John Avlon

John Phillips Avlon (born January 19, 1973) is an American journalist and political commentator. He is a Senior Political Analyst and fill-anchor at CNN and former editor-in-chief and managing director of The Daily Beast from 2013 to 2018. Avlon has also been a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun and chief speechwriter for former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.

John Avlon in 2012

Quotes

• Politics is history in the present tense.
  • Avlon, John (June 6, 2008). Obama's Bridge Between MLK and RFK. Real Clear Politics.

• The far-right and far-left can be equally insane.
  • Retting, Jessica (April 8, 2010). The Rise of Political Extremism and the Decline of Decency. US News.

• Politics follows the lines of physics: every action creates an equal and opposite reaction.
  • Retting, Jessica (April 8, 2010). The Rise of Political Extremism and the Decline of Decency. US News.

• Extremes are ultimately their own side's worst enemy.
  • Avlon, John (May 19, 2011). Republican Governor Popularity Plummets, From Ohio's Kasich to Florida's Scott to Wisconsin's Walker. The Daily Beast.

• Terrorism is always one bad day away from being issue No. 1.
  • Avlon, John (May 2, 2011). Savor this moment, in the name of the 3,000. CNN.

• Demagogues always do well in economic downturns.
  • Avlon, John (September 2, 2010). Glenn Beck and the History of America’s Worst Demagogues. The Daily Beast.

• Professional partisans are still playing politics by industrial-age rules. They haven’t woken up to the information-age reality. Younger generations have grown up with a multiplicity of choice on every front, which can be tailored to suit their individual beliefs. Politics is the last place where we are supposed to be satisfied with a choice between Brand A and Brand B.
  • M., R. (May 16, 2010). Six questions for John Avlon. The Economist.

• If you only take offense when the president of your party is compared to Hitler, then you're part of the problem.
  • Gerson, Michael (June 30, 2010). The Ugly Party vs. the Grown-Up Party. The Washington Post.

• Us and against them is the opposite of our national motto, e pluribus unum: Out of many, one.
  • Avlon, John (August 28, 2018). John McCain's goodbye is in classic tradition of Washington's Farewell. CNN.

• The independence of our nation is inseparable from our interdependence as a people.
  • Avlon, John (January 2017) (in English). Washington's Farewell (Hardcover ed.). New York: Simon and Schuster. pp. 284. ISBN 978-1-4767-4646-3. 

• Semi-obvious but bears repeating: Much of the evil in the world comes from seeing and judging people as members of groups rather than individuals.
  • Avlon, John (April 15, 2018). John Avlon Tweet. Twitter.

• America is both North and South, White and Black, Republican and Democrat. We are laughter and loss, Saturday night and Sunday morning, Old Testament and New. Liberty and equality are not opposites in inevitable conflict, but act in concert under the practical balance of the Union. In the end, even war and peace are intimately entwined.
  • Avlon, John (February 15, 2022). Lincoln and the Fight for Peace. Simon & Schuster. pp. 368 pages. ISBN 1982108126. 

External links

• John Avlon's Website
• John Avlon at CNN
• Best of John Avlon on CNN
• John Avlon at The Daily Beast
• John Avlon on C-SPAN