Whelan Dealin'

Andrew Sullivan apologizes twice -- the second time, abjectly -- to a constitutional scholar and high-powered lawyer, Edward Whelan, over an error in a post on torture. The second apology includes this touchingly empathetic note:

It must be distressing to deal with this while attending a family funeral (something I was unaware of), and I am indeed sorry for causing Mr Whelan any distress at this time.

Sullivan never apologized to Gov. Palin for repeating and amplifying the fabricated story that she and her minor daughter had engaged in a massive fraud to cover up the her infant son Trig's true parentage -- the most effective libel of the 2008 campaign. Mr. Whelan (or his lawyer) must've written one heck of a letter.