In a November 30 piece, FoxNews.com contributor John Lott joins the conservative freak-out over “climate-gate,” claiming that “CRU's temperature data and all of the research done with it are now in question” and "[t]here is no precedent for so many academics engaging in coordinated efforts to distort research for political ends."

We've already debunked much of the hysteria over “climate-gate,” but Lott probably isn't the best person to complain about research integrity.

In 2003, it was revealed that Lott had been defending the integrity of his own research online over the previous three years under the pseudonym “Mary Rosh.” In one posting, Lott/Mary gushed: “I have to say that [Lott] was the best professor I ever had.” Lott was trashed by liberals and conservatives alike; Michelle Malkin wrote that “Lott's invention of Mary Rosh to praise his own research and blast other scholars is beyond creepy. And it shows his extensive willingness to deceive to protect and promote his work.” Lott has also been caught using fraudulent data for his research.

More recently, Lott was criticized for botching research to cry voter fraud in the Franken-Coleman recount. Veteran Minnesota reporter and media critic David Brauer called Lott's purported research “baseless sliming” and “disgusting,” while Minneapolis Star Tribune editor Glenn Howatt said that Lott's “numbers are simply wrong.”

Commenter M. Rosh, however, calls Lott's “climate-gate” piece “brilliant.”