The vicious attacks on columnist, and candidate for Governor of California, Arianna Huffington, have begun in earnest. First it was the Wall Street Journal opinion page belittling her by comparing her to Angelyne, the self-proclaimed LA star who is also running for Governor:
Like Angelyne, Arianna doesn’t act, doesn’t sing, doesn’t dance, doesn’t take her clothes off. She simply declared herself a political force: The announcement is the movement. Yet, unlike Angelyne, there she was all over the Sunday talk shows, sharing split-screens with Cruz Bustamante as if she too were a credible politician. Even more bizarre were those usually savvy observers who pondered whether the race would come down to Arnold vs. Arianna, as if the latter were a credible celebrity.
(If Im reading that correctly, theyre saying that Arnold is a more legitimate candidate because he is more of a celebrity.)
Then, other articles started coming out, articles stating that she was being a bad mother, that she was neglecting her daughters by running for Governor. Heres a quote from the Indianapolis Star:
Huffington has no chance of winning. Never did. The only reason to run was her ego, self-aggrandizement, attention — at the expense of her kids.
Its not much of a surprise that her former buddies on the right would lash out against her and say that she was a political opportunist who had jumped from the sinking Newt Gingrich boat to re-brand herself a compassionate populist, looking out for the little guys. What surprises me is the fact that her critics are focusing more on her being a non-entity and bad mother than anything else. It seems to me that this could backfire with the electorate. Do women like seeing other mothers demonized by wealthy, white men? My guess is that they dont.
And, say what you want about her being an opportunist, I still think that shes making more sense than her opponents in the race If you want to hear what she has to say, click here.
The bottom line is that she may very well be political opportunist, but I dont care. If she gets into office and does what she says she will, I could care less whether or not she really believes in it. All I care is whether or not she can make good on her campaign promises to hold corporations accountable to pay their tax liability and to weaken the grip of lobbyists on California politics.
