Contrary to the implications of Friday’s post, the Daily Journal article wasn’t confined to San Francisco; it ran in the Los Angeles Daily Journal as well. On the upside, the L.A. version had a much more reasonable headline (”Internet Users Weigh in on Controversy Over Boalt Hall Dean”) than its San Francisco counterpart (”Boalt Sex Scandal Takes a Spiteful Turn on the Internet”). Perhaps this reflects the fact that the only truly spiteful statement appearing in the article - attorney Laura Stevens’s characterization of Erin, Stefan and/or me as “vile” - wasn’t made over the Internet. Then again, maybe the differing headlines reflect the fact that while Los Angeles is still a liberal town, it’s not so ultraliberal as to regard terms like “spite” or “hate” as synonyms for “dissent.”

The downside, from my perspective, is that rather than quoting the most obnoxious sentence of my fisking once, as the SF version did, the LA version quoted it twice, once in bold and 14-point font. If they had that much space to spare, couldn’t they have found room for the paragraph from Prof. Krieger’s essay to which I was responding? If you’re unclear as to what the most obnoxious sentence is, let’s just say that I’m not in the habit of using words like “horny” or “pimps,” but Roemer managed to catch me using both words in a single sentence. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

One last clarification is in order. Like Stefan, I take strong exception to Mr. Roemer’s statement that any of us are taking Dwyer’s side of this matter. At this stage, I take neither side, and would urge the print media to do the same. If Dwyer’s version of the events is accurate, then he has exhibited horrible judgment and is unfit to be dean of a top ten law school. If Reisch’s is correct, then Dwyer belongs in prison. Either way, Dwyer doesn’t look too good, and either way, Krieger and Stevens’s cynical efforts to exploit this tragedy for political gain seem to be unwarranted.

As a side note, it looks like most of the traffic this site has gotten over the past couple of weeks has been related to the Boalt scandal. That’s fine with me. Like most bloggers, I am something of a media whoreslut [there is a difference - as Eugene has pointed out here, whores get paid] who thinks all traffic is good traffic. I caution, however, that if you’re looking for any kind of “inside scoop,” you won’t find it here. Erin and Stefan have done all the heavy lifting on this one - which is why I’m a bit puzzled to see that Mr. Roemer mentioned my blog first rather than last (if at all). I will continue to monitor the situation in case any new news breaks, and will certainly link to it if it does, but I don’t anticipate weighing in on this issue anytime soon. Famous last words…