Grasping Reality by Brad DeLong

Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?

Jennifer Lee, Manager, Communications , Washington Post Digital, emails:

Sarah Palin writes an op-ed for Tuesday’s Washington Post and says President Obama’s cap-and-trade energy plan is an enormous threat to our economy. Palin writes that Obama’s plan will result in outsourcing our energy supply to China, Russia and Saudi Arabia. It would undermine our recovery over the short term and would inflict permanent damage, she says. To read Palin’s entire op-ed, visit:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/13/AR2009071302852.html

The article is also pasted below in its entirety:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/13/AR2009071302852.html

An article on energy that doesn't mention that there is such a thing as global warming, and you are proud to publish it?

And this from Sarah Palin:

Sarah Palin - A 'Cap and Tax' Road to Economic Disaster : There is no denying that as the world becomes more industrialized, we need to reform our energy policy and become less dependent on foreign energy sources. But the answer doesn't lie in making energy scarcer and more expensive!...

How do you make us less dependent on cheap foreign energy without making energy more expensive, thus inducing people to conserve and also to explore previously-unviable domestic sources?

So I called Jennifer Lee:

ME: Good morning. My name is Brad DeLong. I got your email about the cap-and-trade op-ed this morning and I was wondering if I could ask you a few question. An op-ed about cap-and-trade energy policy that doesn't evem whisper about global warming? Why is publishing this something to be proud of rather than embarrassed about?

JENNIFER LEE: I'm sorry. This the publicity office. I'm sorry. If you shoot me an email I'll be sure the editors get it. You raise good points. Thank you for reaching out...

Et cetera...

So let's try Andrew Alexander:

Dear Mr. Alexander:

Four questions about your newspaper this morning:

1. Your publicity office sent out a blast email boasting about Sarah Palin's cap-and-trade op-ed that appeared this morning, and I could not help but be surprised. An op-ed about cap-and-trade energy policy that doesn't evem whisper about global warming: why is publishing this something to be proud of rather than embarrassed about?

2. I would have thought that Fred Hiatt or whoever on the editorial staff would have sent back the first draft and say: "We have a duty to our readers to maintain quality. You can't write about energy policy without addressing global warming, somehow. We can't publish this unless you do..." Yet nobody did that. Can you explain why?

3. There is this passage in the op-ed: "There is no denying that as the world becomes more industrialized, we need to reform our energy policy and become less dependent on foreign energy sources. But the answer doesn't lie in making energy scarcer and more expensive!..." How do you make us less dependent on cheap foreign energy without making energy more expensive, thus inducing people to conserve and also to explore previously-unviable domestic sources?

4. Do you think that a Washington Post that follows this strategy of choosing and editing articles will still be here in four years?

Sincerely yours,

Brad DeLong