Huffington in a huff over White House

Kayla Webley
2004-04-28
The Daily

Arianna Huffington, author, political pundit and one-time candidate for governor of California, spoke yesterday afternoon in Hogness Auditorium about her new book Fanatics and Fools: The Game Plan for Winning Back America.

Huffington used the appearance to address what she called the "fanatics" in the White House and the "fools" who let them take power. She also spoke about Vice President Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force, the nation's fascination with oil and the need to replace Bush as president.

Oral arguments before the Supreme Court in the Cheney Energy Task Force case began yesterday.

Huffington pointed a finger at the Bush administration, specifically Cheney, for refusing to release records about energy-industry participation in the Energy Task Force, the advisory group created to make recommendations on future energy policy.

This case has incited controversy since Justice Antonin Scalia refused to recuse himself from the bench after public uproar over his private duck-hunting trip with Cheney only weeks after the court agreed to hear the case.

"This [case] is part of the ideology that does not trust the people, only the elites," she said. "There is one set of rules that applies to the elite, and one for the rest of America."

The lecture, presented by the campus organization Environment 2004, highlighted the importance of environmental issues in the November election.

Huffington listed grievances about gas prices and "gas-guzzling" SUVs. "[The current administration] has provided no leadership on these issues," she said.

Huffington used this information to stress the issue she considers most important.

"Nothing is more important in this election than sending Bush back to Crawford, Texas, where he wants to be anyway," said Huffington.

Huffington discussed that, though she has outside issues and differences with other candidates, Bush's removal is of the utmost importance.

"When your house is on fire it is not the time to talk about remodeling. You must put out the fire first," she said.

Huffington's solution to this is to get all eligible voters to go to the polls.

"We have to consider what we can do to re-engage the 50 percent of eligible voters who did not vote in the last election," she said. "We can capture the public's attention. ... [P]eople want to be part of the greatness that will change America."