Cause and effect

QD of SA, presumably not speaking on the QT, notes this article on Daniel Drezner being denied tenure.

When asked about whether the blog had anything to do with the denial of tenure, the department chair said, "I can assure you it's not specifically about the blog." That's almost lawyerly in its evasiveness. If I were Professor Drezner, I would interpret that as saying it wasn't *all* about the blog, but that the blog did matter.

I'd go farther, if we assume the words were chosen with precision and accurately reflect the decision making process. (Hey, it could have happened.) If it's not "specifically" about the blog, it must generally be about attitudes, beliefs, or practices they felt were revealed by the blog.

It's not like anyone ever lost their job or spouse specifically due to alcohol, after all - it was the incoherence, rage, tardiness, unreliability, and/or incontinence that did them in.