I repeat the adage “All publicity is good publicity” every chance I get. So I shouldn’t have needed iSteve to explain why Matthew Simmons was smart to make a sucker bet with John Tierney:

What I realize now is that the author of the book was simply buying a NYT op-ed column (back when they were given away free on the Internet) and the attendant publicity for $5,000. When promoting a book, there’s no such thing as bad publicity as long as they spell your name right. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Simmons has already made back his five grand in speaker’s fees.

I shouldn’t have needed iSteve to tell me this. But I did.