Steven Clemons

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Steven C. Clemons

Steven Craig Clemons (born 1962 in Salina, Kansas) is an American blogger. He is the publisher of the popular political blog, The Washington Note [1], and a former staff member of Senator Jeff Bingaman. Clemons is also Director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation, and the former director of the Japan Policy Research Institute [2]. He characterizes himself as a "progressive realist" ^[1].

1 Background
2 Blogging
3 External links
4 References

[edit] Background

Clemons is the former executive vice president of Economic Strategy Institute, former executive director of the Nixon Center for Peace and Freedom, and served as Senator Jeff Bingaman's Senior Policy Advisor on Economic and International Affairs [3]. He has also served on the advisory board to the Center for U.S.-Japan Relations at the RAND Corporation. Earlier in his career, Clemons was the executive director of the Japan America Society of Southern California from 1987 to 1994 [4].

In 1993, Clemons was the technical advisor for the film Rising Sun, which starred Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes. Clemons also had a role as a talk show host. [5]

Clemons also serves on the Board of Advisors of the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience [6] at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland and the Clarke Center [7] at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

[edit] Blogging

Clemons is perhaps best known for his blog The Washington Note [8], a left-leaning blog that focuses on foreign policy issues, as well as general US policy debates. His articles have appeared in popular liberal blogs such as The Huffington Post [9], and Daily Kos [10], as well as major publications around the country.

Clemons at one time called former senior fellow of the Cato Institute, Doug Bandow, a "friend". Bandow wrote a piece supporting the confirmation of current US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, who Clemons strongly opposes, for Clemons' blog. After it was revealed that Bandow had taken payments from former super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff in exchange for writing articles favorable to Abramoff's clients, Clemons wrote a piece on Bandow, and the corruption of think tanks in Washington [11]. (When evidence emerged that Bandow had a relationship with Abramoff, he was fired by Copley, his employer, and Cato and other think tanks severed their relations with him.)