Arianna Huffington: The Whore of Capital Hill
Source: 'Huff the Puff' won't criticize Obama. That might get her blocked from the presidential pad and alienate those generous investors whose interest in her money-losing, aesthetically disastrous, painstakingly trite Web site might lessen considerably.The new president's appointments resound like slaps in the faces of his liberal supporters:
Rahm Emanuel (a fierce opponent of the antiwar wing of the party), Hillary, Robert Gates (they're trying to persuade him to stay on), and now Gen. Jones.
It looks like antiwar voters voted for one thing, but are getting quite another – although it won't be the first time that's happened.
From "he kept us out of war" in Woodrow Wilson's day to George W. Bush's pledge of "a more humble foreign policy," presidents seem to have a penchant for inverting their campaign promises in the foreign policy realm, and Obama's appointments could presage a lot of surprises – and bitter disappointments – for his supporters.
Just how docile is the rank-and-file of the Obama "movement" – will they take this lying down? We're about to find out.
So far, the outrage of the "netroots" and the Rachel Maddow crowd seems limited to the triumph of Lieberman over the attempt to purge the evil spirit of Scoop Jackson from party precincts once and for all.
And even this has nothing to do with Lieberman's rabidly pro-war views, per se, only with the Connecticut senator's endorsement of McCain.
As it slowly dawns on the netroots that they've been had, however, don't expect "netroots" entrepreneur Arianna Huffington to start asking uncomfortable questions.
After all, she has a lot to lose. As the Times of London reports:
Arianna Huffington looks set to cement her position as the Queen of Capitol Hill in the next few days."The Queen of Capitol Hill?" More like the whore. 'Huff the Puff' is in thrall to the Boy Wonder.The Times has learnt that the Huffington Post, her influential political website, will confirm within the next week that it has completed a $15 million (£10 million) fundraising from investors.
The money will finance the expansion of HuffPo, as it is known, into the provision of local news across the United States and into more investigative journalism. And it will ensure that Ms Huffington's influence continues to spread across the US political scene.
She is a close friend of Barack Obama, the President-elect - who, with Hillary Clinton, has posted on her site - and, at a dinner in London on Wednesday night, joked: “I only text three people - my two teenage children and Barack Obama.”
Ms Huffington launched HuffPo, which has about 2.5 million bloggers contributing to it regularly, in May 2005 with $2 million of seed capital.
She then raised $5 million in August 2006 from venture capital firms including SoftBank Capital and Greycroft Partners, as well as individuals such as Bob Pittman, the former AOL executive.
In a second round of fundraising in September 2007, HuffPo raised a further $5 million.
Ms Huffington, 58, the daughter of a Greek newspaperman, has been turning heads ever since she arrived at Cambridge University in the late 1960s.
Then called Arianna Stassinopoulos, she became the first foreigner - and only the third woman - to be president of the Cambridge Union debating society.
A lengthy affair with the journalist Bernard Levin raised her profile farther. During their eight years together she wrote three bestselling biographies, including works on Pablo Picasso and Maria Callas, before moving to the US in 1980.
There, she met and married Michael Huffington, the oil billionaire, becoming one of Manhattan's leading socialites and a champion of the Republican revolution led by Newt Gingrich, the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Her marriage ended in 1994.
The launch of HuffPo came after Ms Huffington made a remarkable political journey from right to left.
Is she likely criticize the Dear Leader's appointments? That might get her blocked from the presidential cell, not to mention alienate those generous investors whose interest in her money-losing, aesthetically disastrous, and painstakingly trite Web site might lessen considerably.
Which just goes to show that no matter how high the price, a whore is still a whore. What better occupation for a woman who's fucked her way to the top.
The circus aspect of all this may be amusing, if you take your humor black, but the joke is on the rest of us when the Obama-ites take office, because that's when our real problems will begin. More...