|
|
|
|
Andrew Sullivan
|
| |
|
| |
Andrew Michael Sullivan (born August 10, 1963) is a British blogger, author, and political commentator.
Sullivan is a speaker at universities, colleges, and civic organizations in the United States, and a guest on national news and political commentary television shows in the United States and Europe. Born and raised in England, he has lived in the United States since 1984 and currently resides in Washington, D.C. and Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Sullivan is known for his distinctive personal-political identity.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Andrew Sullivan' Start a new discussion about 'Andrew Sullivan' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Andrew Michael Sullivan (born August 10, 1963) is a British blogger, author, and political commentator.
Sullivan is a speaker at universities, colleges, and civic organizations in the United States, and a guest on national news and political commentary television shows in the United States and Europe. Born and raised in England, he has lived in the United States since 1984 and currently resides in Washington, D.C. and Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Sullivan is known for his distinctive personal-political identity. He is gay, and a Roman Catholic, and a non-U.S. citizen who focuses on American political life.
Sullivan is sometimes considered a pioneer in political weblog journalism, since he was one of the first prominent political journalists in the United States to start his own personal blog. Sullivan wrote his blog for a year at Time Magazine, shifting on 1 February 2007 to the Atlantic Monthly, where it received approximately 40 million page views in the first year. He is the former editor of The New Republic and the author of five books.
Biography
Sullivan was born in South Godstone, Surrey, England, to a Roman Catholic family of Irish descent, and was brought up in the nearby town of East Grinstead, West Sussex. He was educated at Reigate Grammar School, and then studied at Magdalen College, Oxford where he took a first class degree (B.A.) in modern history and modern languages. In his second year he was elected president of the Oxford Union. He went on to earn a Master in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, as well as a Ph.D. in government from Harvard, where he wrote his dissertation on the conservative British philosopher Michael Oakeshott. His adviser at Harvard University was the political philosopher Harvey Mansfield.
Politics
Sullivan describes himself as a libertarian conservative who has argued that the Republican Party has abandoned true conservative principles. He views true conservatism as classical libertarian conservative, where economic control of a citizen's daily life by the government is very limited. However, this style of conservatism differs from classic libertarianism in that some governmental control or regulation is acceptable in order to preserve a functional society as it currently exists. Stances on social or cultural issues, under this style of conservatism, resemble the stances of classical libertarianism or modern U.S. liberalism. While stances on foreign policy are more hawkish than classic libertarianism, this style of conservatism differs from current neo-conservatism and arguably more closely resemble U.S. liberalism from the early 1930s up until the late 1960s. In the foreign policy sphere, Sullivan's views have become somewhat less hawkish following the difficulties of the Iraq War.
Sullivan supported G.W. Bush in the 2000 election. He also referred to former VP Dick Cheney as "sexy" on Bill Maher's Realtime. In 2004, he gave a rather late endorsment to John Kerry, primarily as a vote against what he saw as severe problems with the Bush administration. In 2006, he supported the Democratic Party's takeover of Congress. His political philosophy includes a broad range of traditional conservative positions: He favors a flat tax, limited government, privatization of social security, and a strong military, and he opposes welfare state programs such as socialized medicine. However, on a number of controversial public issues, including same-sex marriage and capital punishment, he takes a position typically shared by those on the left of the U.S. political spectrum. His position on abortion is more mixed; saying that he personally finds it immoral and favors overturning Roe v. Wade, but he can accept legalized abortions in the first trimester. Sullivan endorsed Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic Nomination in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, and Rep. Ron Paul for the Republican nomination. On his blog, Sullivan has been highly favorable toward Obama, and has denounced McCain for running misleading campaign advertisements, and endorsed Obama for President on the eve of the election.
In 2009 Forbes magazine ranked Sullivan #19 on a list of "The 25 Most Influential Liberals In The U.S. Media." The magazine says "he clings unconvincingly to the 'conservative' label even after his fervent endorsement of Obama. His advocacy for gay marriage rights … puts him at odds with many on the right."
Professional work
In 1986, he began his career with The New Republic magazine, serving as its editor from 1991 to 1996. In that position, he expanded the magazine from its traditional roots in political coverage to cultural politics and the issues around them. During this time, the magazine produced some groundbreaking journalism but also courted several high-profile controversies.
In 1994, Sullivan decided to publish excerpts on race and intelligence from Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray's controversial The Bell Curve, which argued that some of the measured difference in IQ scores between racially defined groups was the result of genetic inheritance. Almost the entire staff of the magazine threatened to resign if material that they considered racist was allowed to be published; when the issue did come out, it included lengthy rebuttals from more than a dozen writers and contributors.
Under Sullivan, the magazine also hired Ruth Shalit and Stephen Glass. Ruth Shalit, hired in 1993, wrote articles which were later found to contain numerous instances of plagiarism, extensive factual inaccuracies and misleading/falsified quotations. Stephen Glass, hired in 1995 as an assistant to Sullivan, was later revealed to have engaged in widespread fabrication in his articles for the magazine (though he didn't write his first full story until after Sullivan's departure). Both writers were later fired from the magazine.
Sullivan wrote for The New York Times Magazine briefly. He left the magazine in 2002.
A self-identified member of the gay "bear community," in 2003 Sullivan wrote a whimsical and oft-cited Salon essay on the subject.
Religion
Andrew Sullivan identifies himself as a faithful Catholic while disagreeing with some aspects of the Vatican's position. In Virtually Normal (ISBN 0-679-42382-6), he argues that the Bible forbids same-sex sexual activity only when it is linked to prostitution or pagan ritual. As of 2008, he has made joking remarks about his conversion to "Obamaism". During an appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher on September 19, 2008, Sullivan described himself as a "religious secularist", and challenged Maher on criticisms of religion and people of faith, saying, "To dismiss all religious people based on the actions of the most literalist dumb ones, I think is bigotry."
His views led him to have concerns about the election of Pope Benedict XVI. In Time Magazine for April 24, 2005 in an article entitled, "The Vicar of Orthodoxy," Sullivan stated his criticisms of the new pope. He expressed his view that the current pope is opposed to the modern world and women's rights, and deems gays and lesbians to be innately disposed to evil. He has, however, agreed with Benedict's assertion that reason is an integral element of faith.
Sullivan takes a moderate approach to religion; as such he vocally rejects fundamentalism of any kind, including both fundamentalist Christianity and Islam, and describes himself as a "dogged defender of pluralism and secularism". He defended religious moderates in a series of exchanges with atheist Sam Harris, who maintains that religious moderates provide cover for fundamentalists and make it impossible for anyone to effectively oppose them.
Blogging
In late 2000, Sullivan began his blog, The Daily Dish. In the wake of September 11, 2001, attacks, it became one of the most popular political blogs on the Internet. By the middle of 2003, it was receiving about 300,000 unique visits per month. Between starting his blog and ending his New Republic editorship, Sullivan wrote two works on homosexuality, arguing for its social acceptance on libertarian grounds. His writing appears in a number of widely-read publications. He currently serves as a columnist for The Sunday Times of London.
The core principles of Sullivan's blog have been the style of conservatism he views as traditional. This includes fiscal conservatism, limited government, and classic libertarianism on social issues. Sullivan opposes government involvement with respect to sexual and consensual matters between adults, such as the use of marijuana and prostitution. Sullivan believes recognition of same-sex marriage is a civil-rights issue but is willing to promote it on a state-by-state legislative federalism basis, rather than trying to judicially impose the change. Most of Sullivan's disputes with other conservatives have been over social issues, such as these, and the handling of postwar Iraq.
Sullivan reluctantly decided to support John Kerry's presidential campaign, due to his dissatisfaction with the handling of the postwar situation in Iraq by the Bush administration, their views on gay rights, and their fiscal policy. Sullivan is a supporter of Arnold Schwarzenegger and other like-minded Republicans. Sullivan has also blogged sympathetically about Republican candidate Ron Paul, endorsing him for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.
Sullivan gives out "awards" each year on various public statements that parody those of people the awards are named after. Throughout the year, "nominees" for these awards are mentioned in various blog posts. The readers of his blog vote the "winner" at the end of the year.
These awards include:
- the Hugh Hewitt Award, introduced in June 2008 and named after a man Sullivan describes as an 'absurd partisan fanatic', is for the most egregious attempts to label 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as un-American, alien, treasonous, and far out of the mainstream of American life and politics.
- the John Derbyshire Award is for egregious and outlandish comments on gays, women, and minorities.
- the Paul Begala Award is for extreme liberal hyperbole.
- the Michelle Malkin Award is named after blogger Michelle Malkin. It is for shrill, hyperbolic, divisive and intemperate right-wing rhetoric. (Ann Coulter is ineligible for this award so that, in Sullivan's own words, "Other people will have a chance.")
- the Michael Moore Award is named after film-maker Michael Moore. It is for divisive, bitter and intemperate left-wing rhetoric.
- the Matt Yglesias Award is for writers, politicians, columnists or pundits who actually criticize their own side, make enemies among political allies, and generally risk something for the sake of saying what they believe.
- the "Poseur Alert" is awarded for passages of prose that stand out for pretension, vanity and really bad writing designed to look like profundity.
- the "Von Hoffman Award" is for stunningly wrong cultural, political and social predictions.
In February 2005, Sullivan decided to go on "hiatus for a few months" after nearly five years of continuous blogging.
By this time his blog was receiving over 50,000 visitors a day and was among the most linked-to blogs in the world. Sullivan planned to work on a book, do some traveling, and focus on other projects. His plan was to return to blogging "full steam" in roughly nine months. In response to readers who asked whether his continuing blogging meant that he had given up on his "hiatus," he wrote:
- In deference to my relationship (and my sanity), I'm not blogging in the early hours any more… I blog when I feel like it… The pressure to promise something every day first thing no longer haunts me… But I'm making progress on the book and writing longer stuff. It's all about balance, no?
He attributes his ability to "blog, write my usual columns and work on my book" simultaneously to an increase in energy after being fitted with a CPAP machine to help him sleep.
This has allowed him to return to blogging full time. His blog has remained very popular since then.
In February 2007, Sullivan took his blog from Time to the Atlantic Monthly magazine, where he had accepted an editorial post. Since then, his presence has increased traffic by 30% for Atlantic's website.
In 2009, Sullivan's The Daily Dish beat out blogs like Daily Kos, Boing Boing, and The Huffington Post, when it won The 2008 Weblog Award for Best Blog.
Same-sex marriage
In the late 1980s, apparently prior to his coming out, Sullivan wrote an article in the New Republic criticizing mainstream advertising for becoming "infected" with "homosexual erotica" and, in an obvious AIDS reference stated that this, "AIDS virus once restricted to high risk publications...is now breaking out into the general circulation" [After The Ball. 1990. pg. 25 - 26]. In spite of these comments, Sullivan has largely supported a classical liberal definition of LGBT rights, which he articulated in his book Virtually Normal.
In the book, Sullivan examines and proceeds to criticize mainstream liberal, conservative, as well the "prohibitionist" (far right) and "liberationist" (far left) political views on homosexuality. He argues for a politics of homosexuality, that supports privacy rights and equal government treatment, but does not support private sector anti-discrimination laws. While Sullivan does not identify it as such, it is very similar to the Libertarian perspectives on LGBT rights.
The classical liberal, possible conservative-libertarian, tone of the book, prompted Michael Warner, a Rutgers University English professor to write The Trouble With Normal, which argued that Sullivan's desire to normalize gay men and lesbians through marriage was a dangerous move that would leave those individuals—straight, gay, or otherwise—who did not want to marry without appropriate governmental and societal respect or protection.
Sullivan has been very critical of civil unions, which he has dubbed "marriage lite." He has argued that civil unions will only serve to weaken the unique status of marriage, both for gays and lesbians and heterosexuals.
In the 2004 election, Sullivan criticized the Republican Party for what he saw as political exploitation of a despised minority:
- I've been trying to think of what to say about what appears to be the enormous success the Republicans had in using gay couples' rights to gain critical votes in key states. In eight more states now, gay couples have no relationship rights at all. Their legal ability to visit a spouse in hospital, to pass on property, to have legal protections for their children has been gutted. If you are a gay couple living in Alabama, you know one thing: your family has no standing under the law; and it can and will be violated by strangers. I'm not surprised by this. When you put a tiny and despised minority up for a popular vote, the minority usually loses.
While he has long advocated same-sex marriage, Sullivan has drawn criticism for his 2006 dismissal of monogamy:
- For me the interesting point came when Dan and I agreed that moderate hypocrisy—especially in marriages—is often the best policy. Momogamy (sic) is very hard for men, straight or gay, and if one partner falters occasionally (and I don't mean regularly), sometimes discretion is perfectly acceptable. You could see Jong bridle at the thought of such dishonesty. But I think the post-seventies generation—those of us who grew up while our parents were having a sexual revolution—both appreciate the gains for sexual and emotional freedom, while being a little more aware of their potential hazards.
On 27 August 2007, in Provincetown, Massachusetts, Sullivan married Aaron Tone, an artist and actor who had been his boyfriend for three years.
On other LGBT rights issues he has opposed all hate crime laws, arguing that they undermine freedom of speech and equal protection. He has opposed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, arguing that it will, "not make much of a difference" and stated that the "gay rights establishment" was wrong to oppose a version of the bill that did not also include gender identity.
War on terrorism
Sullivan strongly supported the decision to go to war in Iraq, and was initially hawkish in the war on terror, arguing that weakness would embolden terrorists. In an October 14, 2001, posting Sullivan announced that recent anthrax attacks had sealed his support for war on Iraq, including the possible use of nuclear weaponry by the United States.
However, Sullivan harshly criticized the Bush administration for its postwar efforts, especially regarding the numbers of troops, protection of munitions, and treatment of prisoners. Sullivan strongly opposes the use of torture against detainees in U.S. custody and has had heated disputes with Heather MacDonald and fellow British-American John Derbyshire, among others, on that issue. Though Sullivan believes that enemy combatants in the war on terror should not be given status as prisoners of war because "terrorists are not soldiers," he also believes that the U.S. government must abide by the rules of war—in particular, Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions—when dealing with such detainees.
In recent times, Andrew Sullivan has changed his position on the Iraq war and described it as a mistake. On the October 27, 2006 edition of Real Time with Bill Maher, he described conservatives and Republicans who refused to admit they had been wrong to support the Iraq War as "cowards." On February 26, 2008 he wrote on his blog: "After 9/11, I was clearly blinded by fear of al Qaeda and deluded by the overwhelming military superiority of the US and the ease of democratic transitions in Eastern Europe into thinking we could simply fight our way to victory against Islamist terror. I wasn't alone. But I was surely wrong."
On Israel and "Neoconservatism"
In February 2009 Sullivan wrote that he could no longer take neoconservatism seriously:
Disputes with other conservatives and media figures
Sullivan has caused controversy for his heterodox conservative views and his strident attacks against fellow conservatives. He did not support the re-election of George W. Bush and has repeatedly suggested that much of the Republican Party has abandoned its conservative principles and has stated that much of the party has been co-opted either by those he refers to as Christianists or, at other times, by a "Cult of Bush." In one recent post he described the ideology of many Republicans as "Christianist socialism".
In three days, he wrote in three different places that "[c]onservatism is a philosophy without a party in America any more. It has been hijacked by zealots and statists", that "[w]e're getting to the point when conservatism has become a political philosophy that believes that government—at the most distant level—has the right to intervene in almost anything to achieve the right solution. Today's conservatism is becoming yesterday's liberalism", and that "the only real difference between the Democrats and Republicans at this point is that the Democrats believe in big, solvent government and the Republicans believe in an even bigger, insolvent government."
He has been particularly critical of some conservatives' defense of the administration's actions involved in the Abu Ghraib and other prison scandals. Sullivan criticized Glenn Reynolds, NRO, Ramesh Ponnuru, and other conservative groups for not speaking out on the issue more quickly and more forcefully. Sullivan was especially critical of Power Line, Michelle Malkin, Jeff Goldstein, and John Derbyshire—whom he has accused of active support of such tactics. Sullivan accuses Power Line and Hugh Hewitt of completely partisan and unconditional support for the Republican Party (which has hurt conservative principles).
Sullivan frequently chides Slate blogger Mickey Kaus for his perceived anti-homosexual bias; the back-and-forth between the Daily Dish and Kausfiles has become an ongoing feud.
In 2006 Sullivan expressed interest (at the suggestion of a reader) in creating a new award "honoring" Nancy Grace. The Nancy Grace Award would be bestowed on those evincing "lack of grace and empathy," a "misplaced self-regard," "unflappable self-assurance that [the nominee's] outrage represents the true moral high ground on any issue," and a "nauseating level of absolutist self-righteousness on the part of the Nominee." Kaus suggested that this description perfectly fit Sullivan himself; Sullivan hasn't mentioned the Grace Award since.
Though Sullivan was very strong in his praise of George W. Bush immediately after 9/11, he has recently called such views "stupid and premature" in retrospect. He has similarly since characterized the president as a "shallow, monstrous, weak, and petty man." In response to suggestions by Sullivan that Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld may have intentionally refused to support the Iraq War effort (during occupation), conservative blog Ace of Spades did a parody of Sullivan's Daily Dish site.
Sullivan aligned himself with commentators such as Glenn Greenwald, Jack Balkin, and Marty Lederman.
Andrew Sullivan is especially critical of Mel Gibson, considering the actor to be a misogynist, homophobe, and anti-Semite. Sullivan was outspoken against The Passion of the Christ, believing it to be an anti-Semitic work that would inflame such prejudices, especially in the Arab world. Sullivan is also critical of Gibson's conservative pre-Vatican II Catholic beliefs. Sullivan has argued that Gibson's statements during his July 2006 DUI arrest only confirm what he has been saying all along. Sullivan has been outspoken in attacking commentators on the right whom he contends are apologists for supporting Gibson after his arrest; also those whom he believes have not been forceful enough in condemning Gibson.
War on Drugs
Sullivan has written blog entries criticizing the excesses of the War on Drugs. He argued that studies showed alcohol is more dangerous than cannabis, yet the former is legal and the latter is illegal. He gave examples purporting to show that the government has used torture in the War on Drugs. Regarding the cannabis prohibition, he wrote,
- For my part, I find the attempt to ban any naturally growing plant to be an attack on reality, and a denial of some of the most basic freedoms. I guess that's why today's GOP is so in favor of it.
Consistency
One of the most common charges Sullivan addresses is that he is inconsistent, that his views on certain policies (such as the desirability of invading Iraq) and people (such as George W. Bush) change considerably over time. Sullivan defended, in 2005, his changing views as follows:
- If you want to read a blog that will always take the position of the Bush administration on the war, there are plenty out there. Ditto if you want to read a relentlessly anti-Bush blog, like Kos. But this blog is a little different. It's an attempt to think out loud, which means there will be shifts over time in argument and emphasis. It may appear wishy-washy or excitable or whatever. But it's my best attempt to figure things out as I go along. If you don't like it, read someone else.... I try and read as much criticism of my fallible work as I can.
Criticism over his consistency continued, and may even have become more pronounced, in 2008. Peers of his at The Atlantic took issue with his recent postings. Jeffrey Goldberg stated, "I wish Andrew would go back to bashing the Jew-baiters, rather than reveling in their smears." Ross Douthat criticized Sullivan's relative positions on Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and Sarah Palin's selection as the Republican nominee for vice-president, noting that Sullivan invoked feminism while discussing Clinton but avoided the topic when attacking Palin.
Controversies
Adverts soliciting unprotected sex
In May 2001, Village Voice columnist Michael Musto said that Sullivan had anonymously posted advertisements for bareback sex (anal sex without a condom) on America Online and the now-defunct website barebackcity.com, despite being HIV positive. An archive copy of the advertisement is still available. Subsequently, the American journalist and activist Michelangelo Signorile wrote about the advertisement in a front-page article in the New York gay magazine LGNY, igniting a storm of controversy. Later, in a defiant blog post titled Sexual McCarthyism: An article no-one should have to write, Sullivan confirmed the allegations, admitting he had posted the adverts, while nonetheless arguing that the matters covered by the controversy were private and should not have been put into the public domain by his critics.
Sullivan's critics argued that it was hypocritical of Sullivan to engage in this kind of sexual activity while arguing for greater monogamy among gay men. They claimed that the vision of gay sexuality presented in Sullivan's writing was at odds with his alleged activities. They also charged that because Sullivan is HIV-positive, it was unsafe for him to engage in sex without a condom. Sullivan's critics also contended that it was unfair for Sullivan to criticize Bill Clinton's sexual indiscretions as "reckless" while engaging in unprotected sex.
Sullivan responded that his advertisement stated that he was HIV-positive and he intended to have bareback sex only with consenting adults who were also HIV-positive. According to Sullivan, limiting unprotected sex to other HIV-positive men reduces the risk inherent in the behavior. Moreover, he criticized what he called a "thin reed of evidence" of the existence of "reinfection" which, according to some medical professionals, heightens the destruction caused by the virus. Sullivan's supporters also argued that it was a violation of his privacy to publish information about his sex life. Sullivan argued that those who revealed the details about his sex life were motivated by a desire for payback because they disagreed with his pro-marriage politics . In Sullivan's book Love Undetectable (pub. 1999), he wrote:
"Although I never publicly defended promiscuity, I never publicly attacked it. I attempted to avoid the subject, in part because I felt, and often still feel, unable to live up to the ideals I really hold."
Palin pregnancy rumor
On August 31, 2008, Sullivan posted on his "Daily Dish" blog about a rumor circulating on the Internet that Palin faked her fifth pregnancy, the baby was actually her daughter's, and this was done, critics argued, for political gain. At the time, there were few credible media stories supporting the rumor. Eventually, a photograph surfaced in which she appeared to be possibly pregnant in the appropriate time period. After the photo became publicized, Sullivan admitted that she was most likely pregnant, but defended his role in giving wide audience to the rumors.
Endorsements
Sullivan makes reference to his presidential endorsements. They are:
In the case of Kerry, he stated that his endorsement was primarily against Bush.
The Hillary Clinton presidential campaign considered Sullivan to be anti-Clinton. The Clinton campaign, according to Sullivan, went so far as to request that Sullivan's perspective be 'balanced' with pro-Clinton pundits on talk shows.
A quote by Andrew Sullivan about Barack Obama (RTWBill Maher 9/19/08): "Obama is the future...the question for this country is if he is going to be the future in a couple of months or after a longer period of time."
Bibliography
- Sullivan, Andrew (1995). Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality. Knopf. ISBN 0-679-42382-6.
- Sullivan, Andrew (1998). Love Undetectable: Notes on Friendship, Sex and Survival. Knopf. ISBN 0-679-45119-6.
- Sullivan, Andrew (2004). Same-Sex Marriage Pro & Con: A Reader. Vintage. ISBN 1400078660
- Sullivan, Andrew (2006). The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It, How to Get It Back. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-018877-4.
- Sullivan, Andrew (2007). Intimations Pursued: The Voice of Practice in the Conversation of Michael Oakeshott. Imprint Academic. ISBN 978-0907845287
Other notable projects and interviews
See also
Obama Republican
External links
|
| |
|
|
