What is the deal with Arianna Huffington?

[Deep N RedLand]

I have noticed several of her books at the library that seem critical of conservatism and corporate interests in general and the Bushites in particular, as well as her being a guest speaker on a cruise for The Nation magazine.

So the question is: am I mistaken or isn't she (or was) on the Right?

I obviously don't know much of her background and have only saw her name mentioned recently a lot, but I do seem to recall in David Brock's "Blinded by the Right", that he mentions she was part of the Reagan/Gingrich NeoCon supporters as well as part of one of the propaganda think tanks like Heritage.

So was she a liberal all along or did she have a "Brockesque" awakening?

[Eric J in MN]

1. Her rightwing husband left her for another man and

she became a liberal.

[Warpy]

11. When asked why she turned away from the right, she said,

"I met Newt Gingrich."

She doesn't mention her husband as having much of an effect, at all.

[Eric J in MN]

15. OK, I really don't know much about it nt)

nt

[Orangepeel]

28. then the timing was awfully coincidental

not that it really matters what drove her to the light -- dealing with the right wing during his campaign, his coming out, whatever. She's welcome.

[Book Lover]

2. Her politics are complicated and

because her politics have changed so publicly, I think people take more notice of her because we are used to seeing politicos toeing the line instead of thinking independently. I think she has some very valuable things to say, but I don't think she is helpful to the Democratic Party per se. Not that she is that helpful to the Republicans either.

[BornaDem]

3. She was always a flake and a hypocrite and nobody...

should ever believe anything she says. If she feels mistreated by the left, she may decide she is conservative again. I have never thought that she believed in anything except self promotion.

[Snap]

4. Well Put

[WillowTree]

21. Amen!

When it comes to politics, Ariana is so confused that she doesn't know whether to scratch her watch or wind her butt. Her views tend to be as changeable as the wind, into which I often wish she'd vanish.

[donheld]

24. I do believe what she says without appology

I'vd had my ignorant past too. Arianna has written some wonderful thing's the last 5+ years. We need all the help we can get.

[Canuckistanian]

5. I used to see her bashing Clinton during the Monica "scandal"

And she was definitely introduced as a conservative.

[SoCalDem]

6. She's an articulate, "pretty face"....a candle in the wind

Her husband was a closeted gay man, who came out and then left her after he lost an election out here.

She is doing what she feels "passionately about"..at any given time..

She is more green/independent than liberal, but in these days of little support, I guess we have to take it where we can get it :)

[JDPriestly]

25. She "entertained" very well at the recent

California state convention. She has to be 50 and looks 18. I wonder who her plastic surgeon is and how many hours a day she works out? She puts on a good show, but, in the end, it is all about Arianna.

[SoCalDem]

26. It's those good mediterranean genes

and greek food :)

[JDPriestly]

27. Yeah!

The Mediterranean diet is great for the skin, but it does not usually result in a body as slim as Ms. Huffington's.

[aeolian]

7. She thinks for herself and doesn't really fit into any neat little

category. I respect her for that, even if I don't always agree with her.

She was originally part of the right, but I think she had a genuine epiphony in the early 90's. She's not a leftie, but she's not a rightie either. I suppose that opens her to attacks that she's a chamelion or just going with the flow or whatever. I think she's just got her own opinions.

[kenny blankenship]

8. When Arianna argues a Liberal side

SHe argues it effectively, thoroughly and from more-or-less openly stated principles. As much as she may make you scratch your head and try to figure out where she really is heading, you can take arguments she makes as a useful template to holding up the liberal side of an argument in debate against a conservative. In other words, you don't have to trust her to use her arguments effectively as a Liberal. (Not that conservatives care about who wins or won a reasoned argument, they always plan to prevail through other means than electoral politics or public discourse.)

She must have had a Brock-like wake up call, but she's never gone into when or why exactly that happened. Presumably she's left that question open because an answer would involve discussion of her fake marriage to Michael Huffington.

[Syncronaut Seven]

9. I have no beef with Arianna

She's written some good columns, it's been fun to watch her grow.

I don't actually know anyone who has crossed back once they experience a genuine "awakening". She's always seemed sincere to me. What do I know.

[Jack Rabbit]

10. She was on the right, as Brock says

I still like to think of her as a maverick conservative rather than as a progressive, although she continues to move leftward.

There is a lot of convergence between Arianna's agenda and ours. She's basically a populist and a libertarian. For the time being, we're on the same side of the barricades, and that's fine with me.

[Trajan]

12. Arianna has saw the light ...

and it was good ....

Arianna has had her 'issues', and some embarassing moments ... but she has come to see how the GOP represents NOTHING but their own greedy selves, and how they are not good citizens ...

I saw Arianna speak in a West Hollywood church, along with Mike Farrell, Scott Ritter, and the younger Galbraith ... She was a wonderful speaker and a firebrand for OUR cause ....

She has not been a 'rightist' for quite a few years now .... let's give her some respect for speaking OUR minds, in our words, when she had the opportunity to do so .... Im glad she did ....

[BrklynLiberal]

13. She is not a total dummy. She has an MA in Economics from

Girton College, Cambridge University (1972)

[DARE to HOPE]

14. John Dean told this story in answer to a question last night on C-Span2...

The question was, "What changed you?" from working for the Nixon White House to now being a hero of the left.

So he told a story about George Bush walking down the street in Crawford. Bush ran into a young boy sitting on his front stoop with a box next to him. "Want to see my puppies?" said the boy to Bush. "Sure," said George, "by the way, what kind of puppies are they?" "These are Republican puppies!" said the kid. "Cool," said Bush.

A few days later, he and Laura were driving down the lane, and they came near to the house where George had stopped before. "Laura, you have got to see these, these Republican puppies!" said George, and he pulled over to the curb, where he saw the boy sitting with his box. "Here, Laura, here are the Republican puppies I told you about!" said Bush.

But the boy interrupted him, and said, "No, these are Democratic puppies!" "But you said the other day they were Republican puppies," said Bush, exasperated.

"Well, they were then. But now, their eyes have opened!"

:-)

I think the same thing happened to Arianna, and is happening to many honest moderate Republicans. After all, this group is so radical-- they are NOT conservative, but really iconoclastic.

[Mairead]

16. She's written several times about her epiphany and conversion

It's probably still at her website somewhere.

She's an immigrant Greek, and observantly Orthodox. So her conservatism was religiously based. She got lured into politics by Gingrich, who basically hustled her with flattery and assurances that she would be welcome in the GOP. Her attitudes are personal and real and she comes across that way, and the GOP needed people like her precisely because they have so many Gingrichs, Frists, DeLays, etc.

But she found that she couldn't get untra-wealthy GOP insiders, people who willingly invest the big bucks in the Gingriches and Frists, to give money to plain, no-strings charity. Wealthy Dems would give, and poor people, but she couldn't pry money out of the GOP donors. That happened so consistently that the penny finally dropped for her: those people are in the GOP because they're greedy and selfish and that's what the GOP is all about at that level.

Once it became clear to her that those people live by what Adam Smith denounced as 'the vile maxim of the masters of mankind', she turned her coat. She's still religiously conservative, but that's her religion; her politics are (what passes these days for) liberal, occasionally even leftist.

[immoderate]

17. I think the environment is the issue she pivoted on.

She understands the science and the numbers. Republicans tend to cover them up. It's hard for real intellectuals to do denials on ecology.

--IMM

[DemonFighterLives]

19. I was about to post the same stuff

It seems like a few years ago I was reading on her site to find out what happened. I forgot all the reasons already, but she is bright and got tired of the BS.

[glaucon]

18. It's all Al Franken's fault

Ever since Ariana spent an election night in the sack on MTV with Al, she never looked back.

I'd suggest Al screw Coulter, too, but I don't dislike him that much...

:)

[applegrove]

20. Not surprising that some intelligent person would take a good look

inside the neocons and jump ship.

[Tactical Progressive]

22. Arianna turned relatively early

That is, late in the Clinton Administration, I'm guessing probably during the sleazy Republican impeachment. Many Dems distanced themselves from Clinton during that time and to some extent from Democrats. That's part of how Bush got selected. She came towards the left then, and I credit that as a valid early turner. She didn't have to wait to see the destruction and damage of Bush to see straight.

And she's been outspoken and effective. I have welcomed her.

Most of the rest of the pundit slime have a long way to go in my eyes. I doubt I'll ever trust them again. Turning now towards the light is no great feat, and most of them can't even do that. Maureen Dowd was way too late, but she's trying. Another five years for her and maybe she'll have made up for some of her glib assaults on the Clintons and Gore that helped swing the media so far right. She has a much longer way back, and started much later, than Arianna did. JMO.

[lala_rawraw]

23. Well she is confusing, because she hired one

Of the "blue dresser" bloggers to work for her. She is fond of men in blue, I think.

[sendero]

29. I'm not sure...

... why so many here are so quick to condemn Ms. Huffington.

First off, who cares why she abandoned the right. It is really not particularly relevant.

Some of you ought to read what she writes. She is an articulate spokesperson for the progressive point of view. Just how many of those are out there? Not very damn many, I'll tell you that much.

I don't agree with her every time but at least she's 1) got a head on her shoulders and can think originally 2) is not afraid to call it like she sees it and 3) comes up with novel viewpoints, something the left is not that good at IMHO.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

30. Of course here's her donations from Newsmeat.

http://www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/Arianna_Huffington.php

So far it's 100% Repub. However, she speaks out a lot for librul causes.


On Edit:

She gave some dough to Tom Campbell. There's worse out there than he is.

http://www.issues2002.org/CA/Tom_Campbell.htm

[atre]

31. That's interesting

She's been far less giving since her conversion.

I guess that may be to enhance her image as an "independent."

[DemonFighterLives]

32. That donation was in 93

Unless I'm missing something.