In 1995, Andrew Sullivan appeared on C-SPAN to discuss his book Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality. In the comparatively low-wattage world of Washington, his conversation with Brian Lamb proved a star turn. Over three hours, he was droll, frank, and winning—everything one would expect of a former Oxford Union president blessed with a telegenic presence. He was then, at only 31, already late in his long editorial tenure at The New Republic. This was in the before times, when a center-right public intellectual could run a center-left political magazine.
