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.

Obama May Break His Promise on Iraq Withdrawal

Obama May Break His Promise on Iraq Withdrawal

U.S. troops were supposed to be gone by year's end. But now the White House is offering to leave behind a force 10,000 strong. More »

The GOP Negotiating Position Is Weaker Than David Brooks Thinks

The GOP Negotiating Position Is Weaker Than David Brooks Thinks

On the debt ceiling, Republicans will win if they're savvy enough to take the Democratic deal. But their longer term position is tenuous. More »

Why Palin Volunteers Should Quit, Whether She's Running or Not

Why Palin Volunteers Should Quit, Whether She's Running or Not

Advocacy groups are just more reliable than politicians, and less likely to prove a total waste of time More »

How to Talk About Haiti's Rape Epidemic

How to Talk About Haiti's Rape Epidemic

After touching on the subject, a journalist is accused of having a colonialist mindset. But it's her critics whose attitude is imperious. More »

America's Imprudent Obsession With the Muslim World

America's Imprudent Obsession With the Muslim World

The U.S. has interests in the Middle East and North Africa, but we're focusing on those regions to the exclusion of bigger threats More »

The U.S. Attacked Libya at Least 132 Times in the Last 3 Months

The U.S. Attacked Libya at Least 132 Times in the Last 3 Months

That's how often ordinance has been dropped on the country by U.S. planes after NATO took control of the mission More »

What America Looks Like: Yellowstone National Park

What America Looks Like: Yellowstone National Park

The United States as seen by its residents More »

How Herman Cain Succeeds in Spite of Racism

How Herman Cain Succeeds in Spite of Racism

In corporate America, he downplayed racial grievances. As a Republican presidential primary candidate, he plays them up. More »

The Obama Administration's Whistleblower Problem

The Obama Administration's Whistleblower Problem

An ATF agent says he was fired for criticizing an ill-fated program. Will the president's reputation for targeting leakers get even worse? More »

What America Looks Like: Variations on the Swimming Pool

What America Looks Like: Variations on the Swimming Pool

The United States as seen by its residents More »

How the Vietnam Draft Helped Elect President Obama

How the Vietnam Draft Helped Elect President Obama

A new study finds that men who faced the prospect of fighting in the war were more likely to vote for Democrats even decades later More »

Tim Pawlenty's Foreign-Policy Speech Refutes Itself

Tim Pawlenty's Foreign-Policy Speech Refutes Itself

Its core flaw: a belief that America has been wrong in the past, is wrong in the present, and alone knows what's best for the future More »

Senate Panel Backs Mission in Libya Despite Its Dubious Legality

Senate Panel Backs Mission in Libya Despite Its Dubious Legality

The vote came after the State Department's top lawyer testified that the president is following the law More »

Bachmann's Former Chief of Staff: She Isn't Ready

Bachmann's Former Chief of Staff: She Isn't Ready

Ron Carey criticized his one-time boss in the Des Moines Register, but his argument was short on specifics More »

How California and Texas May Help End the Death Penalty

How California and Texas May Help End the Death Penalty

In the Golden State, it costs too much to execute the guilty - and in the Lone Star State they've likely killed an innocent More »

Obama Has Finally Become Dick Cheney

Obama Has Finally Become Dick Cheney

His administration wants to jail James Risen, a reporter who exposed Bush-era wrongdoing, if he doesn't reveal one of his sources More »

What America Looks Like: Inner City Oakland on a Bicycle

What America Looks Like: Inner City Oakland on a Bicycle

The United States as seen by its residents More »

100 Days in Libya and Counting

100 Days in Libya and Counting

Thoughts on the conflict as it reaches a milestone the American people never expected More »

How Fox News Bungled Its Michele Bachmann Interview

How Fox News Bungled Its Michele Bachmann Interview

"Are you a flake?" Chris Wallace asked -- a question that obscured what's actually wrong with the congresswoman's rhetoric More »

What Neocons Don't Understand About War

What Neocons Don't Understand About War

In conflicts of choice troop numbers are always partly political decisions -- another reason to fight only when absolutely necessary More »

The Biggest Story in Photos

Early Monsoon Rains Flood Northern India

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