Two different takes on one event. One is from a distance — its author didn’t know the man. The other counted him a friend.
It’s consider mature and intellectual to engage one’s ideological opponents. But when you say things like “friends can disagree” you have to take into account who you are calling a friend. There are some things mature and intellectual people should not tolerate.
As George Washington had it, “Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation, for ’tis better to be alone than in bad company.”