After a week-long series of Big Journalism articles delving into the funding, agenda and dubious academic credentials behind the now-infamous “Cry Wolf Project,” the program’s co-chair, Prof. Peter Dreier has finally emerged from his bunker at Occidental College to respond to the controversy.

After first quoting heavily from the Soros-funded talking points supplied by our pals, the Senior Fellows over at Media Matters, Scott Jaschik at InsideHigherEd.com, quotes Dreier as follows:

Dreier, one of the organizers of Cry Wolf, said in an interview Thursday that the furor over the project was unfair. “This is legitimate work,” he said, and the essays will be scrutinized for accuracy. The end result will simply be better organized resources that might be consulted by the public, op-ed writers or others. He also said that he didn’t view this effort as either replacing traditional scholarship or doing anything that conservative groups don’t already do. He added that the pattern of “the world is going to end” reactions to “progressive efforts” is a legitimate issue for scholars to raise and explore.

Why are the conservatives so critical? Said Dreier: “That’s what they are paid to do.”



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Let’s savor the delicious irony of Dreier’s last statement.

Forget the fact that the entire series of articles run here at Big Journalism was spearheaded and researched by concerned citizens who were providing their insight and investigative and writing skills without pay. Let’s instead note the blatant hypocrisy of Dreier’s charge. The whole point of the “Cry Wolf Project” is to pay left-wing academics $1,000 to write a 2,000 word essay full of talking points to be used against conservatives — talking points masquerading as legitimate academic scholarship.

That’s right, contributors to this site provided their criticisms of the “Cry Wolf Program” (which is designed to pay academics to create anti-conservative talking points) for no payment, and when asked why conservatives are so critical, the E.P Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics and Urban & Environmental Policy Program director at Occidental College says, “It’s what they are paid to do.”

The E.P Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics and Urban & Environmental Policy Program director at Occidental College

There’s no self-delusion like a left-wing academic’s self-delusion. Next he’ll tell us he had no affiliation with ACORN.

Oh wait, that’s what he told the Los Angeles Times. And look how well that worked out.