Okrent and Ad Nags: BFF

It's a mutual masturbation admiration society in Harvard Square:

[Dan] Okrent said yesterday that he would spend his semester at the Shorenstein Center working on two books -- one a collection of his Times columns, and the other a longer-term project on the history of the U.S. during prohibition.

Okrent started his job at the Times in the midst of "widespread skepticism" in the newsroom about the necessity of a public editor, said Adam Nagourney, a political correspondent for the paper who was a fellow at the Kennedy School's Institute of Politics this fall. Nagourney -- himself a target of a 2004 Okrent column criticizing the Times' coverage of the Howard Dean campaign -- said much of that skepticism evaporated by the end of Okrent's tenure.

"He just won people over by his honesty," Nagourney said.

And I foolishly thought it was his willingness to harass readers who dared to criticize His Majesty, Lord Nags.

As regards Jokrent's plans to "work on" a book of his NYT columns, I look forward to wiping my ass with the finished product.