[pf] "Swinging left fast, Arianna the conscience-stricken chameleon"; no

· I thought you'd be interested an article which says: “When the name
Arianna crops up around political dinner tables, nobody asks, "Who?" ... a
member of an affluent American elite.”.  D.

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Delivered-To: infoshop-news@flag.blackened.net
Date: Mon, 07 Aug 2000 14:27:29 -0700
From: "Sam H. Clauder II" <.-.-.@att.net>
Subject: London Times: Swinging left fast, Arianna the conscience-stricken
chameleon

NOTE:  What is especially noteworthy about this report is that Huffington
reveals, to a FOREIGN reporter (she has been careful not to do so to an
American reporter), her Republican bias in favor of oil-rich George W. Bush
over environmentalist Al Gore.

Para. 1-2:  But a look of mild annoyance ruffles Arianna Stassinopoulos
Huffington's immaculate countenance when asked if she knows George W Bush:
"Of course I do."  He is, she says, a "charming man" - but not one with the
imagination to do anything to help the poor, her new passion.

Para. 23:  Gore, Huffington says with a wave of a jewel-encrusted hand,
"would adopt any cause if he thought it would help get him elected". 

Arianna Huffington has always been, is now, and will always be, a
Republican loyal to the political candidates and issues that support the
main source of her income -- big oil companies, high society, conservative
media, and white males.

==================================================
Pubdate: Sun, 6 August 2000
Source: The Sunday Times (U.K.)
Author: Matthew Campbell
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/08/06/stirevnws02002.html

Swinging left fast, Arianna the conscience-stricken chameleon 

Copyright 2000 Times Newspapers Ltd. 

At 50, her skin seems as smooth as porcelain. Not a hair of her reddish
mane is out of place. But a look of mild annoyance ruffles Arianna
Stassinopoulos Huffington's immaculate countenance when asked if she knows
George W Bush: "Of course I do." 

He is, she says, a "charming man" - but not one with the imagination to do
anything to help the poor, her new passion. 

Huffington has made a career out of knowing rich and powerful people in
various phases of an eye-catching life as author, socialite and political
commentator.  When the name Arianna crops up around political dinner
tables, nobody asks, "Who?" 

She is famous for her chameleon-like ability to blend in. These days,
however, there is slack-jawed amazement at her shedding of yet another
political skin. This former queen of conservative policy seminars has
re-emerged as a champion of radical, left-wing causes - a revolutionary in
designer clothes. 

[clip]

The doom-laden statistics tripped off her tongue as easily as the
instructions to the many minions fussing about her, one of them fielding
mobile telephone calls through a headset. 

At home in Los Angeles are still more helpers, including a nanny, a
housekeeper and a "house manager" who doubles as a driver. Huffington sees
no contradiction between her newfound activism and well-established
credentials as a member of an affluent American elite. 

"Look at the civil rights movement," she said. "It didn't just consist of
blacks, right? It consisted of a lot of whites who had nothing to gain from
blacks getting the vote except their recognition that they would be living
in a country where all men were truly equal." 

[clip]

When she moved in 1980 to America, it seemed like a spiritual homeland. 

"So many people have accents here," she enthused.  "I love living here. The
United States is a country built by immigrants." By contrast, "you [in
Britain] could never have a foreign secretary with an accent like Henry
Kissinger". 

She first stepped onto the American political stage as a Washington wife
after marrying Michael Huffington, the son of an oil millionaire. When he
ran for the Senate in 1994, there were few doubts that his wife was
orchestrating the campaign. It cost $30m, a record for a Senate race. That
role ended when her husband lost. He also announced that he was gay. 

She moved on, befriending Newt Gingrich, the Speaker of the house, in his
campaign for the conservative Contract with America. She started her own
think tank, the Centre for Effective Compassion, emphasising the need for
private charity rather than government aid for the poor - a message touted
last week by Bush. 

When that fizzled, she moved on again, settling in Los Angeles, where her
home became as much of a celebrity salon as it had been in the capital.
Surrounded by the more liberal denizens of Hollywood, Huffington's views
turned leftward. 

[clip]

Her ability to reinvent herself is as remarkable as her disdain for other
political figures who bend with the wind. 

Gore, Huffington says with a wave of a jewel-encrusted hand, "would adopt
any cause if he thought it would help get him elected". 

An unspoken question hangs in the air. "I would never run for office," she
says at last.


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sent to Positive Futures by David.
(David MacClement) davd@ihug.co.nz 
http://www.emucities.com.au/member/davd/index.html
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