The Atlantic columnist Clive Crook has taken yet another unconscionable swipe at Penn State climatologist  Michael Mann, throwing evidence to the wind in a column that Crook himself might describe as “splenetic hyperventilation” or even “operatic ranting.”

Crook’s principal crime is to accuse Mann “of groupthink, a preference for data that point in the right direction, efforts to deflect or neutralize opposing points of view, and the selective packaging of findings for public consumption ….” In trying to justify that accusation, the “senior editor” at The Atlantic has patched together an unconvincing and (as Joe Romm of ClimeProgress demonstrates here) inaccurate batch of quotes and other clumsy misinformation.

Crook’s secondary crime is his effort to pass himself off as someone who is “open-minded,” who stands with the “sensible critics” and who is “of moderate opinion.” Alas for what passes as moderation at The Atlantic these days. Crook painted himself into a corner with an untenable position and an incorrect accusation against Mann. If he had any grace, he would have apologized and corrected the record. His immoderate and increasingly desperate campaign to malign Michael Mann surely excuses him from the ranks of the sensible.