Good Question!

Is Andrew Sullivan's Award Outdated?

Benjamin F. Carlson 174 Views Dec 24, 2009

The Atlantic's own superblogger Andrew Sullivan crowns fellow pundits with an array of awards--some complimentary, some critical. Each one is cleverly named after some figure who exemplifies the award, such as the Yglesias Award, named for the intellectually self-critical Matt Yglesias. But blogger Matt Zeitlin wonders if one prize, the Von Hoffman award, handed out for egregiously wrong predictions (and given as recently as Dec. 17), hasn't gone out of date:

How can Andrew Sullivan still have the Von Hoffman award when Von Hoffman has been proven basically right?

New York Observer columnist Nicholas von Hoffman notoriously predicted American failure in Afghanistan in 2001, just as troops were marching into Kabul. Has the swing in fortunes in Afghanistan proven Nicholas von Hoffman right, warping the award's original meaning?

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at bcarlson at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

Presented By

Topics: Afghanistan

Related Articles				More by Benjamin F. Carlson
Jihad Just Got Jurassic	Military Destroys a Village to Maintain 'Momentum' in Afghanistan	Happy Hour Vid: Primary Challenge to Obama over Afghanistan?		Didn't We Get This Out of Our System?	Bush: Kanye Comment a 'Disgusting' Moment as President

Elsewhere on the Web

User Comments

Please type your comment and click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be prompted to log in or register

Departments

All Departments

Have a story we missed? A link we have to click? A sharp opinion about the news? Instead of waiting for us to post it, tell us on the Open Wire.

Submit your news and ideas | See all reader posts

Most Clicked

About the Wire

The Atlantic Wire is your authoritative guide to the news and ideas that matter most right now. Our team tracks newsmakers and opinions across the entire media spectrum: newspapers, web sites, television, radio and magazines.

But we do more than just collect information. By synthesizing, analyzing and summarizing what’s out there, and adding new information when we can, we are a news engine that gives you a quick and valuable account of the issues of the day.

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Get Five Best Columns in your inbox each morning (preview)