As you've noted, this seems to have been well covered elsewhere. The only thought that came to mind on reading about the comment is that if Sullivan had been acting in a stereotypical lesbian manner he'd have gotten up and slugged Hitchens. I think Hitchens was misplacing his insult metaphors. It happens with age, like losing one's train of thought.

The real problem was, I think, that Hitchens forgot where he was. Offhand slurs seem to be like candy on British TV banter, but they're not considered appropriate on America's hypersensitive media.

Hitchens actually may have meant it as an affectionate taunt, basically acknowledging Sullivan as "one of the guys," and thus subject to the kind of barbs thrown around pubs over a pint of warm ale.

If that was his intent, then the reaction is kind of sad. America is so very, very uptight.
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Good times for Smiley! :-D

and so pub-crawling comments are de rigeur for him even on Sunday mornings. As in: "Don't be such a lush!"

Despite an irregular subscription to The Economist I found myself wondering why Russert had to go to two Brits to find thinkers he would praise so highly. Or if he's going to go international, how about not just more white guys? What if we got Arundhati Roy on Meet the Press? Or, staying stateside, how about Van Jones talking up the benefit of green jobs in poor neighborhoods?