So says Michigan state senator Ed McBroom, in a quote reminiscent of the famous dictum by Daniel Davies, “Good ideas do not need lots of lies told about them in order to gain public acceptance.” I agree with both quotes.

It’s kind of a Bayesian thing, or a multilevel modeling thing. Lots of people make errors, but when they don’t admit error, or when they attack people who point out their errors, that appropriately makes us less trusting of their other statements.