulio's judgment more than anything else.