This is really the key point of the article (or maybe one of two, the other being Cuddy's unwillingness to accept change in favor of continuing to survive on he

This is really the key point of the article (or maybe one of two, the other being Cuddy's unwillingness to accept change in favor of continuing to survive on her unsupported results); and the overall message is that we all do dumb things, directed toward our own benefit, under pressure. (E.g. Carney saying there's no ninth planet, when in fact they only did not show there is a ninth planet). Gelman is actually the only primary player in the piece who mostly escapes this; he does some nerdy things but in no case says something other than what he means, or actively deceives (as Simmons appears to have done here) or self-deceives (Cuddy).