Krugman colleague Nick Kristoff has to face libel charges after all, per an Appeals Court decision in the Hatfill case:
A.T.C.F.k.: They laughed when kf argued that the New York Times was “massively exposed” in the Steven Hatfill libel suit against op-ed columnist Nicholas Kristof. … They paid no attention when, after a lower-court federal judge threw the Hatfill suit out, kf wrote:
Maybe I’m missing something, but if I were Kristof, I wouldn’t crow too loudly. Lower court decisions are made to be reversed. …
They are not laughing now! Haftill’s suit has been reinstated on appeal. … P.S.: Kristof reported that Hatfill had “failed three successive polygraph examinations” in connection with the anthrax mailings of 2001. How could that, if it isn’t true, not be libelous? … 11:23 P.M.
We predict Kristoff and the Times will lose big. Kristoff’s slander of Hatfill was mean-spirited, beyond the pale, and generally bogus.