RIP Michael Hastings: ‘We Punch Folks. They Punch Back. That’s the Deal.’ - The ITT List

RIP Michael Hastings: ‘We Punch Folks. They Punch Back. That’s the Deal.’ - The ITT List:

Afterward, Hastings and I stayed in touch. Occasionally, when I would write the kind of stories that would prompt people to go after me, I would email Hastings asking him for advice about how to deal with the heat. On one such occasion when I was getting hit pretty hard over comments I had made about the Atlantic taking money from anti-union sources, Hastings told me to keep my cool and not go after those attacking me.

Hastings wrote in an email, “You have the high ground. You've made your criticisms in public, with your name behind it. The response (as is often the case inside the Beltway) has been to start bad mouthing you in the clubhouse. That's the price, though.” He added, “We punch folks, they punch back. That's the deal.”