Toadstool wrote:I think Brown still is on board with Proenza, so I say "heckuva job, Brownie!"
People who don't personally know any of the people involved have wanted to turn this into a simple morality play of the noble and good Proenza agains the evil higher up NOAA faceless bureaucrats, and with every article that comes out it becomes obvious (as I suspected) that things were far more complicated.
The ONE fact that was clear is Proenza was seriously exaggerating the importance of QUIKSCAT to tropical forecasting, particularly that for dangerous storms threatening the US. That made it hard to take his side. There's something called "bad soldiers in the service of a good king." - Bad arguments in favor of something good (I want a nice new upgraded QUIKSCAT as much as the next guy) actually just hurt your position.
And now that long-time and well-known NHC forecasters have made it clear they don't like Proenza and want him gone, I think it's time the emotional Proenza-as-hero position is abandoned, especially by those who formed that based on a couple of news articles in the first place, without knowing the actual situation inside NHC.