| Andrew Sullivan | |
|---|---|
Sullivan in August 2006 |
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| Born | Andrew Michael Sullivan August 10, 1963 South Godstone, Surrey, England |
| Nationality | English |
| Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford Harvard University |
| Occupation | Writer, editor, blogger |
| Influenced by | Michael Oakeshott, George Orwell, Arthur Koestler, Margaret Thatcher, Edmund Burke, Ronald Reagan[1] |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Spouse | Aaron Tone (m. 2007–present) |
| Website | |
| andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com | |
Andrew Michael Sullivan (born August 10, 1963) is an English-American author, editor, political commentator and blogger. He describes himself as a political conservative.[2] He has focused on American political life.
Sullivan is a speaker at universities, colleges, and civic organizations in the United States. He has been 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. He is gay and a Catholic.[3]
Sullivan is a former editor of The New Republic and the author of five books. He is perhaps best known as the author and editor of his blog, The Dish, which mainly focuses on political issues.
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Sullivan was born in South Godstone, Surrey, England, to a Roman Catholic family of Irish descent,[4] and was brought up in the nearby town of East Grinstead, West Sussex. He was educated at Reigate Grammar School,[5] and studied at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was awarded a first-class degree Bachelor of Arts in modern history and modern languages.[6] In his second year, he was elected president of the Oxford Union, holding the office in Trinity term 1983.
Sullivan earned a Master in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, followed by a PhD on government from Harvard, his dissertation being on the conservative British philosopher Michael Oakeshott. His adviser at Harvard University was political philosopher Harvey Mansfield.
Sullivan, in 2003, wrote a Salon article identifying himself as a member of the gay "bear community".[7] On August 27, 2007, Sullivan married his husband Aaron Tone in Provincetown, Massachusetts.[8][9][10]
Sullivan had a long-expressed desire to become a U.S. citizen, but was barred for many years from applying for citizenship because of his HIV-positive status.[11][12] Following the statutory and administrative repeals of the HIV immigration ban in 2008 and 2009, respectively, Sullivan announced his intention to begin the process of becoming a permanent U.S. resident and citizen.[13][14] On the April 16th, 2011 episode of The Chris Matthews Show, Sullivan confirmed that he is now a United States Permanent Resident, showing his United States Permanent Resident Card (aka Green Card).[15]
In 1986, Sullivan began his career with The New Republic magazine, serving as its editor from 1991 to 1996.[6] In that position, he expanded the magazine from its traditional roots in political coverage to cultural issues and the politics surrounding them. During this time, the magazine produced some groundbreaking journalism but courted several high-profile controversies.
In 1994, Sullivan published 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 editorial staff of the magazine threatened to resign if material that they considered racist was published.[16] In order to appease them, Sullivan included lengthy rebuttals from 19 writers and contributors. Sullivan has continued to speak approvingly of the research and arguments presented in The Bell Curve: "the book... still holds up as one of the most insightful and careful of the last decade. The fact of human inequality and the subtle and complex differences between various manifestations of being human — gay, straight, male, female, black, Asian — is a subject worth exploring, period."[17]
Sullivan began writing for The New York Times Magazine in 1998, but was fired by editor Adam Moss in 2002 under instructions from executive editor Howell Raines. Jack Shafer writes in Slate magazine that he asked Moss via e-mail to explain this decision, but that his e-mails went unanswered, adding that Sullivan was not fully forthcoming on the subject. Sullivan wrote on his blog that he was told that his presence at the Times made Raines "uncomfortable", but defended Raines's right to sack him. Sullivan suggested that Raines had fired him in response to his criticism of the Times on his blog, and acknowledged that he had expected that his criticisms would eventually anger Raines.[18]
In late 2000, Sullivan began his blog, The Daily Dish. 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.[19] Most of Sullivan's disputes with other conservatives have been over social issues, such as these, and the handling of postwar Iraq.
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:[20]
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.[21]
In 2009, The Daily Dish won The 2008 Weblog Award for Best Blog.[22]
In April 2010, Sullivan was reported to be considering giving up his blog. However, Sullivan stated that he would continue blogging if he could obtain an extra staffer.[23]
Sullivan left The Atlantic to begin blogging at The Daily Beast in April 2011.[24]
Sullivan describes himself as a conservative and is the author of The Conservative Soul. He supports a broad range of traditional conservative positions. He favors a flat tax, limited government, privatization of social security, and opposes welfare state programs and interventionism. However, on a number of controversial public issues, including same-sex marriage, the conduct of torture in the US, 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 mixed; he says that he personally finds it immoral and favors overturning Roe v. Wade, but can accept legal abortions in the first trimester.
Sullivan supported G. W. Bush in the 2000 election.[25] In 2004, 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. In 2006, he supported the Democratic Party. Sullivan (like a number of other conservatives) endorsed Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic Nomination in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, and Rep. Ron Paul for the Republican nomination. Sullivan endorsed Obama for President on the eve of the election.[26] Sullivan has declared support for Arnold Schwarzenegger[27] and other like-minded Republicans, and written sympathetically about Republican congressman Ron Paul, whom he endorsed for the 2008 and 2012 Republican presidential nomination.[28][29]; he later withdrew the 2012 endorsement.[30]
In January 2009, Tunku Varadarajan, Elisabeth Eaves and Hana R. Alberts, writing in Forbes magazine, ranked Sullivan #19 on a list of "The 25 Most Influential Liberals In The U.S. Media", writing that "he clings unconvincingly to the 'conservative' label even after his fervent endorsement of Obama. His advocacy for gay marriage rights and his tendency to view virtually everything through a 'gay' prism puts him at odds with many on the right."[31]
Sullivan rejected the "liberal" label, on the grounds that he supports a flat tax, rejects progressive taxation as unjust and counter-productive, is skeptical of universal healthcare and supports a free market in healthcare and pharmaceuticals, strongly supports "fighting a war against Jihadist terror", and therefore does not meet Forbes magazine's own criteria for a "liberal", which include support for progressive taxation and universal healthcare and "a certain queasiness about the war on terror." He argued that Forbes writers, including Tunku Varadarajan, whom he called "smart and decent", consider him a liberal because he is "openly and proudly gay" and because "conservatism has become a religious movement" while he does "not believe that any specific form of religion has a veto in determining who is or is not a political conservative in a secular society."[32]
Sullivan has largely supported a classical liberal definition of gay rights, which he articulated in his book Virtually Normal. In it, Sullivan examines and criticizes mainstream liberal, conservative, and the "prohibitionist" (far right) and "liberationist" (far left) political views on homosexuality. He argues for a policy that supports privacy rights and equal government treatment, but does not support private sector anti-discrimination laws.
Sullivan has been 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 its political exploitation of a despised minority:
In 2001, it came to light that Sullivan had posted online anonymous advertisements for unprotected anal sex, preferably with "other HIV-positive men".[34] Liberal gay critics took Sullivan to task for this in light of his public statements that the AIDS crisis was over,[35] and for having criticised President Clinton's "incautious behaviour".[36] This criticism was in turn objected to by Salon's Cliff Rothman, who argued that it was a violation of Sullivan's privacy to publish information about his sex life, and that Sullivan's critics were attempting to punish him for his political views.[37]
While he has long advocated same-sex marriage, Sullivan has drawn criticism for his 2006 doubts on monogamy:[38][39][40]
Sullivan opposes hate crime laws, arguing that they undermine freedom of speech and equal protection.[42] He also opposes 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 include gender identity.[43]
Sullivan supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States, and was initially hawkish in the war on terror, arguing that weakness would embolden terrorists. Immediately following the September 11 attacks in 2001, he wrote a controversial essay for The Sunday Times, in which he stated, "The middle part of the country — the great red zone that voted for Bush — is clearly ready for war. The decadent Left in its enclaves on the coasts is not dead — and may well mount what amounts to a fifth column."[44] In an October 14, 2001 post, 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 prosecution of the wars, 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 Mac Donald[45] 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,"[46] he 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.[47]
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."[48]
Sullivan authored an opinion piece featured as the cover article of the October 2009 edition of The Atlantic magazine ("Dear President Bush").[49] This piece called upon former President Bush to take personal responsibility for the incidents and practices of torture that occurred during his administration as part of the "War on Terror".
Sullivan states that he has "always been a Zionist".[50] However, in February 2009, Sullivan wrote that he could no longer take neo-conservatism seriously:[51]
[N]eo-conservatism, in large part, is simply about enabling the most irredentist elements in Israel and sustaining a permanent war against anyone or any country who disagrees with the Israeli right [...] But America is not Israel. And once that distinction is made, much of the neoconservative ideology collapses.
In January 2010, Sullivan blogged that he is "moving toward" the idea of "a direct American military imposition" of a two state solution on Israel, with NATO troops enforcing "the borders of the new states of Palestine and Israel". He commented, "I too am sick of the Israelis [...] I’m sick of having a great power like the US being dictated to".[52] His post was criticized by Noah Pollak of Commentary, who referred to it as "crazy", "heady stuff" based on "hubris".[53]
In February 2010, Leon Wieseltier in The New Republic suggested that his former friend and colleague Sullivan had a "venomous hostility toward Israel and Jews", and was "either a bigot, or just moronically insensitive" towards the Jewish people.[54] Sullivan rejected the accusation, and was defended by many notable writers, although others at least partly supported Wieseltier.[55]
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.[56][57] He gave examples purporting to show that the government has used torture in the War on Drugs.[58] Regarding the cannabis prohibition, he wrote,
On July 13, 2009, Sullivan was arrested within the Cape Cod National Seashore for possession of marijuana, but the case was dismissed the following month.[60] This has led to accusations of preferential treatment.[61]
Sullivan devoted a significant amount of blog space to covering the allegations of fraud and related protests after the 2009 Iranian presidential election. Francis Wilkinson of The Week stated that Sullivan’s “coverage — and that journalism term takes on new meaning here — of the uprising in Iran was nothing short of extraordinary. ‘Revolutionary’ might be a better word.”[62]
Sullivan was inspired by the Iranian people’s reactions to the election results and used his blog as a hub of information. He repeatedly spoke of the significance of the moment in history. Among them:
This is an immense story of human freedom in a critical part of the world. After Obama's election, it is the biggest event in world history this year. And letting these courageous protestors know that we are with them is vital. Telling the world of their integrity and bravery against the thuggery of these theocratic despots is God's work. The blogosphere can lead the way, but the MSM is catching on.[63]
Because of the media blackout in Iran, Iranian Twitter accounts were a large source of information. Sullivan frequently quoted and linked to Nico Pitney of The Huffington Post.[64]
Sullivan has been a vocal critic of former Alaska governor and possible 2012 presidential candidate Sarah Palin since John McCain named her as his running mate in 2008. During an appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher on September 18, 2008, Sullivan called Palin's nomination "a joke and a farce" and "something that should be dismissed out of hand as the most irresponsible act any candidate has ever made in the history of this country." He frequently accused John McCain of poor judgment in his selection and his campaign of inadequate vetting of her.[65][66]
In August, 2008, Sullivan wrote on his blog about a widespread rumor circulating on the Internet that Palin faked her fifth pregnancy, the baby was actually her daughter's, and that this was motivated by political reasons.[67] After a photograph surfaced in which she appeared to be pregnant in the appropriate time period,[68] Sullivan admitted that she was most likely pregnant, but "not in the last year" and continued with questions about whether she actually gave birth to the child.[69] The Politico called him "a man possessed" in his support for the theory, noting intensive coverage of the issue in his blog over a short period.[70] The Wall Street Journal reported that according to people familiar with discussions among Palin's advisers, Palin considered a libel suit against him over the issue, but eventually decided against it.[71]
Sullivan contends that Palin is a habitual liar, which he has chronicled in a series entitled “The Odd Lies of Sarah Palin.” As of June 30, 2009, Sullivan has claimed that his blog had refuted 29 public statements made by Palin. Of Sullivan’s perceived “odd lies” of Palin, he states on his blog:
But I did learn of several new odd lies – in the same classic pattern of categorically denying things that are categorically and patently and verifiably true. This is not, as this blog noted in the campaign, the typical political lie, the Clintonian parsing of truth or lying when the truth cannot easily be discovered. It is the statement that it is night when it is clearly, by universal aggreement [sic], three o'clock in the afternoon.[66]
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. 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.[72] 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 in which Harris maintained that religious moderates provide cover for fundamentalists and make it impossible for anyone to effectively oppose them.[73]
In a blog entry on March 12, 2009, Sullivan summarised his faith journey to date in this way:
Perhaps the institution dearest to me, the Catholic church, greeted the emergence of gay people in a way that never truly reflected the compassion of Jesus or the good faith arguments many of us offered as a way forward. This was sad to me, but not life-changing. I know the Holy Spirit takes time, as James Alison reminds us. But then came the sex abuse crisis. Like many others, the truth about the evil in the heart of the church, and the cooptation and enabling of that evil, and the refusal to take real responsibility for the evil, simply left me gasping for air. I realize now that my Catholic identity never recovered, even if my faith endures in a far more modest and difficult way.[74]