Rumor that TheAtlantic.com may fire blogger Andrew Sullivan.

[kpete]

Rumor that TheAtlantic.com may fire blogger Andrew Sullivan.
September 8th, 2008 · No Comments

Where is Andrew Sullivan? The liberal blogger, who has turned his site into a 24 hour pro-Obama and anti-McCain/Palin smear site, has only one post today. Rumors are that TheAtlantic.com is considering giving Sully the boot. Spies at the magazine say they have heard Sullivan was in a meeting today with Atlantic Monthly execs and there is buzz that he might be fired or put on double secret probation.

Apparently the magazine has been flooded with emails criticizing Sullivan and his trashy McCain/Palin smears.
http://www.mikefrancesa.com/wordpress/?p=1050Yes,

[babylonsister]

1. Crap. I hope The Atlantic doesn't cave. We need his voice, though

I'm sure he'll land on his feet elsewhere. Shades of m$nbc...

[Iris]

3. They've been inching righward for a long time. There women writers are almost nonexistent and the

ones they have write articles that could have been suggested by Dr. Laura.

My husband renewed by mistake through one of those telemarkting subscription services, but I'm the one who pays our bills, and I don't intend to renew.

[musette_sf]

27. very true

i stopped reading the Atlantic about two or so years ago, due to their rightward movement.

only Harper's remains now with decent analysis.

[vi5]

2. I was floored by how relentless he's been...

He's one of the few "conservative" people I can read. His transition over the past 4-5 years has been something to watch. But how hard he's hit McCain on Palin has just been completely next level stuff beyond just being willing to call out Bush on some failures.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. Prediction:

If he gets fired, he is unemployed for about 5 minutes, tops. I would not be surprised if Josh Marshall gives him an interim slot.

On edit: And how spineless of The Atlantic. So much for freedom of the press.

[Pirate Smile]

5. I was checking his site yesterday and today and noticed that he hasn't been posting almost at all.

I was wondering what was going on.

If they fire him, he should be able to get picked up at numerous other places or go out on his own. He doesn't need The Atlantic.

It definitely feels like there is a lot of pressure to shut down people critical of McCain.

[SoCalDem]

6. Republicans are good at that.. They complain about everything

Dems are not as eager to write complimentary letters, so if the only mail is negative..well you know..

I have always made it a habit to write complimentary letters when I can..

I have written to compliment grocery checkers, hotel maids, waitresses, restaurant managers, auto service departments, etc..

You never know how that single letter in their file could help them in getting a promotion, or at the least, just to make a trip to the boss' office a good experience.

A client did that for me one time, and I never forgot how good it felt.. I worked for a travel office owned by a bank.. I did a great job planning an Iron Curtain trip for a couple, and she wrote a glowing letter about me..to the bank president..not my immediate boss.. When I got an inter-office memo from him, I was scared, and wondered what on earth I could have done wrong..

He showed me the letter, and gave me a copy..Made my day !

Perhaps some letters supporting the guy could help:shrug:

[silex]

7. Thinking the same thing.

http://www.theatlantic.com/a/feedback.mhtml

[Not Me]

8. See if The Nation is hiring

nt

[JackRiddler]

9. Wow.

When he led the post-9/11 charge to bomb the Muslims, when he pimped the Iraq war lies and lionized Bush, he was just a great big neoconservative lovey-bear, wasn't he now? Now he plays a bit off the Atlantic's tune, and he is characterized as a LIBERAL BLOGGER! Appropriately on a site named after the great moron (and Yankee brownnoser) of talk radio. Whatever...

[RobertSeattle]

10. People can change dude.

I don't agree with Andrew on everyting, but he's really come around in the past 18 months.

[VolcanoJen]

17. John Cole of Balloon Juice is another example of prominent Republican bloggers...

... who came around after witnessing eight years of Bush/Cheney destruction.

[RobertSeattle]

24. It just been my observation that every time something comes up about Sullivan

Some DUer has to bring up something about Sullivan way in the past. It's like some people can't forgive and let things go.

And FYI - he's back. Just got an RSS saying he was enjoying summer.

[VolcanoJen]

26. His update post is an excellent reminder...

... that these bloggers we have come to rely on as an antidote to mainstream media are actual human beings, ya know?

[JackRiddler]

34. True enough, but not really my point...

My point is how these idiots at "mikefrancesca.com" (a sports talk jock fan site) label Sullivan. If they agreed with him, they'd call him a conservative or something neutral and praiseworthy (an "expert" for example). He may have come around on some matters, but by no stretch can he be called a liberal blogger, except by right-wingers who hedge to the rule of always calling all critics of their talking points liberals (even if the target is Ron Paul or Alex Jones or Lou Dobbs or such).

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

11. I think Andrew Sullivan went down the Babygate path to his doom

Babygate - a lot of wasted energy over a TV plot. It was always a conjecture with no proof.

But when an actual journalist goes down the same path, they are held to higher standards, as they should be. I am sure the Atlantic thinks he used some very poor judgement.

[AuntPatsy]

20. Your kidding right? When he followed the playbook of the gop he was praised..the truth

is that those in charge no longer care who knows what they are up to, hence the attack on any media outlets who are not towing the line, one by one they will be gone...they have no wish for the citizens of this country to know the truth..

[devilgrrl]

12. Andrew Sullivan... "the liberal blogger"????

:spray:

Yeah... uh huh.... sure.... right. :eyes:

[bean fidhleir]

33. My reaction exactly. Who in the hell would call Sullivan liberal - Cheney?

[GreenPartyVoter]

35. Seriesly!!111!!!

[Jennifer C]

13. An update on the rumor

Source states he was fired last night, he no longer has a blog at The Atlantic
September 9th, 2008 · No Comments

Our spies say that Andrew Sullivan was fired last night. They say his blog at TheAtlantic.com is finito. Hopefully this is true, we are trying to get more confirmation of this.

http://www.mikefrancesa.com/wordpress/?p=1054

[RobertSeattle]

25. This Francesa guy has lousy spies.

"Thank you for your many emails of concern. For the record, I'm absolutely fine, nothing has changed with this blog, no one is pressuring me to write or not write anything, and I spent part of the day yesterday with my husband soaking up the last moments of summer together."

[Jennifer C]

36. Oh good

I'm glad nothing is happening to Sullivan's blog.

[City Lights]

14. How come when liberals flood GE TV, or CNN, or abc, or you name it,

we don't get this result?

I'm sick of the corporate whores ignoring us! :mad: :grr:

[NYCGirl]

15. According to Marc Ambinder, he's just taking a few days off...

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/09/andrew_sullivan.php

Lots of e-mails asking about Andrew's whereabouts. I checked in with him; he's fine. He's taking a few days off. Worry not, fans.

[VolcanoJen]

16. Saw that. But when Sully is going to take some time off, he gives his readers a heads-up.

Then, other prominent bloggers like hilzoy step in to keep up the pace.

His recent silence is unprecedented in the history of his blog. And his last two posts were cryptic as hell, don't you think? :tinfoilhat:

[NYCGirl]

19. Usually, but Ambinder is a friend of Sully's, so for now, I'll have to trust him. NT

[LittleClarkie]

18. I love how everyone who isn't them is a "liberal"

Being to the left of these guys does not necessarily make you a liberal. My brother pulled that one on me last night. "The Republican running against Sensenbrenner is a liberal," he said. I had the same answer for him.

[riverdeep]

21. "trashy McCain/Palin smears"

Actually, what's happened is that a complete unknown was foisted to the second highest office in the land with almost nothing known about her. In an age of instant communication and no more gatekeepers, controversy swirls on it's own. This wouldn't have happened if he picked Romney, first cause no one would have cared, and second, because a whole lot more was already known about him. Keeping her in strict media control makes it much worse. I don't condone wild speculation, but this was inevitable.

Secondly, the blog is an indication of the real time reporting of the rumors, and as some proved to not be accurate, he reported it. Stuff about the baby and such were the smallest part of the coverage (focused on the time when no one was sure what was going on with the baby), one that he says should be noted but not really relevant, the reporting was overwhelmingly substantive. And there's this:

In thinking about this astonishing week, and what's to come, I want to go on record again as saying that the decision to bring up a child with Down Syndrome is one of the most noble, beautiful and admirable decisions any person can make.

In fact, it's one of the best testaments to someone committed to true journalism in this whole mess. And he posted many of the irate comments he got straight on his site and commented notably. The truth is, he was too close, too accurate, and too timely in exposing the Palin pick for what it was- a horrific reflection on McCain- and so, he had to be silenced. He was a conservative journalist not falling in line, and therefore was destroying the credibility of the lying shacks of shit. But as someone said, he will be picked up soon somewhere, barring contract shenanigans.

Read his fascinating blog here (before it's scrubbed!!), note that he is conservative of the old school:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/

[VolcanoJen]

22. Never mind. He's posted.

A Note To My Readers
09 Sep 2008 01:00 pm
Thank you for your many emails of concern. For the record, I'm absolutely fine, nothing has changed with this blog, no one is pressuring me to write or not write anything, and I spent part of the day yesterday with my husband soaking up the last moments of summer together.
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[riverdeep]

28. Doh!

Nevermind...

That's great news actually, looking forward to more truth telling. What with Keith Olbermann getting the boot, my :tinfoilhat: was working overtime. The other stuff still stands.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

23. Liberal blogger! Andrew Sullivan, although he can't vote is a traditional Conservative!!!

He is a gay Conservative with a brain in his head and has seen his beloved Conservative movement hijacked by the Neocons and is angry. He's also against the war and was from the beginning because once again, he is a very smart man and saw through the bullshit.

Andrew is also furious over the religious wrong's attitudes about gays and gay marriage. Andrew cannot become a US citizen because he's HIV Positive.

[LittleClarkie]

29. Anyone who disagrees with these guys is a liberal

Remember the judge in the Schiavo case who decided against the family. The guy was appointed by Bush the first and was a professed Christian and a Conservative, but when he didn't give the family the desired result, the freepers labeled him a liberal

[Jack Rabbit]

30. Andrew Sullivan is a liberal?

That's news to me.

I'll bet it is to Andrew Sullivan, too.

[riverdeep]

31. Does this Francesca guy not know that spreading rumors

will only drive more traffic to Sullivan's blog?

[mzmolly]

32. Liberal media? Olbermann and Matthews are removed from anchor positions, Sullivan

is fired and Fox News carries on. :eyes:

[Chimichurri]

37. He is no liberal. He's a republican who defended Bush til there

really was nothing else to defend.

He is no liberal.