JAMES JOYNER:

It’s all truly bizarre. We’re at the most gay-friendly time in American history and have, arguable, the most liberal administration ever on social issues. And yet they’re treating casual mention of Kagan’s sexuality as a smear orchestrated by the Right?

Yes, of course, appointing a lesbian to the Supreme Court would trigger a political fight. We’re much more tolerant of these things than we were ten or twenty years ago, but it’s still a controversial subject. But the reaction makes no sense whatsoever.

Further, CBS should be ashamed. What sort of journalistic ethics have they displayed here? First, they republish a four-day-old column and don’t bother fact-checking? Then, in response to pressure from the White House — at which point any journalist worth his salt would dig in, citing the sanctity of freedom of the press — they again don’t bother fact-checking but, instead, meekly pull the piece within hours? Seriously?

It’s a clown show all around.