If you already realize you were out of line then why can't you act on it?
Is being the third hit for 'Patrick McKenzie' in google worth the continued damage to your reputation?
The only controversial bit in your posting was the fact that you used a well known HN'er with an extremely good reputation and a nice guy to boot and attempted to use his reputation for your own gain, in the process turning what would have been a possibly interesting piece into the low point of HN over the time of its existence.
That blight will soil your reputation forever more and it will cause me and people like me (no idea how many of those there are, maybe they'e a minority, maybe not) to remember as long as that piece is up. Its continued presence on the web shows that you have not learned yet.
You go on and on about philosophy and appreciation, if you really had some class you'd realize how silly this discussion is and that it should have never gotten this far. You can't build your reputation by kicking others or dragging their personal life in to the spotlight. Your points should stand on their own without reference to other people.
You could have made your points just as effectively without naming Patrick, but then that would not have gotten you the eyeballs that it did.
Cheap, cynical.
Standing by that is just dumb.
But keep at it, time will tell if you're right or not in persisting in doing this.