Free Republic

One of the main themes of my new book, Right Is Wrong, is the role the media have played in allowing the lunatic fringe now in control of the Republican Party -- the people who believe in torture but don't believe in evolution -- to hijack our democracy. I document how the real problem comes not from Fox News or the likes of Limbaugh and O'Reilly, but from a mainstream media that has so internalized the Right's framing and messages they have now become a part of its DNA. And the media seem intent on confirming this point again and...

With Mike Huckabee's continuing surge, the Republican Party now has an Iowa front-runner whose religious beliefs are virtually identical to those of George Bush. He's anti-choice, born-again, against gay-marriage, and gets political advice directly from God. So why is the Republican establishment suddenly in a state of near-apoplexy about Mike Huckabee? Shouldn't they be happy? They've been cultivating evangelicals and fundamentalists for 30 years. Now they finally have a candidate who's truly part of the movement. So what's the problem? Actually, that is the problem. The evangelical crowd was fine when it was just a resource to be cynically exploited...

He's known for outrageous claims. But this one, he says, it absolutely true. Frederic Von Anhalt, the husband of Zsa Zsa Gabor, says he was robbed and tied up by a group of female robbers Thursday. Von Anhalt says he was asked to take a picture with two girls on a street in Los Angeles. He says as he was posing, he felt a weapon pressed to his neck by a third woman who he hadn't seen come up. Von Anhalt says the women, who he describes as 'beautiful', then stole his diamond encrusted watch. But it gets worse. He...

Has Chuck Hagel Hijacked the Straight Talk Express? In the same way that the race for the Democratic nomination in 2008 is shaping up to be Hillary vs the non-Hillary, centering on differences over the war in Iraq, the race on the Republican side looks like it could turn out to be McCain vs the non-McCain, also centering on differences over the war. And the man looking more and more like the non-McCain is Chuck Hagel. Arianna Huffington is a nationally syndicated columnist, editor of the HuffingtonPost.com and co-host of "Left, Right & Center," public radio's popular political roundtable...

<p>FReepers, sometimes the other side just makes it so easy for us. My original report regarding the Sierra Club Summit is linked above.</p> <p>After giving a stirring speech on saving the planet, Arianna Huffington walked right past me outside. A friend was able to take this photo of her Chevrolet Suburban waiting for her across the street. She parked across the street rather than being dropped off next to the hyrbrid vehicles that were showcased in front of the Sierra Club Summit. She didn't dare get dropped off in front of her environmentalist pals at the Moscone Center building where she was speaking.</p>

COLOURFUL Hollywood personality Zsa Zsa Gabor has sued her daughter for allegedly stealing $US2 million (($2.6 million) and using it to buy a mansion, a court has heard. Gabor, 87, and her ninth husband, Prince Frederic Von Anhalt, are suing Francesca Hilton, Gabor's daughter by hotel tycoon Conrad Hilton. The former Miss Hungary, best known for her multiple marriages and for slapping a police officer who stopped her for a traffic violation, accused Hilton of conspiring with others to fraudulently take out a $US3.75-million loan on her home and of then taking $US2 million of it to buy herself a...

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - A multimillion-dollar family feud over who controls the ailing socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor's will has spilled into the courtroom. Gabor and her ninth husband are suing her only daughter, accusing Francesca Hilton of stealing $2 million by forging her mother's signature to take out a loan on Gabor's $14 million Bel Air home. Gabor's husband Frederic Prinz von Anhalt said Friday that Hilton took the money in March because she's worried she won't get enough when her mother dies. Hilton said he actually manipulated the 88-year-old Gabor to get into her will, and she refinanced the...

This Saturday in Orlando, at a meeting of state party chairs, a parade of potential candidates are going to be making the case for why they should be the next chair of the Democratic National Committee. I don't have a candidate. But I do have a litmus test: Anyone raising the idea that the party needs to "move to the middle" should immediately be escorted out of the building. Better yet, a trap door should open beneath them, sending them plummeting down an endless chute into electoral purgatory – which is exactly where the party will be permanently headquartered if...

Since Ronald Reagan’s passing, the media have been filled with a celebration of his youthful spirit, his indomitable optimism, his faith in America’s greatness and in America’s goodness. His words have been reverberating: “morning again in America,” “springtime of hope,” “a promised land,” “the last best hope of man on earth.” The imagery varied, but a single, overarching principle remained: Reagan’s pledge to return America to its essential role as “a shining city on a hill,” a place of goodness, promise and hope. In other words, Ronald Reagan was one hell of a hedgehog. No, I’m not speaking ill of...

My wife (as a joke, and under the name "Muggs Polecat III") subscribed me to the email list for the Arianna campaign when Ms. Huffington jumped into the recall race a couple months ago. Here's the email I received this morning. Evidently, she spent a more on her campaign than she took in. (Which is undoubtedly how she would have handled California's finances in the unlikely event of her election.) I'm going to suggest she get some money from her buddy, Gay Davis. I've heard he was pretty good at raising campaign cash. Or maybe she can get Cruz to...

Huffington says she would `tinker' with Prop. 13 By Lori Aratani Mercury News AP Arianna Huffington brushes her hair as she addresses San Francisco's Commonwealth Club of California. SAN FRANCISCO - Political columnist turned gubernatorial candidate Arianna Huffington swept through town today pledging to resolve the California's budget crisis by tinkering with the state's sacred tax cow, Proposition 13 ``To stabilize our budget, we need to build a budget based on a more predictable revenue source -- namely property taxes,'' she told members of the Commonwealth Club. ``There, I said it, and what do you know? Lightning didn't strike me...

<p>LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Seeking to defuse the campaign of Republican rival Arnold Schwarzenegger, California gubernatorial hopeful Arianna Huffington on Thursday blasted the movie star as a "good friend of the Bush administration" beholden to special interests.</p> <p>"Arnold Schwarzenegger is a Bush Republican through and through," said the best-selling author, who is running as an independent in the October 7 special election to recall Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.</p>

<p>KING: One Republican who is staying out of the crowded race for governor of California is former Congressman Michael Huffington. His ex-wife, Arianna, is running as an independent.</p> <p>Michael Huffington joins us live now from Los Angeles. Sir, thank you for joining us on INSIDE POLITICS. Let me begin with this question. You are backing Arnold Schwarzenegger, not what some might call the established Republican candidate, Bill Simon or Peter Ueberroth getting in. What makes you think Schwarzenegger can win this race?</p>

January 29, 2003 Nothing but the trough Author Arianna Huffington talks to The Times about corporate greed, President Bush's affectionate nickname for an Enron executive and her upcoming lecture at UCSB. By Quintin Cushner Life & Times Writer Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington promotes herself well. The Greece-born author and columnist is currently on a two-month book tour. On Monday, she was in Boston to appear on a local television show - and to speak with a group of students at a small New England college (all right, she was speaking at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government). Apparently unconcerned...