Sockpuppetry of the Penis (Was: Another Shattered Glass Moment for The New Republic)

Titular update: As Jane Galt mentioned in her original post on the matter and as reader Rimfax points out below, this is a post about sockpuppet shenanigans and, as such, deserves a better headline than my original effort. Color me oblivious, but when I think of sock puppets, I, like Sal Paradise thinking of Dean Moriarity at the end of On the Road, used to think of Penn Jillette, even used to think of old Teller the silent one who never talks on camera, used to think of Penn Jillette for reasons that are clear to anyone who clicks on the link to his name. (Semi-obscure headline allusion here.)

Now back to the original post:

Jane Galt at Asymmetrical Information points us to the latest Shattered Glass moment for The New Republic: Irony-challenged TV critic and anti-blowjob blowhard Lee Seigel, the Grampa Simpson of the middling middlebrow elite, has been booted for pulling a John Lott.

Writes Editor-in-Chief Franklin Foer:

After an investigation, The New Republic has determined that the comments in our Talkback section defending Lee Siegel's articles and blog under the username "sprezzatura" were produced with Siegel's participation. We deeply regret misleading our readers. Lee Siegel's blog will no longer be published by TNR, and he has been suspended from writing for the magazine.

You don't have to be a fan of Castiglione to admire the, er, chutzpah, of Siegel calling his fake self sprezzatura.

Other great moments in TNR online journalism include Gregg Easterbrook's mondo bizarro rant against the Jews while commenting on Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.

And, of course, from the bricks-and-mortar days at TNR, there's always Stephen Glass (once a minor motion picture) and Ruth Shalit (who, full disclosure, penned at least a couple of pieces for Reason back in her wunderbrat days).

Open thread for a long weekend: Who will play Siegel in Shattered Glass 2: The Legend of Curly's Gold?