Not since the days of Senator Joe McCarthy has the drive to discredit so overridden every other consideration. Lies out of whole cloth are not uncommon in journalism and strawmen, like anonymous confidential sources, dot the landscape.

Like straw men, anonymous sources need to be carefully examined not only in themselves, but also against what purpose they serve. Signorile's straw men serve the purpose to discredit Andrew Sullivan. Without vetting the confidential sources upon which Signorile has based his allegations of Sullivan's promiscuous sins, we are once again entertained by Signorile's viewpoint of the gay ghetto.

Despite the significant flaws of Signorile's approach to serious journalism, we are reminded again Signorile is fun to read. But, don't take him too seriously even if his villian is Conservative Andrew Sullivan.