The Dishcast · Andrew Sullivan

Jonah Goldberg On Conservatism, Blogging, Dogs

March 27, 2026·39 min·3 clips

Andrew Sullivan reveals his norovirus recovery and chaotic past of blogging fueled by coffee and ginger snaps.

The body gets a vote first. The host opens with apparent illness, ginger snaps, tea, and the suspicion that Chipotle may have done him wrong. The awkwardness works because it pulls him back to the Daily Dish years, when breakfast meant coffee, sugar, a laptop, and a robe collecting crumbs. The subscription bit lands in the same mode: practical, sheepish, and a little funny about where the conversation gets cut. Then the center moves. The guest remembers choosing not to write a book about that period because the exposure was already too much and he did not want it following him forever. Drudge is the turn. The scandal is treated as gossip, yes, but also as proof that online publishing could outrun the old gatekeepers. Newsweek held back. Drudge ran what a major outlet had spiked, and speed became part of the story. The host remembers print from inside its last strong magazine era, while already watching the web loosen its grip. Downloading the Star Report over dial-up is both ridiculous and telling: information creeping in while the world changes around it. The closing pitch brings the listener back to the DishCast world of columns, comments, dissents, debate, and being called to account.

As heard by us

Goldberg and the host trace how Drudge-era scandal culture taught online political media its speed, tone, and appetite for conflict.

The Dishcast catches Jonah Goldberg in a reflective mood about conservatism and the early web, with the strongest passage turning on Drudge, Newsweek's spiked story, and the Starr Report as a dial-up-era political event.

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Why you'd press play

You want an early Internet-media shock story, with Drudge, dial-up, and print culture cracking under pressure.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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