Category Archives: Columns

Here you can find the archive of John Avlon’s columns.

Would Goldwater Leave? – The New York Sun

Washington – Would Barry Goldwater be a Republican today? It’s a question that might have been considered sacrilegious even a decade ago. But as the Republican Party searches for its soul, post-Tom DeLay and in advance of the 2006 and … Continue reading

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Kadima Shows the Strength of the Center – New York Sun

The centrist Kadima Party’s victory on Tuesday sent shock waves through Israeli politics by relegating the conservative Likud to fifth place in the Knesset, down from winning 38 seats in 2003 to just 11 this week. It was a dramatic … Continue reading

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Kadima Shows Strength Of the Center – The New York Sun

The centrist Kadima Party’s victory on Tuesday sent shock waves through Israeli politics by relegating the conservative Likud to fifth place in the Knesset, down from winning 38 seats in 2003 to just 11 this week. It was a dramatic … Continue reading

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The Fines – New York Sun

We swore that we would never forget. And for those still counting, today marks four and a half years and three days since the attacks of September 11, 2001. Yesterday will be remembered as a minor milestone in our city’s … Continue reading

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The Fight for Redistricting Reform – New York Sun

Redistricting reform: the wonkishness of the term alone causes some folks to fall asleep – as it apparently did to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who reportedly face-planted on her desk for 15 minutes during a Supreme Court hearing last week … Continue reading

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The Fight for Redistricting Reform – The New York Sun

Redistricting reform: the wonkishness of the term alone causes some folks to fall asleep – as it apparently did to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who reportedly face-planted on her desk for 15 minutes during a Supreme Court hearing last week … Continue reading

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Post-Katrina Mardi Gras – The New York Sun

When the guy rolling the giant wooden cross down Bourbon Street passed the “Pimps and Ho’s” party on the balcony of the Hustler Club, you knew that juxtaposition-rich New Orleans was getting back to business. In this first post-Hurricane Katrina … Continue reading

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Ideological Intoxication is Ending – New York Sun

“Great ideology creates great times,” promised at least one great leader. And enthusiasm for this concept among domestic ideologues shouldn’t be dampened just because the statement happened to spring from the mouth of the North Korean dictator, Kim Jung Il. … Continue reading

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Buy Danish – New York Sun

As Danish embassies come under attack around the world in misplaced retaliation for the four-month old decision by a Danish newspaper to publish satirical cartoons of Islam’s prophet, Mohammed, it is a time for choosing. It is a choice between … Continue reading

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Buy Danish – The New York Sun

As Danish embassies come under attack around the world in misplaced retaliation for the four-month old decision by a Danish newspaper to publish satirical cartoons of Islam’s prophet, Mohammed, it is a time for choosing.

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Morality And the Deficit – The New York Sun

Budgets are ultimately moral documents. They establish our priorities and reveal our values. Despite a brief flirtation with fiscal responsibility in the 1990s, for most of the past several decades our government’s economic actions have been marked by pious words … Continue reading

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Where Is King of the Middle East? – The New York Sun

Where are the Martin Luther Kings of the Middle East? In a land where millennia-old resentments routinely erupt into violence, the selective amnesia about the more recent example of Martin Luther King is striking – it is a part of … Continue reading

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Signs of De-Alignment – New York Sun

As Washington awaits the full impact of the Abramoff scandals, public approval of Congress stands at 27% – the lowest number since the Republican Revolution of 1994, according to the Gallup Poll. We’ve got an angry electorate on our hands, … Continue reading

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Straight Talk – New York Sun

It’s ideological Armageddon time on Capital Hill, as anti-abortion and pro-choice activists fall into formation for their fight over life. Everyone’s so tangled up in their talking points trying to claim “mainstream” status for their side in the Judge Alito … Continue reading

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Persistence of Permanent Government – New York Sun

The permanent government in New York is unelected. Deals are made and votes are traded, not on the floor of the City Council but far away in the club houses of Brooklyn and Queens. This week, one of New York … Continue reading

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Bush, TR, and the Road to 2008 – The New York Sun

Sometimes you need to look back to get a sense of where you’re going. With his administration settling into late middle age and the Republican Party staring nervously at mid-term elections, President Bush occupied himself during his Christmas holiday in … Continue reading

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Remembering the Good Occupation – New York Sun

It is remembered as the Good Occupation after the Good War. Even among the crowd that can’t find anything right in Iraq, the American military occupation of Germany and Japan is mistily regarded as an unqualified success. With good reason: … Continue reading

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Unacceptable Lack of Urgency – New York Sun

‘Unacceptable.” That’s what the Captain of Rescue 1, Terry Hatton, would say when the New York City firefighters he was training would drop the ball in potentially life-threatening situations. And that’s what deserves to be said about U.S. government’s failure … Continue reading

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Where Have You Gone, Ed Murrow? – The New York Sun

The news industry is in chaos. Newspaper circulation is nose-diving. The reign of the iconic network anchors ended over the last 12 months. “Nightline” as we know it will end its 25-year run tonight. The expansion of the Internet has … Continue reading

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From Katrina To Sept.11 – The New York Sun

The devastation of the city of New Orleans hangs inescapably over the fourth anniversary of September 11. The suddenness of the destruction, the shattering of old assumptions, the assimilation of previously unimaginable loss, all evoke unwelcome old emotions at a … Continue reading

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