Has her brain been sucked by aliens? Has she had a genuine change of heart? Or is she a political opportunist who saw a better chance for herself if she moved to the left?

And what do you think about her running for governor of California?

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

Answers

I actually feel guilty about not trusting Ariana Huffington. Yes -- I find myself agreeing with things she says in Salon columns, nodding to myself with some vestigial joy that a onetime right-wing bully can suddenly find themselves appalled -- morally -- at the social damage that can be caused by fiscal and moral conservatism.

But then I stop. Didn't her husband -- who always seemed like a confused, unhappy man -- come out of the closet after he lost his (apparently madly expensive) run at office? I can only imagine what kind of trauma that might have engendered.

I remember seeing her on "Win Ben Stein's Money" on a celebrity guest episode, and that Stein was transparently enamoured of that former Reagan speechwriter -- whatsername? -- the one who wrote the book about her years with Reagan, and how she once had an overwhelming urge to hug the President's feet one late night in the White House when she spied him napping with his stocking feet up on desk. Molly something? Never mind. I just remember that Stein was actually quite rude to her, probably because she'd broke ranks from the political fold, or maybe just because he didn't think she was as cute as Little-Ms.-Looking-for-a-father-figure.

As for Ariana Huffington's run for governor of CA -- well, aren't the gov. races out there usually peppered with interesting characters. I can't see that she'd win, but it might be amusing.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

I don't want to make fun of people with accents, but I'd like her and Arnold Schwartzenegger to run for governor against each other---it would be amusing to see her Greek accent competing against his Austrian one. (Of course, they wouldn't be governor of MY state, so I can assume a blase attitude towards this.)--Al of NOVA NOTES.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

Al stole my thunder. That's exactly what I was thinking. It would be hilarious. The cigar puffing terminator against the new age ex- Republican windbag. Will Arnold force her into shape using his iron pumping will or will she use her high pitched sqealing nagometer to bring out the closet homosexual in him...

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

As for Ariana Huffington's run for governor of CA -- well, aren't the gov. races out there usually peppered with interesting characters.

Not really. At least, nobody memorable enough to erase the memory of George Deukmejian, Pete Wilson, and Gray Davis -- surely the three most boring men in politics. Hell, maybe we DO need Ariana.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

More boring than Al Gore?

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

Well, as a political pollster, you could say I'm predjudiced, but IMHO Huffington is a power-hungry, maniupulative, opportunistic twit.

Trust her? She lives in California, after all, a state where we have only a handful of republican lawmakers, a state in which conservative politics are not in style and people consider themselves moderate. The rabid rightwingery she's been spouting the last few years didn't make her the darling of the Bush right, so what is she doing? Turning left, to inhabit "moderate" space.

She ran that ex-husband of hers for office, by the way. The gossip is that he was relieved by his political loss, and the coming-out was part of his move to take back control of his own life.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

A little off topic, but god that was a great story: a weak man pushed by his wife and daddy (who made instruments of torture for the third world) to run for political office. He hates it so much that he spends as much money as possible and represents himself as badly as possible (so as to lose spectacularly) so that he never has to do it again. And then he gets a little close to winning. Losing takes care of his dad, but damn, his wife is still there, pushing and harping. What to do now? Come out! I remember when this all leaked out, and my exboyfriend and I thought back over his political career, wondering which parts of it were attempts to sound bad on purpose. Masterful.

And I don't care if any of the above isn't technically true; it's like a fairy tale for me now. I hope someone is writing a book.

As for the missus, she could be an opportunistic harpy, but as long as she's getting some attention for reasonable and seldom discussed ideas (regardless of who is feeding them to her), she can go on yapping.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

I seem to recall that she's a big ol' plagarist. She wrote a book about Picasso and there was quite a furor over the fact that large chunks were lifted directly from someone else's work. I'll see if I can dig up something concrete to validate (or maybe someone else remembers this).

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

I saw her site a few weeks ago when Jessamyn linked to it, and I had the same skepticism. I remember her being this right wing ideologue talking about "compassion fatigue" and how welfare ruined America.

I haven't read enough of her stuff to see where she's really coming from, if she's got a truly populist critique or just repackaging the old Ayn Randist crap under the guise of radicalism.

However, given her past I don't think I'll trust her "praise of people who protested the WTO" until she's actually locked down next to me.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

Time for that creepy agreeing-with-Arianna-Huffington feeling again. Good morning, Colombia
Turning loose a force of heavily armed mercenaries in the middle of a bloody civil war in the name of America's war on drugs is more than a misguided policy -- it's utter insanity.

-- Anonymous, July 16, 2001

I guess I look at it this way: she's managed to thoroughly infuriate her old right-wing friends, who seem to view her as a betrayer and apostate, so if she's not become some sort of populist, she's paying an awfully heavy price to stand out there and lie. (And for the most part, I tend to agree with her recent positions, so I really hope this is the way she feels about things.)

As far as her husband goes, the coming-out did come after the divorce, so whatever issues were flying about should have been purely his own.

In any event, I have a soft spot in my heart (or head) for anyone who would allow Al Franken to make a cunnilingus joke at her expense on national television, in front of Jerry Falwell, of all people.

-- Anonymous, July 16, 2001