[layman]

I'd say Webb has earned the right to write about whatever the hell he wants.

I haven't heard anyone say anything about his right to write whatever he pleases. I simply fail to see why it is dirty politics to give free publicity to his writings. He offered his novels to the public. Does he not want the public to know what he wrote?

[domenad]

No of course not, obviously he wants people to know - he wants people to buy his books. Allen however is using the writings to impugn Webb's character, as if writing about something like that implicitly condones it. It does not.