E-mail a friendArianna Huffington
airdate July 6, 2004
Named one of Washington's most influential commentators by Newsweek, Arianna Huffington started her political life as the darling of the right. She now describes herself as a progressive populist. She does political commentary and has written numerous books, including the new release, The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging. She's also co-founder and editor in chief of the news and opinion Website, The Huffington Post, and co-host of Left, Right & Center, a public radio political roundtable program.
Arianna Huffington
Tavis: The wait is over. John Kerry ended all the speculation today and whittled his short list of potential V.P. candidates down to just one: John Edwards of North Carolina. Surprise, surprise. For more on the newly minted Democratic ticket, I'm delighted to welcome on the show again author and columnist and my friend Arianna Huffington. Her most recent book is 'Fanatics & Fools: The Game Plan for Winning Back America.' So, Arianna, is Mr. Edwards gonna help Mr. Kerry win back America?
Arianna Huffington: Absolutely. I'm doing a column about it, and I say that this is the first great decision of a Kerry presidency.
Tavis: Picking Edwards?
Huffington: Picking Edwards.
Tavis: So what makes it so great for you? 'Cause I want to challenge you on this just to get your own thoughts. What makes it great for you?
Huffington: Well, many reasons. First of all, Edwards was very comfortable throughout the primary, talking about values and framing the issues of this campaign around values and morality. You know, this is something that the GOP has taken away from the Democrats. They have succeeded in defining morality purely in sexual terms and purely in terms of abortion and gay rights. And Democrats, if they're going to win big this time, need to take that back and to start defining morality and values in the terms that Edwards did, which is about poverty, which is about ending the rift between the two Americas that George Bush has perpetuated, and making us one nation again.
I love the way he's so comfortable speaking about his faith, that he's comfortable speaking about God. There was this great moment during one of the primary debates when he was asked about whether God is on the side of America and he basically said the question is 'is America on the side of God?' That's somebody who's comfortable with his spirituality, and so this is not just gonna be the economy, this is gonna be about fundamental values and what kind of America we want to live in.
Tavis: OK, let's volley back and forth here. I'm gonna play Republican. Ooh, that scares me. I'm gonna play Republican for just a second, in mind only, just to get some responses out of you. Um, so the Republicans would say that John Edwards can't win anything down South, he barely won South Carolina in the primary season, has not proven at all he can win anything down South. So everybody says pick a Southerner, but isn't it more important to pick a Southerner who can win, Kerry? I mean, Edwards hasn't shown he can do that as of yet.
Huffington: Well, you see, what Kerry and Edwards can do this time is really change the whole debate. So it's not about liberal vs. conservative or right vs. left, but right vs. wrong. You know, for the last 3 years, we've regressed in so many areas. We've regressed when it comes to health care, education, the way we care for those left behind.
Now, if we're going to win beyond those who are already planning to vote, remember, the key thing is that most polls do not even include in their calculations the 50% of eligible voters who did not vote in 2000 and are not planning to vote this November. Now, a Kerry/Edwards ticket can excite them. There's 100 million people. Those who don't vote, as you know, Tavis, are predominately minorities, predominately poor, predominately young, predominately single women living on the edge. If they can be made to believe again that politics matters, that this ticket will do something for them, that it will change the way policy is made, then they can come back to the polls, and that completely changes all the equations about who wins the South.
Tavis: OK, Edwards is a trial lawyer. His story cuts both ways. On the one hand, he fights for the least among us, he fights for the consumer, he fights for the person wronged by corporate America--that's one way to look at it. The other side is--the Republicans' side of it is, they hate trial lawyers. Can't you see the commercials coming right now?
Huffington: Can't you see the debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards? I mean, aren't you looking forward to that debate?
Tavis: Yeah, Halliburton vs. the trial lawyers.
Huffington: John Edwards has regularly, throughout his career, been eating people like Dick Cheney for lunch in courtroom after courtroom. I mean, he's going to put Halliburton solidly in Dick Cheney's lap, and all the abuses in Iraq and all the profiteering that's going on.
He's also a great orator--let's not forget that. Let's not forget the ability to communicate that he has, to touch people's hearts, and that is key in this election because I believe that the sleeper issue of the 2004 election is idealism. After September 11, there was this outpouring of idealism, a longing for community. I was talking to stockbrokers in New York the other day who volunteered regularly, every night, who had never done anything for anybody else, but who spent their nights in soup kitchens. If John Edwards can help Kerry appeal to the better instincts, the better angels in our nature, then he can tap into something which we haven't seen in American politics since Bobby Kennedy and bring soul back into American politics.
Tavis: Speaking of soul, as an African American, I like a candidate--
Huffington: As a Greek, me, too.
Tavis: As a Greek and as an African American, I like somebody with a little soul every now and then. John Kerry has not caught fire, respectfully, with African American voters, with brown voters. Can Edwards help him do that? Because what I'm looking at--Republican or Democrat, respectfully--are two tickets with four white guys at the top of the ticket.
Huffington: Yes, and that is a problem, no question about it. And Kerry recognizes that, which is why he's been trying to introduce more African Americans into his campaign team. As you know, Vernon Jordan is in charge of his debate strategy team. Also, he gave a really good speech at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition conference.
Tavis: Last week with Jesse Jackson.
Huffington: He gave a really good speech which was from the heart. He went off-script and spoke from the heart, which is really good when he does that. But he has a way to go, no question about it. And John Edwards can help him go the distance because he speaks from the heart, because he has not been afraid to put poverty in the middle of what he's talking about. Have you noticed how most Democrats have been very afraid to talk about poverty? They talk about the middle class, and that's one part of the equation.
Tavis: 'Cause most of the Democrats running these days ain't poor.
Huffington: Exactly. But you can care about poverty even if you are not poor. Bobby Kennedy did. FDR did.
Tavis: Arianna Huffington does.
Huffington: And you do, and you're hardly poor, right? So the point is that talking about the two Americas and the need to bring us together is a core message. And it has to be the core message of this campaign, so that instead of playing on Karl Rove's home turf--actually, the Kerry/Edwards ticket can play offense.
Tavis: John Kerry early on suggested in one of these debates that Edwards wasn't ready to be president yet because he didn't have any real world experience. Only in the Senate for 5 years. Hasn't served in the military. I want a guy who's my running mate, Kerry suggested, who is prepared to take over the office of president if, unfortunately, he should ever be called upon to do so. All of a sudden now, Mr. Edwards is ready to be president?
Huffington: Absolutely. Edwards has spoken a lot during the primary about the importance of having experience beyond politics, experience outside Washington. And I think the average American resonates to that. Also, I mean, was George Bush ready to be president? Was Dick Cheney ready to be vice president?
Tavis: But Bush never said that Cheney wasn't ready. That's my point.
Huffington: No, he didn't say that. He said, actually, that John Edwards was in diapers when I was in Vietnam. He made that kind of facile comment. But, you know, this was a primary, and traditionally throughout American history, presidential nominees often end up picking guys that they attacked during the primary. That's the nature of the game.
Tavis: It's like Bush calling Reagan's economic policies voodoo economics, and then he's on his ticket.
Huffington: Exactly. Exactly. And you know, of course, who can forget Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson? There wasn't exactly any love lost. The reason why I think this is an important decision also is because it says something about John Kerry. He had the sort of self-confidence to pick somebody who is more charismatic; and he had the guts to go against many of his consultants who were advising him to look at the map and pick somebody who could bring him a state, like Dick Gephardt bringing him Missouri, and to really pick somebody who can galvanize the electorate and who can actually make this campaign about fundamental values and the direction for America.
Tavis: Well, I'm sure if Kerry and Edwards were watching right now, they'd like your analysis and would hope that everything you predicted comes to fruition in November. Arianna, nice to see you as always.
Huffington: Great to see you.
Tavis: You'll be at both conventions?
Huffington: Yes, I will.
Tavis: See you at the conventions, then. Arianna Huffington on our program tonight talking about John Edwards, and we thank Colin Powell, of course, for coming on earlier. That's our show for tonight. As always, catch me on the radio on NPR. I'll see you back here next time on PBS. Until then, thanks for watching. Good night from Los Angeles, and as always, keep the faith.
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