ANDREW SULLIVAN says he never called being wrapped in the Israeli flag “torture.” But in this post he listed it under the heading of “Anti-Islamic Torture,” along with a variety of nasty behaviors with nothing to suggest it’s not of the same order. And see this post, too. He says he doesn’t think fake menstrual blood is torture, but he sure has paid a lot of attention to the subject in that context for someone who doesn’t.

Sullivan’s heart has been in the right place on the issue, most of the time, at least, but his head has been sorely absent. Nor do I understand why he’s thought it useful to pick at me regularly, as opposed to, say, the bloggers who actually support torture.

Perhaps he’ll improve. As others have noted, “Tomorrow is always another day at andrewsullivan.com.”

UPDATE: James Taranto emails: “I wonder where Sullivan gets the idea that I ‘concede’ he never said ‘fake menstrual blood’–i.e., red ink–is torture. I did use the phrase ‘”torture” and “abuse,”‘ but I certainly didn’t indicate that I thought he made the distinction, and indeed my impression is that he uses the terms more or less interchangeably. Oh well, go figure.” Or not.