A Conversation With Arianna

By David Paul Kuhn,
CBSnews.com Chief Political Writer

Even Arnold?

"Even Arnold," replies the Greek-born liberal celeb-columnist. "If somebody has lived in this country long enough and has engaged in the political life of this country there is no reason why they should've been born here."

But she dismisses the Republican governor of California as "a clone of George W. Bush."

"He has done nothing to close corporate tax loopholes or deal with all the special interest funding," says Huffington, in an interview about all things political, including her new book, "Fanatics and Fools: The Game Plan for Winning Back America."

"What is actually a wakeup lesson for all of us is that right now George Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger prove that if you are charming, have unlimited amounts of money and are unprincipled enough to say anything and expect not to be held accountable, then you can win," says Huffington, who mounted her own failed bid in last fall's California recall election.

On Iraq, she says, "Kerry needs to say that the first thing he would do is hold a summit of all our allies."

She insists that there will be no repeat this year of the Shadow Convention, the inspired alternative to the Democratic and Republican conventions she staged in 2000. "When your house is on fire this is not the time to talk about remodeling," she is fond of saying.

Addressing a crowd of Manhattan glitterati gathered to toast her book at a palatial East Side townhouse Monday night, she joked that "President Bush wanted to be here but they didn't give him specific enough directions."

Most of the well-heeled crowd chuckled. The few Republicans in the room bit their tongues. Barbara Walters thought it was an amusing quip. Author Kurt Vonnegut seemed to have already left.

This was Huffington's evening. Some wanted her to sign her book. Others desired a two-minute political discourse and a few could not help but talk about the rainy evening outside. Many were old friends of Huffington's, dating back to her days as a Republican – a time she can hardly speak of now without snickering. After the GOP, she became an ardent populist. This year though, she is fighting the Democratic fight.

"Ralph Nader should withdraw, there is no question about that," she firmly states, although she says she likes the idea of Nader, "generally."

If you like the idea of Nader, why shouldn't he run for president again?

"The difference between John Kerry and George Bush is a gulf," she explains, adding that Nader "should care enough to beat Bush" to assist the Democrats this time.

This is all Huffington cares about now – seeing President Bush move back to Crawford, Texas.

"It seems to be where he likes to spend most of his time anyway," she says, referring to a report in the Manchester Guardian that Mr. Bush had visited his ranch 33 times since taking office. In total, he has spent more than 40 percent of his presidency at one of his three retreats, according to the Guardian.

"Did you know that the Bush administration had twice as many FBI agents assigned to the war on drugs as the war on terror before Sept. 11?" she says.

Her new book is nothing if not a bastion of such facts. It is a zealous, well-written indictment of President Bush. Energetic, like her. Sincere, like her, too. It makes some intriguing points, but as with all political diatribes, doesn't make much effort to acknowledge the counterarguments.

But there are no viable counterarguments for Huffington. She despises the Bush administration so much that her ideological baby – remodeling the American democracy, taking money completely out of politics – has been put aside. Again, because the "house is on fire."

Her urgency, the "very clear objective to get Bush out of the White House," is born most from the war in Iraq. She becomes immediately serious if you bring up the war. Amidst the war's bloodiest weeks yet, she sees a battle America need not have fought in the first place.

"Remember when Tim Russert asked if this was a war of choice or a war of necessity? It is unbelievable that [President Bush] could not immediately say this is a war of necessity," she says, her tone heightening. "What other war should we be fighting?

"So the fact that it was a war of choice makes it really hard for anybody to watch what's happening, to watch the loss of life."