What Happened to the AntiMenn's Joy of Discovery?

Barry Bickmore wonders where all the joy of discovery has gone:

But Mann did proceed with the case.  Oh sure, Lowry allowed that Mike Mann might do so, but if Mann were too full of hubris and stupidity to understand the ramifications of a discovery process, why would he have have fought so hard against the Cuccinelli and ATI fishing expeditions, if he really had something to hide?  No, he knows exactly what the discovery process entails, and he doesn’t care.  In other words, all that talk about setting a bad precedent by letting the fishing expeditions proceed was not mere posturing.  Mann meant it, and he really is not afraid of them finding anything too damning.

But wait!  The other side was SURE they would find all kinds of damning material during discovery, and Mann was falling into their carefully crafted trap, right?  Wouldn’t they want to head right into discovery, so they could open that big ‘ol can a’ you-know-what?

The defendants immediately began filing motions to dismiss the case as a frivolous attempt to stifle their free speech.  (The acronym is SLAPP–Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.)

Huh?

...Right now, I understand that most of the defendants are filing an appeal to the judge’s current ruling, in which he refused to throw out the case.  Mark Steyn, acting as his own counsel, has now petitioned the court to remove his name from the appeal, however.

I certainly don’t know all their motivations, but one thing is clear.  All that tough talk about rejoicing at the possibility of sifting through Mann’s documents was just so much public posturing.

The rest is worth reading too, incuding the part where he quotes Steyn thinking the hockey stick is a "climate model."