Reply to Andrew Sullivan

Dear Andrew,

For you to claim you are a Goldwater Conservative is absurd. You served as associate editor, deputy editor, editor-in-chief of The New Republic (TNR) from 1991 to 1996 (and are still affiliated with the magazine), at the time the most influential Democratic magazine. While some Conservatives occasionally write articles in TNR since it is was (and still to a certain extent is) once a very high quality magazine, being editor-in-chief of a liberal (possibly neo-liberal) magazine is highly unlikely for a Goldwater Conservative. Can you imagine how ridiculous it would be for the editor-in-chief of the National Review to call himself a Kennedy or FDR liberal? Until very recently the politician you most admired was John McCain. While I happen to respect McCain while occasionally disagreeing with his politics (i.e. abortion, tobacco lawsuits, and the patient bill of rights), he is no Goldwater Republican. In fact as a Teddy Roosevelt Republican, he is in many ways the antithesis of a Goldwater Republican. Your claim is propesterous and it just another way to attack the Bush administration before election time by trying to make the claim that Goldwater himself would have been against the current administration. While Sean Hannity and Jerry Faldwell might be unwilling to debate you, I would be happy to debate you on CNN on whether you are a Goldwater Republican. Just give me a collection of all your blog postings and the articles you have written throughout your career and a little time to prepare and we can meet on CNN to debate.I am sure as a Harvard-educated PHD you should have nothing to fear.