I kind of disagree. His reaction will reach only a tiny fraction of the readers of the piece, and mostly those who are already in doubt.

In the country I live in, it is usual (I believe voluntarily mandatory) for a newspapers to publish a response by the subject of an article.

How was it a hit piece? Certainly it is great he can respond.

  [Charles Murray] in particular has some very sophisticated theories about class and culture. But he shares my skepticism that the 55 year old Kentucky trucker can be taught to code, and I don’t think he’s too sanguine about the trucker’s kids either. His solution is a basic income guarantee, and I guess that’s mine too.

.. in SSC becomes ...

  In one post, he aligned himself with Charles Murray, who proposed a link between race and I.Q. in “The Bell Curve.” In another, he pointed out that Mr. Murray believes Black people “are genetically less intelligent than white people.”

..in the NYT article. That was spicing it up a little much. Looks like a hit piece.

Sounds fair to me. He agrees with a bunch of points and calls Murray's ideas sophisticated. Isn't that aligning oneself?