Andrew Michael Sullivan (born 10 August 1963) is a
British-American
British American usually refers to Americans whose ancestral origin originates wholly or partly in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Cornwall, Orkney, and the Isle of Man). It is primarily a demographic or histor ...
author, editor, and
blogger
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...
. Sullivan is a
political commentator
A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport).
Origins
The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...
, a former editor of ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'', and the author or editor of six books. He started a political blog, ''The Daily Dish'', in 2000, and eventually moved his blog to platforms, including ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'', ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', ''
The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008.
It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
'', and finally an independent subscription-based format. He announced his retirement from blogging in 2015. From 2016 to 2020, Sullivan was a writer-at-large at ''
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
''. His newsletter ''The Weekly Dish'' was launched in July 2020.
Sullivan has stated that his conservatism is rooted in his
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
background and in the ideas of the British political philosopher
Michael Oakeshott
Michael Joseph Oakeshott FBA (; 11 December 1901 – 19 December 1990) was an English philosopher and political theorist who wrote about philosophy of history, philosophy of religion, aesthetics, philosophy of education, and philosophy of law.F ...
.
In 2003, he wrote he was no longer able to support the American conservative movement, as he was disaffected with the
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
*Republican Party (Liberia)
* Republican Part ...
's continued rightward shift towards
social conservatism
Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institutio ...
on social issues during the
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
era.
Born and raised in Britain, he has lived in the United States since 1984 and currently resides in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, and
Provincetown, Massachusetts
Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Provincet ...
. He is
openly gay
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
and a practicing Catholic.
Early life and education
Sullivan was born in
South Godstone, Surrey, England, into a Catholic family of Irish descent,
and was brought up in the nearby town of
East Grinstead
East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the extreme northeast of the county, the civ ...
, West Sussex. He was educated at a Catholic primary school followed by
Reigate Grammar School
Reigate Grammar School is a 2–18 mixed independent day school in Reigate, Surrey, England. It was established in 1675 by Henry Smith.
History
The school was founded as a free school for poor boys in 1675 by Alderman Henry Smith with Jon Will ...
,
where his classmates included future
Labour Party leader
Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (; born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras ...
and future
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
member of the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
Andrew Cooper
Andrew Dollman Cooper (born 23 December 1964) is a former Australian Olympic Champion and World Champion rower. He is a national champion, dual Olympian and two-time World Champion who achieved success as a member of Australia's "Oarsome Four ...
. He won a scholarship in 1981 to
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...
, where he was awarded a
first-class Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in modern history and modern languages.
He founded the Pooh Stick Society at Oxford, and in his second year, he was elected
President of the Oxford Union
Past elected presidents of the Oxford Union are listed below, with their college and the year/term in which they served. ''Iterum'' indicates that a person was serving a second term as president (which is not possible under the current Union rule ...
for
Trinity term 1983.
After writing briefly for a newspaper, Sullivan won scholarship in 1984 to
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
,
where he earned a
Master of Public Administration
The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...
in 1986 from the
John F. Kennedy School of Government
The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
, followed by a Doctor of Philosophy degree in
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
from Harvard in 1990. His
dissertation was titled ''Intimations Pursued: The Voice of Practice in the Conversation of
Michael Oakeshott
Michael Joseph Oakeshott FBA (; 11 December 1901 – 19 December 1990) was an English philosopher and political theorist who wrote about philosophy of history, philosophy of religion, aesthetics, philosophy of education, and philosophy of law.F ...
.''
Career
Sullivan first wrote for ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' on American politics.
In 1986, Sullivan went to work for ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'' magazine initially on a summer internship; among the most significant articles he wrote were "Gay Life Gay Death", an essay on the Aids crisis, and the "Sleeping with the Enemy" column in which he attacked the practice of "
outing
Outing is the act of disclosing an LGBT person's sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. It is often done for political reasons, either to instrumentalize homophobia in order to discredit political opponents or to com ...
", both of which earned him some recognition among the gay community.
He was appointed the editor of ''The New Republic'' in October 1991, a position he held until 1996.
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 generated several high-profile controversies.
[
While completing graduate work at Harvard in 1988, Sullivan published an attack in '']Spy
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...
'' magazine on Rhodes Scholars
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom.
Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...
, "All Rhodes Lead Nowhere in Particular," which dismissed recipients of the scholarship as "hustling apple-polisher ; "high-profile losers"; "the very best of the second-rate"; and "misfits by the very virtue of their bland, eugenic perfection." " e sad truth is that as a rule," Sullivan wrote, "Rhodies possess none of the charms of the aristocracy and all of the debilities: fecklessness, excessive concern that peasants be aware of their achievement, and a certain hemophilia of character."[Sullivan, Andrew.]
All Rhodes Lead Nowhere in Particular
, ''Spy
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...
'', October 1988, pp. 108–114. Quoted in Schaeper, Thomas J.; Schaeper, Kathleen. ''The Rhodes Scholarship, Oxford, and the Creation of an American Elite'', Berghahn Books, 2010, pp. 281–285. Author Thomas Schaeper notes that " onically, Sullivan had first gone to the United States on a Harkness Fellowship
The Harkness Fellowship (previously known as the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship) is a program run by the Commonwealth Fund of New York City. This fellowship was established to reciprocate the Rhodes Scholarships and enable Fellows from several cou ...
, one of many scholarships spawned in emulation of the Rhodes program."[
In 1994, Sullivan published excerpts on ]race and intelligence
Discussions of race and intelligence – specifically, claims of differences in intelligence along racial lines – have appeared in both popular science and academic research since the modern concept of Race (human categorization), race was fi ...
from Richard Herrnstein
Richard Julius Herrnstein (May 20, 1930 – September 13, 1994) was an American psychologist at Harvard University. He was an active researcher in animal learning in the B. F. Skinner, Skinnerian tradition. Herrnstein was the Edgar Pierce Profess ...
and Charles Murray's controversial ''The Bell Curve
''The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life'' is a 1994 book by psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and political scientist Charles Murray, in which the authors argue that human intelligence is substantially influenced by b ...
'', which argued that some of the measured difference in IQ scores among racially defined groups was a result of genetic inheritance
Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic informa ...
. Almost the entire editorial staff of the magazine threatened to resign if material that they considered racist was published. To appease them, Sullivan included lengthy rebuttals from 19 writers and contributors. He has continued to speak approvingly of the research and arguments presented in ''The Bell Curve'', writing, "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." According to Sullivan, this incident was a turning point in his relationship with the magazine's staff and management, which he conceded was already bad because he "was a lousy manager of people".[ He left the magazine in 1996.
Sullivan began writing for '']The New York Times Magazine
''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted man ...
'' in 1998, but was fired by editor Adam Moss
Adam Moss is an American magazine and newspaper editor. From 2004 to 2019, he was the editor-in-chief of ''New York'' magazine. Under his editorship, ''New York'' was repeatedly recognized for excellence, notably winning Magazine of the Year in ...
in 2002. Jack Shafer
Jack Shafer (born November 14, 1957) is an American journalist who writes about media for ''Politico''. Prior to joining ''Politico'', he worked for Reuters and also edited and wrote the column'' "''Press Box" for ''Slate'', an online magazine. B ...
wrote in ''Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
'' magazine that he had asked Moss in an 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 the decision had been made by ''Times'' executive editor Howell Raines
Howell Hiram Raines (; born February 5, 1943) is an American journalist, editor, and writer. He was executive editor of ''The New York Times'' from 2001 until he left in 2003 in the wake of the scandal related to reporting by Jayson Blair. In 20 ...
, who found Sullivan's presence "uncomfortable", but defended Raines's right to fire him. Sullivan suggested that Raines had done so in response to Sullivan's criticism of the ''Times'' on his blog, and said he had expected that his criticisms would eventually anger Raines.
Sullivan has also worked as a columnist for ''The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'' of London.
Ross Douthat
Ross Gregory Douthat (born 1979) is an American political analyst, blogger, author and ''New York Times'' columnist. He was a senior editor of ''The Atlantic''. He has written on a variety of topics, including the state of Christianity in Americ ...
and Tyler Cowen
Tyler Cowen (; born January 21, 1962) is an American economist, columnist and blogger. He is a professor at George Mason University, where he holds the Holbert L. Harris chair in the economics department. He hosts the economics blog ''Marginal R ...
have suggested that Sullivan is the most influential political writer of his generation, particularly because of his very early and strident support for same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
, his early political blog, his support of the Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
, and his subsequent support of Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
's presidential candidacy.
After the cessation of his long-running blog, ''The Dish'', in 2015, Sullivan wrote regularly for ''New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
'' during the 2016 presidential election, and in February 2017 he began writing a weekly column, "Interesting Times", for the magazine.
On July 19, 2020, following the unexplained absence of his column for June 5, Sullivan announced that he would no longer write for ''New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
.'' He announced he would be reviving ''The Dish'' as a newsletter, ''The Weekly Dish'', hosted by Substack
Substack is an American online platform that provides publishing, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure to support subscription newsletters. It allows writers to send digital newsletters directly to subscribers. Founded in 2017, Substack ...
.
Politics
Sullivan describes himself as a conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
and is the author of ''The Conservative Soul''. He has supported a number of traditional libertarian
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
positions, favouring limited government
In political philosophy, limited government is the concept of a government limited in power. It is a key concept in the history of liberalism.Amy Gutmann, "How Limited Is Liberal Government" in Liberalism Without Illusions: Essays on Liberal Theo ...
and opposing social interventionist measures such as affirmative action. However, on a number of controversial public issues, including same-sex marriage, social security
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
, progressive tax
A progressive tax is a tax in which the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases.Sommerfeld, Ray M., Silvia A. Madeo, Kenneth E. Anderson, Betty R. Jackson (1992), ''Concepts of Taxation'', Dryden Press: Fort Worth, TX The term ''progre ...
ation, anti-discrimination law
Anti-discrimination law or non-discrimination law refers to legislation designed to prevent discrimination against particular groups of people; these groups are often referred to as protected groups or protected classes. Anti-discrimination laws ...
s, the Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...
, the United States government's use of torture, and capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
, he has taken positions not typically shared by conservatives in the United States
Conservatism in the United States is a political and social philosophy based on a belief in limited government, individualism, traditionalism, republicanism, and limited federal governmental power in relation to U.S. states. Conservative ...
.[Archived a]
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
In July 2012, Sullivan said that "the catastrophe of the Bush-Cheney years ... all but exploded the logic of neoconservatism
Neoconservatism is a political movement that began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist foreign policy of the Democratic Party and with the growing New Left and ...
and its domestic partner-in-crime, supply-side economics
Supply-side economics is a macroeconomic theory that postulates economic growth can be most effectively fostered by lowering taxes, decreasing regulation, and allowing free trade. According to supply-side economics, consumers will benefit fr ...
."["Yglesias Award Nominee"](_blank)
''The Dish'' 6 July 2012
One of the most important intellectual and political influences on Sullivan is Michael Oakeshott
Michael Joseph Oakeshott FBA (; 11 December 1901 – 19 December 1990) was an English philosopher and political theorist who wrote about philosophy of history, philosophy of religion, aesthetics, philosophy of education, and philosophy of law.F ...
. Sullivan describes Oakeshott's thought as "an anti-ideology, a nonprogramme, a way of looking at the world whose most perfect expression might be called inactivism."[ He argues "that Oakeshott requires us to systematically discard programmes and ideologies and view each new situation '']sui generis
''Sui generis'' ( , ) is a Latin phrase that means "of its/their own kind", "in a class by itself", therefore "unique".
A number of disciplines use the term to refer to unique entities. These include:
* Biology, for species that do not fit in ...
''. Change should only ever be incremental and evolutionary. Oakeshott viewed society as resembling language: it is learned gradually and without us really realising it, and it evolves unconsciously, and for ever."[ In 1984, he wrote that Oakeshott offered "a conservatism which ends by affirming a radical liberalism."][ This "anti-ideology" is perhaps the source of accusations that Sullivan "flip-flops" or changes his opinions to suit the whims of the moment. He has written, "A true conservative—who is, above all, an anti-ideologue—will often be attacked for alleged inconsistency, for changing positions, for promising change but not a radical break with the past, for pursuing two objectives—like liberty and authority, or change and continuity—that seem to all ideologues as completely contradictory."
As a youth, Sullivan was a fervent supporter of ]Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
and later Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
. He says of that time, "What really made me a right-winger was seeing the left use the state to impose egalitarianism—on my school",[ after the ]Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
government in Britain tried to merge his admissions-selective school with the local comprehensive school
A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...
. At Oxford, he became friends with future prominent conservatives William Hague
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
and and became involved with Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
politics.[
From 1980 through 2000, he supported ]Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
presidential candidates in the United States,[ with the exception of the election of 1992, when he supported ]Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
in his first presidential campaign. In 2004, however, he was angered by George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
's support of the Federal Marriage Amendment
The Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA), also referred to by proponents as the Marriage Protection Amendment, was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would legally define marriage as a union of one man and one woman. The FMA ...
designed to enshrine in the Constitution marriage as a union between a man and a woman, as well as what he saw as the Bush administration's incompetence over its Iraq War management, and consequently supported the presidential campaign of John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...
, a Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
.
Sullivan endorsed Senator Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 United States presidential election
The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from ...
, and Representative Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American author, activist, physician and retired politician who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1976 to 1977 and again from 1979 to 1985, as well ...
for the Republican nomination. After John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
clinched the Republican primary and named Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 R ...
as his vice presidential nominee, Sullivan began to espouse a birther-like conspiracy theory involving Palin and her young son Trig Palin. Sullivan devoted a significant amount of space on ''The Atlantic'', questioning whether Palin is Trig's biological mother. He and others who held this belief, dubbed "Trig Truthers", demanded Palin to produce a birth certificate or other piece of medical evidence that proves Trig is indeed her biological son.
Sullivan eventually endorsed Obama for president, largely because he believed that he would restore "the rule of law and Constitutional balance"; he also argued that Obama represented a more realistic prospect for "bringing America back to fiscal reason", and expressed a hope that Obama would be able to "get us past the culture war." Sullivan continued to maintain that Obama was the best choice for president from a conservative point of view. During the 2012 election campaign, he wrote, "Against a radical right, reckless, populist insurgency, Obama is the conservative option, dealing with emergent problems with pragmatic calm and modest innovation. He seeks as a good Oakeshottian would to reform the country's policies in order to regain the country's past virtues. What could possibly be more conservative than that?"
Sullivan has declared support for Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...
and other like-minded Republicans. He argues that the Republican Party, and much of the conservative movement in the United States, has largely abandoned its earlier scepticism and moderation in favour of a more fundamentalist
Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishing ...
certainty, both in religious and political terms. He has said this is the primary source of his alienation from the modern Republican Party.
In January 2009, ''Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' magazine ranked Sullivan No. 19 on a list of "The 25 Most Influential Liberals in the U.S. Media". Sullivan rejected the "liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
" label and set out his grounds in a published article in response.
In August 2018, after Sarah Jeong
Sarah Jeong (; born 1988) is an American journalist specializing in information technology law and other technology-related topics. A member of the editorial board of ''The New York Times'' from 2018 to 2019, she was formerly a senior writer f ...
, an editorial board-member of ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', received widespread criticism for her old anti-white tweets, Sullivan accused Jeong of being racist and calling white people "subhuman". Sullivan also accused Jeong of spreading eliminationist
Eliminationism is the belief that one's political opponents are, in the words of Oklahoma City University School of Law professor Phyllis E. Bernard, "a cancer on the body politic that must be excised—either by separation from the public at la ...
rhetoric; a belief that political opponents are a societal cancer that should be separated, censored or exterminated.
LGBT issues
HIV
In 1996, discussing HIV, he argued in the ''New York Times Magazine'' that "this plague is over" insofar as "it no longer signifies death. It merely signifies illness." This led to "a trend of white male journalists proclaiming that AIDS is over", according to Sarah Schulman.
Gay issues
Sullivan, like Marshall Kirk
Marshall Kenneth Kirk (December 8, 1957 – ) was a New England Historic Genealogical Society librarian, and a noted writer and a researcher in neuropsychiatry. He is, however, best known as one of the co-authors of '' After the Ball: How Americ ...
, Hunter Madsen, and Bruce Bawer
Theodore Bruce Bawer (born October 31, 1956) is an American writer who has been a resident of Norway since 1999. He is a literary, film, and cultural critic and a novelist and poet, who has also written about gay rights, Christianity, and Islam.
...
, has been described by Urvashi Vaid
Urvashi ( sa, उर्वशी, Urvaśī}) is the most prominent apsara (celestial nymph) in Hindu mythology, considered to be the most beautiful of all the apsaras, and an expert dancer. She is mentioned in both ''Vedic'' and ''Puranic'' scr ...
as a proponent of "legitimation", seeing the objective of the gay rights movement
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Some focus on equal rights, such as the ongoing movement for same-sex marriage, while others focus on liberation, as in the ...
as being "mainstreaming gay and lesbian people" rather than "radical social change". Sullivan wrote the first major article in the United States advocating for gay people to be given the right to marry, published in ''The New Republic'' in 1989. According to one columnist for '' Intelligent Life,'' many on "the gay left," aiming to alter social codes of sexuality for everyone, were chagrined at Sullivan's endorsement of the "assimilation" of gay people into "straight culture." In the wake of the United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
rulings on same-sex marriage in 2013 ('' Hollingsworth v. Perry'' and ''United States v. Windsor
''United States v. Windsor'', 570 U.S. 744 (2013), is a landmark United States Supreme Court civil rights case concerning same-sex marriage. The Court held that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denied federal recognition o ...
''), ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' op-ed columnist Ross Douthat
Ross Gregory Douthat (born 1979) is an American political analyst, blogger, author and ''New York Times'' columnist. He was a senior editor of ''The Atlantic''. He has written on a variety of topics, including the state of Christianity in Americ ...
suggested that Sullivan might be the most influential political writer of his generation, writing: "No intellectual that I can think of, writing on a fraught and controversial topic, has seen their once-crankish, outlandish-seeming idea become the conventional wisdom so quickly, and be instantiated so rapidly in law and custom."
As of 2007, Sullivan opposed hate crime
A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demograph ...
laws, arguing that they undermine freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
and equal protection
The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equa ...
.
In 2014, Sullivan opposed calls to remove Brendan Eich
Brendan Eich (; born July 4, 1961) is an American computer programmer and technology executive. He created the JavaScript programming language and co-founded the Mozilla project, the Mozilla Foundation, and the Mozilla Corporation. He served as ...
as CEO of Mozilla
Mozilla (stylized as moz://a) is a free software community founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, spreads and supports Mozilla products, thereby promoting exclusively free software and open standards, wi ...
for donating to the campaign for Proposition 8
Proposition 8, known informally as Prop 8, was a California ballot proposition and a constitutional amendment, state constitutional amendment intended to ban same-sex marriage; it passed in the California state elections, November 2008, Novem ...
, which made same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
illegal in California. In 2015, he claimed that "gay equality" had been achieved in the United States through the persuasive arguments of "old-fashioned liberalism" rather than by the activism of "identity politics
Identity politics is a political approach wherein people of a particular race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, social class, or other identifying factors develop political agendas that are based upon these i ...
leftism."
Transgender issues
In 2007, he said he was "no big supporter" of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is legislation proposed in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination in hiring and employment on the basis of sexual orientation or, depending on the version of the bill, gender id ...
, arguing that it would "not make much of a difference." However, he said, the "gay rights establishment" was making a tactical error to insist on including protections for gender identity
Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...
, as he believed it would be easier to pass the bill without transgender people.
In a September 2019 ''Intelligencer
Intelligencer is an archaic word for a person who gathers intelligence, like a spy or secret agent. The term may refer to:
Newspapers
* ''Daily Intelligencer (disambiguation)'', multiple papers
* ''Edwardsville Intelligencer'' (1862–present) ...
'' column, Sullivan expressed concern that gender-nonconforming children (especially those who are likely one day to come out as gay) might be encouraged to believe that they are transgender when they are not. In November 2019, Sullivan wrote another ''Intelligencer
Intelligencer is an archaic word for a person who gathers intelligence, like a spy or secret agent. The term may refer to:
Newspapers
* ''Daily Intelligencer (disambiguation)'', multiple papers
* ''Edwardsville Intelligencer'' (1862–present) ...
'' column on young women who, in their teens, had begun to transition to live as men but who later detransition
Detransition is the cessation or reversal of a transgender identification or gender transition, whether by social, legal, or medical means. Some individuals detransition on a temporary basis.
Estimates of the rate at which detransitioning occurs ...
ed. In that article, he discussed the controversy
Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...
over a 2018 journal article by Lisa Littman that proposed a socially mediated subtype of gender dysphoria that Littman had termed "rapid onset gender dysphoria
Rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) is a proposed subtype of gender dysphoria said to be caused by peer influence and social contagion. It has not been recognized by any major professional association as a valid mental health diagnosis, and use ...
". In April 2021, he said it should be illegal for doctors to initiate cross-sex hormones for kids under 16 or sex reassignment surgery
Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and alle ...
for kids under 18.
Recognitions
In 1996, Sullivan's book, ''Virtually Normal: An Argument about Homosexuality'', won the 1996 Mencken Award for Best Book, presented by the Free Press Association. In 2006, Sullivan was named an LGBT History Month
LGBT History Month is an annual month-long observance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history, and the history of the List of LGBT rights by region, gay rights and related civil rights movements. It was founded in 1994 by Missouri high- ...
icon.
Foreign policy
Sullivan supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
by the United States and was initially hawkish in the war on terror
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...
, arguing that weakness would embolden terrorists. He was "one of the most militant" supporters of the Bush administration's counter-terrorism strategy immediately following the September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
in 2001; in an essay for ''The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'', 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
A fifth column is any group of people who undermine a larger group or nation from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or another nation. According to Harris Mylonas and Scott Radnitz, "fifth columns" are “domestic actors who work to un ...
." Eric Alterman
Eric Alterman (born January 14, 1960) is an American historian, journalist, author, media critic, blogger, and educator. He is a CUNY Distinguished Professor of English and Journalism at Brooklyn College and the author of eleven books. From 199 ...
wrote in 2002 that Sullivan had "set himself up as a one-man House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...
" running an "inquisition" to unmask "anti-war Democrats", "basing his argument less on the words these politicians speak than on the thoughts he knows them to be holding in secret".
Later, Sullivan criticised the Bush administration for its prosecution of the war, especially regarding the numbers of troops, protection of munitions, and treatment of prisoners, including the use of torture against detainees in United States custody. Though he argued that enemy combatant
Enemy combatant is a person who, either lawfully or unlawfully, engages in hostilities for the other side in an armed conflict. Usually enemy combatants are members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war. In the case ...
s in the war on terror should not have been given status as prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
because "terrorists are not soldiers", he believed that the US government was required to abide by the rules of war
The law of war is the component of international law that regulates the conditions for initiating war (''jus ad bellum'') and the conduct of warring parties (''jus in bello''). Laws of war define sovereignty and nationhood, states and territor ...
—in particular, Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions
upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864
The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conven ...
—when dealing with such detainees. In retrospect, Sullivan said that the torture and abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib
Abu Ghraib (; ar, أبو غريب, ''Abū Ghurayb'') is a city in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq, located just west of Baghdad's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport. It has a population of 189,000 (2003). The old road t ...
prison in Iraq had jolted him back to "sanity". Of his early support for the invasion of Iraq, he said, "I was terribly wrong. In the shock and trauma of 9/11, I forgot the principles of scepticism and doubt towards utopian schemes that I had learned."
On the edition of 27 October 2006 of ''Real Time with Bill Maher
''Real Time with Bill Maher'' is an American television talk show that airs weekly on HBO, hosted by comedian and political satirist Bill Maher. Much like his previous series ''Politically Incorrect'' on Comedy Central and later on ABC, ''Real Ti ...
'', he described conservatives and Republicans who refused to admit they had been wrong to support the Iraq War as "cowards". On 26 February 2008, he wrote on his blog: "After 9/11, I was clearly blinded by fear of al Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...
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." His reversal on the Iraq issue and his increasing attacks on the Bush administration caused a severe backlash from many hawkish
In politics, a war hawk, or simply hawk, is someone who favors war or continuing to escalate an existing conflict as opposed to other solutions. War hawks are the opposite of doves. The terms are derived by analogy with the birds of the same name ...
conservatives, who accused him of not being a "real" conservative.
Sullivan authored an opinion piece, "Dear President Bush," that was featured as the cover article of the October 2009 edition of ''The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' magazine. In it, he called on 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
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
". However, his views have become more critical over time. In February 2009, he wrote that he could no longer take the neoconservative
Neoconservatism is a political movement that began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist foreign policy of the Democratic Party and with the growing New Left and coun ...
position on Israel seriously.
In January 2010, Sullivan blogged that he was "moving toward" the idea of "a direct American military imposition" of a two-state solution
The two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict envisions an independent State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel, west of the Jordan River. The boundary between the two states is still subject to dispute and negotiation ...
to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Israelis ( he, יִשְׂרָאֵלִים, translit=Yīśrāʾēlīm; ar, الإسرائيليين, translit=al-ʾIsrāʾīliyyin) are the citizens and nationals of the State of Israel. The country's populace is composed primarily of Jew ...
, with NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
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." His post was criticised by Noah Pollak of ''Commentary
Commentary or commentaries may refer to:
Publications
* ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee
* Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...
'', who referred to it as "crazy", "heady stuff" based on "hubris".
In February 2010, Leon Wieseltier
Leon Wieseltier (; born June 14, 1952) is an American critic and magazine editor. From 1983 to 2014, he was the literary editor of ''The New Republic''. He was a contributing editor and critic at ''The Atlantic'' until October 27, 2017, when the ...
suggested in ''The New Republic'' that Sullivan, a former friend and colleague, had a "venomous hostility toward Israel and Jews" and was "either a bigot, or just moronically insensitive" toward the Jewish people
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
. Sullivan rejected the accusation and was defended by some writers, while others at least partly supported Wieseltier.
In March 2019, Sullivan wrote in ''New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
'' magazine that while he strongly supported the right of a Jewish state to exist, he felt that United States Representative Ilhan Omar's comments about the influence of the pro-Israel lobby were largely correct. Sullivan said that "it is simply a fact that the Israel lobby uses money, passion, and persuasion to warp this country's foreign policy in favor of another country — out of all proportion to what Israel can do for the US."
Sullivan devoted a significant amount of blog space to covering the allegations of fraud and related protests after the 2009 Iranian presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Iran on 12 June 2009, with incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad running against three challengers. The next morning the Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran's news agency, announced that with two-thirds of the votes co ...
. Francis Wilkinson of ''The Week
''The Week'' is a weekly news magazine with editions in the United Kingdom and United States. The British publication was founded in 1995 and the American edition in 2001. An Australian edition was published from 2008 to 2012. A children's edi ...
'' 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."
Sullivan was inspired by the Iranian people's reactions to the election results and used his blog as a hub of information. Because of the media blackout in Iran, Iranian Twitter accounts were a major source of information. Sullivan frequently quoted and linked to Nico Pitney Nico Pitney (born 1981) is an American journalist, editor and media executive who has helped lead several prominent left-leaning media outlets, including ''HuffPost'' and ''NowThis.''
Pitney was born in Tokyo and attended the University of Californ ...
of ''The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
''.
Immigration
Writing for ''New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
'' magazine, Sullivan expressed concern that high levels of immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
to the United States could drive "white anxiety" by causing white Americans
White Americans are Americans who identify as and are perceived to be white people. This group constitutes the majority of the people in the United States. As of the 2020 Census, 61.6%, or 204,277,273 people, were white alone. This represented ...
to be "increasingly troubled by the pace of change" since they were never formally asked whether they wanted such a demographic shift. Sullivan has advocated for tighter immigration control
Border control refers to measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it a ...
s on asylum and overall lower levels of immigration. He has criticized Democrats for what he perceived as their unwillingness to implement such controls.
Race science
As editor at ''The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'', Sullivan published excerpts from the 1994 book ''The Bell Curve
''The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life'' is a 1994 book by psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and political scientist Charles Murray, in which the authors argue that human intelligence is substantially influenced by b ...
'', by Richard Herrnstein
Richard Julius Herrnstein (May 20, 1930 – September 13, 1994) was an American psychologist at Harvard University. He was an active researcher in animal learning in the B. F. Skinner, Skinnerian tradition. Herrnstein was the Edgar Pierce Profess ...
and Charles Murray Charles Murray may refer to:
Politicians
*Charles Murray, 1st Earl of Dunmore (1661–1710), British peer
*Charles Murray (author and diplomat) (1806–1895), British author and diplomat
*Charles Murray, 7th Earl of Dunmore (1841–1907), Scotti ...
. The book, which was about the subject of IQ on society and public policy, had a controversial chapter which looked at the issue of race and IQ, and said that some groups had lower IQs than others.
In 2015 Jeet Heer
Jeet Heer is a Canadian author, comics critic, literary critic and journalist. He is a national affairs correspondent for ''The Nation'' magazine and a former staff writer at ''The New Republic''. As of 2014, he was writing a doctoral thesis at Yor ...
, in an article in ''The New Republic'' entitled "The New Republic's Legacy on Race" described Sullivan's decision as an example of "The magazine's myopia on racial issues". The importance of Sullivan to the popularization of ''The Bell Curve'' and race science was noted by Matthew Yglesias
Matthew Yglesias (; born May 18, 1981) is a liberal American blogger and journalist who writes about economics and politics. Yglesias has written columns and articles for publications such as ''The American Prospect'', ''The Atlantic'', and ''Sla ...
who called Sullivan "the punditocracy's original champion of Murray's thinking on genetics". In ''Current Affairs Current affairs may refer to:
News
* Current Affairs (magazine), ''Current Affairs'' (magazine) a bimonthly magazine of culture and politics.
* Current affairs (news format): a genre of broadcast journalism
* Current Affairs, former name for Behi ...
'' in 2017 Nathan J. Robinson
Nathan James Robinson (born c. 1989) is an English-American journalist, political commentator, and editor-in-chief of the left-wing progressive ''Current Affairs'' magazine, which he founded in 2015.
Early life and education
Born in Stevena ...
said that Sullivan:
...helped midwife ''The Bell Curve'' and grant flimsy race science a veneer of intellectual respectability. He still believes race is a reasonable prism through which to view the world, and that if only our racial stereotypes are "true," they are acceptable. He is therefore an unreliable and ideologically-biased guide to political and social science.
Religion
Sullivan identifies himself as a faithful Catholic while disagreeing with some aspects of the Catholic Church's doctrine.
He expressed concern about the election of Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
in a ''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine article on 24 April 2005, titled "The Vicar of Orthodoxy". He wrote that Benedict was opposed to the modern world and women's rights, and considered gays and lesbians innately disposed to evil. Sullivan has, however, agreed with Benedict's assertion that reason is an integral element of faith.
Sullivan takes a moderate approach to religion, rejecting fundamentalism and describing himself as a "dogged defender of pluralism and secularism". He defended religious moderates in a series of exchanges with atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
author Sam Harris
Samuel Benjamin Harris (born April 9, 1967) is an American philosopher, neuroscientist, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics ...
.
Blogging
In late 2000, Sullivan began his blog, ''The Daily Dish''. The core principle of the blog has been the style of conservatism he views as traditional. This includes fiscal conservatism
Fiscal conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, and ''laissez-faire'' economics.M. O. Dickerson et al., ''An ...
, 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
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...
and prostitution. He believes recognition of same-sex marriage is a civil-rights issue but expressed willingness to promote it on a state-by-state legislative federalism
Federalism is a combined or compound mode of government that combines a general government (the central or "federal" government) with regional governments (Province, provincial, State (sub-national), state, Canton (administrative division), can ...
basis, rather than trying to judicially impose the change. Most of Sullivan's disputes with other conservatives have been over social issues and the handling of postwar Iraq.
Sullivan gave out yearly "awards" for various public statements, parodying those of the people the awards were named after. Throughout the year, nominees were mentioned in various blog posts. The readers of his blog chose winners at the end of each year.
* The Hugh Hewitt
Hugh Hewitt (born February 22, 1956) is an American radio talk show host with the Salem Radio Network and an attorney, academic, and author. A conservative, he writes about law, society, politics, and media bias in the United States. Hewitt is ...
Award, introduced in June 2008 and named after a man Sullivan described as an "absurd partisan fanatic", was for the most egregious attempts to label Barack Obama as un-American, alien, treasonous, and far out of the mainstream of American life and politics.
* The John Derbyshire
John Derbyshire (born 3 June 1945) is a British-born American far-right political commentator, writer, journalist and computer programmer. He was once known as a paleoconservative, until he was fired from the ''National Review'' in 2012 for wr ...
Award was for egregious and outlandish comments on gays, women, and minorities.
* The Paul Begala
Paul Edward Begala (born May 12, 1961) is an American political consultant and political commentator, best known as the former advisor to President Bill Clinton.
Begala was a chief strategist for the 1992 Clinton–Gore campaign, which carried ...
Award was for extreme liberal hyperbole.
* The Michelle Malkin
Michelle Malkin (; Maglalang; born October 20, 1970) is an American conservative political commentator. She was a Fox News contributor and in May 2020 joined Newsmax TV. Malkin has written seven books and founded the conservative websites Twit ...
Award was for shrill, hyperbolic, divisive, and intemperate right-wing rhetoric. (Ann Coulter
Ann Hart Coulter (; born December 8, 1961) is an American conservative media pundit, author, syndicated columnist, and lawyer. She became known as a media pundit in the late 1990s, appearing in print and on cable news as an outspoken critic of ...
was ineligible for this award so that, in Sullivan's words, "other people will have a chance.")
* The Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism.
Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...
Award was for divisive, bitter, and intemperate left-wing rhetoric.
* The Matthew Yglesias
Matthew Yglesias (; born May 18, 1981) is a liberal American blogger and journalist who writes about economics and politics. Yglesias has written columns and articles for publications such as ''The American Prospect'', ''The Atlantic'', and ''Sla ...
Award was for writers, politicians, columnists, or pundits who criticised their own side of the political spectrum, made enemies among political allies, and generally risked something for the sake of saying what they believed.
* The "Poseur Alert" was awarded for passages of prose that stood out for pretension, vanity, and bad writing designed to look profound.
* The Dick Morris
Richard Samuel Morris (born November 28, 1948) is an American political author and commentator who previously worked as a pollster, political campaign consultant, and general political consultant.
A friend and advisor to Bill Clinton during hi ...
Award (formerly the Von Hoffman Award) was for stunningly wrong cultural, political, and social predictions. Sullivan renamed this award in September 2012, saying that Von Hoffman was "someone who in many ways got the future right—at least righter than I did."
In February 2007, Sullivan moved his blog from ''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' to ''The Atlantic Monthly
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', where he had accepted an editorial post. His presence was estimated to have contributed as much as 30% of the subsequent traffic increase for ''The Atlantic'''s website.
In 2009, ''The Daily Dish'' won the 2008 Weblog Award for Best Blog.
Sullivan left ''The Atlantic'' to begin blogging at ''The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008.
It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
'' in April 2011. In 2013, he announced that he was leaving ''The Daily Beast'' to launch ''The Dish'' as a stand-alone website, charging subscribers $20 a year.
In a note posted on ''The Dish'' on 28 January 2015, Sullivan announced his decision to retire from blogging.[Andrew Sullivan, blogger extraordinaire, decides that it's time to stop dishing](_blank)
''The Washington Post'', 28 January 2015 He posted his final blog entry on 6 February 2015. On 26 June 2015, he posted an additional piece in reaction to ''Obergefell v. Hodges
''Obergefell v. Hodges'', ( ), is a landmark LGBT rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection ...
'', which legalized same-sex marriage in the United States.
In July 2020, Sullivan announced that The Dish would be revived as a weekly feature, including a column and podcast; he published there and elsewhere a notable obituary of Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
.
Personal life
In 2001, it came to light that Sullivan had posted anonymous online advertisements for unprotected anal sex, preferably with "other HIV-positive men". He was widely criticised in the media for this, with some critics noting that he had condemned President Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again f ...
's "incautious behavior", though others wrote in his defence.
In 2003, Sullivan wrote a ''Salon'' article identifying himself as a member of the gay "bear community
In gay culture, a bear is a larger and often Body hair, hairier man who projects an image of rugged masculinity.
The bear concept can function as an identity or an affiliation, and there is ongoing debate in bear communities about what constitut ...
". On 27 August 2007, he married Aaron Tone in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Sullivan was a friend of late journalist Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British-American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, ...
.
Sullivan was barred for many years from applying for United States citizenship because of his HIV-positive status. Following the statutory and administrative repeals of the HIV immigration ban in 2008 and 2009, respectively, he announced his intention to begin the process of becoming a Permanent residence (United States), permanent resident and citizen. On ''The Chris Matthews Show'' on 16 April 2011, Sullivan confirmed that he had become a permanent resident, showing his green card. On 1 December 2016, Sullivan became a Citizenship of the United States#naturalized, naturalised US citizen.
He has been a daily user of marijuana since 2001.
Works
;As author
* ''Virtually Normal, Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality'' (1995). Knopf. .
* ''Love Undetectable: Notes on Friendship, Sex and Survival'' (1998). Knopf. .
* ''The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It, How to Get It Back'' (2006). HarperCollins. .
* ''Intimations Pursued: The Voice of Practice in the Conversation of Michael Oakeshott'' (2007). Imprint Academic.
* ''Out on a Limb: Selected Writing, 1989–2021'' (2021). Avid Reader Press.
;As editor
* ''Same-Sex Marriage Pro & Con: A Reader'' (1997). Vintage. . First edition
* ''Same-Sex Marriage Pro & Con: A Reader'' (2004). Vintage. . Second edition
* ''The View from Your Window: The World as Seen by Readers of One Blog'' (2009). Blurb.com
References
External links
The Weekly Dish
Andrew Sullivan's substack newsletter
The Dish
Andrew Sullivan's blog
Column archive (2009–2009)
at ''The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
''
**
Why I Blog
', November 2008
*
*
*
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World's Best Blogger?
''Harvard Magazine'', May–June 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Andrew
1963 births
Living people
Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
The Atlantic (magazine) people
British Christian Zionists
British expatriates in the United States
English bloggers
English columnists
English magazine editors
English political writers
English people of Irish descent
English Roman Catholics
People with HIV/AIDS
Harvard Kennedy School alumni
LGBT conservatism in the United States
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LGBT journalists from the United States
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English gay writers
The New Republic people
People educated at Reigate Grammar School
People from Godstone
Presidents of the Oxford Union
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Writers from Washington, D.C.
Naturalized citizens of the United States
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Harkness Fellows