Exhibiting some of that tim-honored blogospheric transparency and collegiality, Andrew Sullivan links to Jon Cohn's defense of HillaryCare and James Fallows' demolition of No Exit, the Betsy McCaughey article that Sullivan published in The New Republic and that most now agree to be a pack of lies and half-truths. But it's the oddest link in the word: "HillaryCare right the first time," Sullivan asks? "A truly counter-intuitive argument, too counter-intuitive for me, in fact. Bonus: Sully-bashing!"
There is Sully-bashing in it, to be sure. While editing The New Republic, Sullivan ran a curiously influential article attacking the Clinton health care plan that Fallows -- about as honest and mild a journalist as you'll find -- called "error-laden, tendentious, and dishonest." The New Republic has apologized for publishing the piece. And the piece's worth is an empirical, rather than an ideological question: It either was cynical screed of lies and mendacious misrepresentations, or it wasn't. The evidence is pretty clear on this point. But I'd certainly be interested in hearing Sullivan defend its honesty and worth. And he's even got a blog where he could do so! How about it?
