Earlier this week, when Al Franken was a guest on the David Letterman show, Letterman asked Franken what it was like to be on the floor of the Republican Convention in Philadelphia. He recounted experiences in which Republicans would come up to him and say "I hate you and everything you stand for, and you shouldn't be here, but, since you are, can I just get a picture with you?" Franken's conclusion: "Celebrity Trumps Ideology." The same can be applied to Franken's friend, and fellow Politically Incorrect 'odd bedfellow,' Arianna Huffington. Those who have, for years, believed in, and worked for, the issues on the agenda of the 'shadow' conventions -- Campaign Finance Reform, Poverty Reduction, and Drug Policy Reform -- are now being seduced by Huffington's celebrity into ignoring the fact that, during the past thirty years, she has written millions of words and spent tens of millions of dollars to oppose these specific issues. Campaign Finance Reform: Huffington's campaigns on behalf of her big-oil-inheritance wealthy husband spent more than $3 million dollars to run for Congress in 1992 and more than $30 million dollars (still a national record) to run for the US Senate in 1994. Had they won in 1994, everyone who is now supporting her would instead be viciously opposing her husband's re-election. Poverty Reduction: Arianna Huffington is one of the richest women in the world and yet there is no record of her having given any of her personal fortune to the needy. Yet, for years, she has been arguing that governmental welfare should cease and be replaced by private charity. Drug Policy Reform: For decades Arianna Huffington has been a strong proponent of the War on Drugs and Nancy Reagan's 'Just Say No' campaign. She has been a major contributor and campaigner for conservative Republicans nationwide, and she was a key factor in the Republican takeover of Congress during the 1990's. While Huffington's rhetoric of just the past 12 months indicates that she may really have had a sincere 'change of heart,' no amount of rhetoric will ever make up for all the words, time and money she has spent to oppose these issues. Only after she invests more time, money and attention in supporting these issues, than she has in opposing them, will we even be able to begin to assess if Arianna Huffington's 'change of heart' is genuine. Now is the time, and Los Angeles is the place, to let the world know that celebrity does not trump ideology. To settle for anything less would be to prostitute the very ideology that Arianna Huffington, and the 'shadow' conventions, endorse. --------------------------------------------------------------------<e|- <FONT COLOR="#000099">Make new friends, find the old at Classmates.com: </FONT><A HREF="http://click.egroups.com/1/8011/6/_/475667/_/966082055/"><B>Click Here!</B></A> --------------------------------------------------------------------|e>-
