J. Bradford DeLete

One of the privileges of having my own blog is that I get to re-post the comments that Brad DeLong deletes. As everyone knows, he is quite trigger-happy with that delete button. Well, I can kind of understand: his threads would go on for miles of drivel if he let every Tom, Dick, and Harry post comments. But moi...? For my latest, first some background:

1. Brad attacks a political reporter for making light of Hillary Clinton’s “wonkish” energy proposals. The media should cater instead to careful and concerned readers who really care about her speech.

2. Brad attacks another reporter for not stating prominently enough that global warming skeptics are liars, lunatics, and charlatans. The media should cater to careless and sloppy readers, who will be more influenced by the skeptics’ statements than by the author’s unambiguous but subtle challenges.

3. More of the above: the post on which I commented.

So…

Will the real Brad DeLong please stand up? Is it the one who believes readers are dumb and casual and need to be spoon-fed the truth about global warming? Or is it the one who believes readers are subtle and sophisticated and need to be given more substantive details about Hillary Clinton’s energy proposals?

Oops, I forgot: It’s the one who deletes posts from those who find problems with what he says. I suppose one might be able to avoid this fate by stating the criticisms in unusually diplomatic language, instead of trying to be witty. But isn’t Brad himself the one who is always attacking reporters for being too diplomatic in their criticisms?

My latest comment agrees with something he said, though, so I’m guessing it won’t be deleted. (To be fair, I did make some mildly hostile comments on the first post cited above, and Brad didn’t delete them either. I guess it’s hard to predict.)