Conor Friedersdorf

Conor Friedersdorf is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he focuses on politics and national affairs. He lives in Venice, California, and is the founding editor of The Best of Journalism, a newsletter devoted to exceptional nonfiction.

What Has Movement Conservatism Accomplished in the Last 15 Years?

What Has Movement Conservatism Accomplished in the Last 15 Years?

The list isn't nearly as long as its boosters would have us think. More »

Ron Paul's Last Speech to Congress: 30+ Strangely Ordered Questions

Ron Paul's Last Speech to Congress: 30+ Strangely Ordered Questions

The longtime legislator, doctor and three-time presidential candidate is retiring at year's end. More »

What High School Taught Millennials About the War on Terrorism

What High School Taught Millennials About the War on Terrorism

The threat can be eliminated, the Patriot Act was uncontroversial, and Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. More »

A U.S. Official's Anonymously Offered Defense of General Allen

A U.S. Official's Anonymously Offered Defense of General Allen

Allen is innocent of any wrongdoing, says a source who claims Gen. Allen also received "one of these weird, threatening letters" disparaging Jill Kelley, and passed it along to her. More »

Which Conservative Think Tanks Was David Petraeus Courting?

Which Conservative Think Tanks Was David Petraeus Courting?

The Washington Post says staffers from at least two "were given permanent office space at his headquarters and access to military aircraft." More »

The Sort of Tone-Deaf Immigration Rant That Kills Conservatives

The Sort of Tone-Deaf Immigration Rant That Kills Conservatives

Even when there's no racism involved, it's common to hear discussions of illegal immigration that make conservatives seem clueless and insensitive. More »

The Washington Ideas Forum Convenes

Each year it is held, the Washington Ideas Forum brings together influential figures from the worlds of politics, business and academia in hopes that the resulting conversations help to clarify the challenges America faces, and to evoke solutions, whether from participants or audience members. The difference this year is that the event, sponsored by The Atlantic in partnership with The Aspen Institute and the Newseum, begins little more than a week after a… More »

What It Implies If an Extramarital Affair Threatens National Security

What It Implies If an Extramarital Affair Threatens National Security

If a CIA director's libido can make us less safe, maybe we should rethink the extent to which we rely on and empower the CIA. More »

Fake History in the Making: Karen Hughes' Bad Advice for the GOP

Fake History in the Making: Karen Hughes' Bad Advice for the GOP

She thinks Mitt Romney could've convinced voters that Democrats were primarily responsible for the housing crisis. More »

Jonah Goldberg's Chance to Prove Critics of Conservatism Wrong

Jonah Goldberg's Chance to Prove Critics of Conservatism Wrong

He says his co-ideologues are great at challenging their own orthodoxies. Can he give us some examples? More »

The GOP Must Choose: Rush Limbaugh or Minority Voters

The GOP Must Choose: Rush Limbaugh or Minority Voters

The talk radio host is the voice of a coalition totally oblivious to how its racially-charged rhetoric sounds. More »

The Right's Jennifer Rubin Problem: A Case Study in Info Disadvantage

The Right's Jennifer Rubin Problem: A Case Study in Info Disadvantage

Conservatives lobbied hard to install one of their own at the Washington Post. But it didn't work out as they imagined it would. More »

Dick Morris Can't Even Stop Spinning Long Enough to Apologize

Dick Morris Can't Even Stop Spinning Long Enough to Apologize

You'd expect him to be on his best behavior today. But look at the double standard he slipped into his mea culpa. More »

How Conservative Media Lost to the MSM and Failed the Rank and File

How Conservative Media Lost to the MSM and Failed the Rank and File

Nate Silver was right. His ideological antagonists were wrong. And that's just the beginning of the right's self-created information disadvantage. More »

The Most Rabid Election-Day Rant of Them All

The Most Rabid Election-Day Rant of Them All

A contributor at National Review unwittingly shows that tribalism means more to him than conservatism. More »

Why the Long Campaign Season Has Been Bad for America

Why the Long Campaign Season Has Been Bad for America

Long before the first primary vote was cast, Glenn Greenwald identified all the pathologies that would follow. More »

Election Day Perspective: 6 Things to Keep in Mind

Election Day Perspective: 6 Things to Keep in Mind

Brief thoughts on the popular vote, the media, the stakes, and more More »

Just a Reminder: The Most Important State on Election Day Is California

Just a Reminder: The Most Important State on Election Day Is California

The outcome is nearly certain. There won't be any Tuesday night suspense. But the winner still gets 55 electoral votes -- a fifth of what's needed for victory. More »

A Challenge to Dennis Prager, Death-Penalty Supporter

A Challenge to Dennis Prager, Death-Penalty Supporter

Defending costly executions, he writes that "justice should never be a matter of money." Will he follow that argument where it leads? More »

Shame on the Republicans Who Curtailed Early Voting

Shame on the Republicans Who Curtailed Early Voting

Hours-long election lines stretching many city blocks are a national embarrassment. And those responsible should be condemned across ideological lines. More »

The Biggest Story in Photos

A Week of Tornadoes

Subscribe Now

SAVE 65%! 10 issues JUST $2.45 PER COPY

Newsletters

Sign up to receive our free newsletters

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)