Donald Luskin, for those of you fortunate enough not to be familiar with the man, is a right-wing columnist for the National Review Online. Over the past several months, he has displayed an unhealthy obsession and an almost monomaniacal focus on Princeton economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.
This has included, even, lurking about at a Krugman book-signing event. This creepy meeting seems to have been, at most, a footnote in Krugman's day, but for Donald Luskin it was a formative event, a life-altering moment that he wrote about in a column entitled "Face to Face With Evil." No. Really.
Luskin, being ridiculous, has attracted a great deal of ridicule. The stock joke being that he has become Paul Krugman's "stalker." (Even conservatives like Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit have chimed in on this.)
Enough background: the thin-skinned Luskin ([email protected]) has, through his attorney, sent Atrios a letter demanding that he remove the posts and comments on his site that poor Donald finds offensive/too-close-to-home. The lawyer — Jeffrey J. Upton, (617) 226-3459; [email protected] — essentially threatened a lawsuit(s) and hinted that his real goal was to "out" the pseudonymous Atrios' real identity.
See this post at Atrios to read the entire letter. (And be sure to read the R-rated comments thread, which includes a great deal of assertion and speculation about Luskin's and Upton's personal habits, hygiene and lineage.)
The threat of "exposing" Atrios' identity is reprehensible. It's a violation of privacy, of the mores of the blogosphere, and — if, as I suspect, Atrios is secretly a CIA NOC — a violation of national security and federal law.
So, if some lawyer wants to know who Atrios really is, you know the drill — flood the zone.
Just like in the movie: "I am Spartacus." "I am Spartacus …"
UPDATE: Feel the love — Atrios is getting loads of well-deserved support.
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