Nate Silver, statistician and star, left the New York Times and the paper's public editor Margaret Sullivan can't wait to explain that they never really liked him anyway:

* I don’t think Nate Silver ever really fit into the Times culture and I think he was aware of that. He was, in a word, disruptive. Much like the Brad Pitt character in the movie “Moneyball” disrupted the old model of how to scout baseball players, Nate disrupted the traditional model of how to cover politics...

* A number of traditional and well-respected Times journalists disliked his work. The first time I wrote about him I suggested that print readers should have the same access to his writing that online readers were getting. I was surprised to quickly hear by e-mail from three high-profile Times political journalists, criticizing him and his work. They were also tough on me for seeming to endorse what he wrote, since I was suggesting that it get more visibility.

Sullivan says she's "sorry to see him go"—but, just so everybody knows, lots of other people hated him. Yeeeesh.

Via Snipy at Wonkette.