Mark Steyn, National Review - pay attention

See, Andrew Bolt's brief kerfuffle with Michael Mann shows how sensible people deal with a claim of defamation.

They realise they could well have overstepped the line, and offer an apology, even if grudgingly.  (And how can Bolt complain about that - he ends his post by snidely asking how he can get Mann to apologise for the hockey stick.)

How did National Review respond to Mann after publishing Steyn's column using "fraudulent" to describe Mann's work?  By publicly telling him to "get lost", and having a giddy laugh about how suing would hurt Mann more than it will hurt them:

My advice to poor Michael is to go away and bother someone else. If he doesn’t have the good sense to do that, we look forward to teaching him a thing or two about the law and about how free debate works in a free country.

He’s going to go to great trouble and expense to embark on a losing cause that will expose more of his methods and maneuverings to the world. In short, he risks making an ass of himself. But that hasn’t stopped him before.

Not at all a sensible approach.   And for Steyn personally - well, as I noted earlier today, even conservative lawyers can't really fathom why he thinks it a good idea to keep talking about the case and about Mann with derision. 

But then again, Steyn and National Review don't believe scientist's warnings about climate change.   Why should I expect them to have common sense about anything?