She is one of the reasons that we are stuck with both Smirk and Aaaanold. Why should we repay what was a best a total lack of political foresight (and at worst an intentional plan to support the far right in order to further her own career) by supporting her for Governor.
Here's some of the things she was saying back in 2000 (and this is just the tip of the iceberg - - I could post hundreds of articles going back through decades of her bashing Dems and supporting Republicans, as she did in 2000, as you will see below):
http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/column.php?id=288The Unbearable Lightness Of George And Al
October 04, 2000 < Printer-friendly version >
Well, the first debate is over, and the official results are in: It was a great night for John McCain. By the end of that 90-minute joint press conference George W. Bush and Al Gore staged in Boston, my overwhelming feeling was: This is not a choice, it's a farce. Can we go back and replay Super Tuesday? If Bush's goal was to look presidential, he needs a big-time make-over. In fact, it was painful to watch what the tension did to him -- you could all but smell the fear through the TV screen. But then maybe this was just the first step in that interactive television we've been hearing so much about. (He also needs to stop losing weight, or get some shirts with a smaller collar.)
On the other hand, it was hard to watch Gore drone on and on without your mind wandering. Mine drifted to the refrigerator. Hmm, have those eggs passed the sell-by date? Of course, Gore would probably pick up on what you were thinking and launch into his five-part plan for ensuring food freshness: "I hear what you're asking, and if you'll entrust me with the presidency, here's what we'll do with your eggs ...." And was he aware of the disconcerting effect his constant sighing and groaning at his opponent's answers was having? (Also, despite the fact that he's his "own man," I suggest he take a fashion tip from the president and start wearing those jowl-concealing higher collars).
(more... )
http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/column.php?id=237John McCain's Dilemma: Loyalty To What?
March 09, 2000 < Printer-friendly version >
John McCain's campaign to get 1,034 delegates crashed and burned on Super Tuesday - but his campaign to shift the ethos of American politics is still very much alive. "I am no longer an active candidate for my party's nomination," he said in a short speech Thursday morning. But he is actively in charge of Campaign 2000's most coveted wild card, the McCain Voter. In fact, his speech suspending his campaign seemed directed to the "millions of Americans" who "have rallied to our banner" and "ignited the cause of reform, a cause far greater and more important than the ambitions of a single candidate. "He implored them: "Promise me that you'll never give up."
Al Gore and George W. Bush are now going out of their way to capture that reform constituency. While Bush pleaded, "John, let's team up and win," Gore was shameless: "To those Republicans and Independents out there, whose heroes are Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, to all of you I say as well, join with us. Our campaign is now your cause."
Meanwhile good (a.k.a. blindly loyal) Republicans everywhere were urging McCain to endorse Bush without delay. As Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), one of the few senators behind McCain, put it: "John understands the consequences and the big stakes. The big stakes are defeating Al Gore." Clearly McCain has decided there are bigger things. He offered his "best wishes" to Bush but did not endorse him, nor did he hand over his supporters to the GOP as if they were a gift he could deliver.
The reason, in fact, they are not "deliverable" is the reason they are McCain supporters in the first place. They flocked to him precisely because he embodied a change from the kind of politics-as-usual attitude such an endorsement would represent. If, after spending his entire campaign defining Bush as emblematic of everything that is wrong with modern politics, McCain had turned around and backed him, that giant stomping sound would not be applause but rather a stampede in the other direction.
(more... )
http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/printer_friendly.php?id=244Al Gore: A Profile In Pandering
By Arianna Huffington
April 03, 2000
When the people who like Al Gore try to explain why, they typically wax lyrical about his competence. But it's this very competence, combined with an utter lack of core principles he'd be unwilling to jettison in his pursuit of the presidency, that makes the vice president such a frightening specimen of the modern politician Candidatus No-Shameus . Over the course of Campaign 2000 alone, Gore has shown himself to be a political shape-shifter of unsurpassed skill -- a sure-fire first-ballot inductee into the Panderers' Hall of Fame.
(snip)
Like a rock-'n'-roll drummer with no sense of rhythm, Gore just can't find the beat. The week that ended with Gore pandering to the Cuban-American voting bloc began with him trying to turn his "no controlling legal authority" vulnerability on the issue of campaign finance reform into the centerpiece of his general election run.
(more... )
http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/column.php?id=276Corporate America 2000: A Convention Preview
August 10, 2000
(snip)
"The Republican convention in Philadelphia was the most open and shameless buying and selling of public officials in history," Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura told me this week. "And it will be exactly the same outrage with the Democrats in Los Angeles." Similar productions, slightly different demographics. At least George W. Bush had the good sense to remain silent about the enormous amounts of corporate money pouring into his party's coffers. But Gore has apparently decided to rail against special interests, even as he's nuzzling up to their back pockets. No wonder he's known in the business as "a natural."
(more... )
http://www.dailyhowler.com/h061200_1.shtmlPostscript—The next level: Someone always seems to take the Official Spin up to the next level. Last fall, pundits spent a month embarrassing themselves about the number of buttons on Gore's suits (three). Three-button suits had been in fashion for years; Brooks Brothers (!), in the Wall Street Journal (!), was running ads for such suits at the time. Brooks Brothers!! But the Official Spin was hard and unyielding: Gore had taken some weird advice on clothes from an overpaid "guru." The pundits took turns embarrassing themselves with their inane and vacuous comments. Finally, Arianna Huffington improved the news on Rivera Live one night:
HUFFINGTON: Frankly, what is fascinating is the way he's now dressing makes a lot of people feel disconnected from him. And there was this marvelous story in one of the New Hampshire papers saying, "Nobody here in Hanover wears tan suits with blue shirts and buttons all four buttons." It's just not the way Americans dress.In a year of embarrassing and inane pundit commentary, we think this one may have taken the cake. After weeks of complaining about three-button suits, Huffington found a way to top other scribes. We have pointed this out again and again: When the pundits agree to say the same thing, the only way to stand out is by saying it larger. This leads to spinning the message up—to saying that Gore is wearing four-button suits, or to saying that he reinvented himself two times. We pray that history will look back with jaws agape at our press corps' utter inanity. But understand this: If this hopeless crew had to earn its keep, they'd all have been fired long ago.
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