"There is too little morality in public life...The conservative task is theremoralizing of society," he said. Sullivan responded by denying the charge thathe entirely discounted the place of morality inthe political discourse. "Of course I'm not saying morality shouldn'thave any place in the public realm," Sullivansaid. "What I'm talking about is moral argument froma very sectarian, narrow position, and theextremity of the methods used to advance it," headded. Students said they were impressed by thevigorous debate, which brought out tensions withinthe conservative movement. "They did a good job in exploring the tensionswithin modern conservatism," said Jeffrey A.Letalien '01. "We have strong poles to liberty and virtue,and [Sullivan and Kristol] brought those tensionsout," Letalien added. Justin A. Barkley '02 said he thought thedebate was more interesting than at many similarevents, although he felt Kristol did not presenthis case as well as he could have. After the event, Mansfield said conservativedebate is rare at Harvard because the"left-liberalism" that he believes prevails oncampus means that relatively few conservatives areinvited to speak. "Here are two conservatives who provoke eachother--and the rest of the audience," he said
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