The American Spectator

Among the Intellectualoids

Arianna Huffington is the editor in chief of the Huffington Post, one of the very top hangouts for the left wing of the Democrat party. These folks are riding high right now, because they and their champion Barack Obama have just beaten the Clintons for the Democrat party nomination, and they think they are going to take over the country this fall. Huffington gives us a clear insight into what these people are all about in her recent book, Right Is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe (and What You Need to Know to Stop the Madness) (Knopf).

The book title itself reveals the character of argument featured not only by Huffington, but of the entire activist left she represents. These people can't go more than three lines without falling into hysterical vituperation, or, in more colloquial terminology, foul mouthed name-calling. Their opponents are "right wing lunatics," who project "the intolerance of religious bigots." "The Republican race to replace George W. Bush turned into a competition to see Who Could Be the Biggest Neanderthal." Huffington says even her old friends from her Republican days "are now just as appalled as I am by the lunatic fringe's takeover of the Right, and the Right's takeover of America."

p>Huffington writes: br> /p>

In the yearly contest for the coveted title of "Dumbest Senator," James Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, is always in the running. Even in years when it seems like Kentucky's Jim Bunning may edge him out Inhofe will perform a thrilling last-minute, come-from-behind act of utter stupidity that wins him the tarnished cup for another year. And, to top it off, Inhofe is usually a contender for "Craziest Elected Official" as well.

br> I have seen Inhofe on many occasions engage in calm discussion of the issues presenting actual evidence for his positions. I have not seen that from Arianna Huffington.

ANOTHER FEATURE of the argumentation of Huffington and her left-wing colleagues is that their disagreements with their opponents never seem to involve a difference of opinion, or of philosophy, or of the effectiveness or justification of different policies. What their opponents believe and argue for is always a scandal. Their opponents are always "unduly influenced by industry," or industry stooges, or industry hacks. Their opponents are bad people with corrupt motives, arguing in bad faith. This means that the left never even has to engage in debate with opposing ideas, which is something they don't seem capable of doing.

Huffington, in fact, reveals her fascist tendencies when she repeatedly calls for the media to shut out all conservatives and their crazy arguments from any coverage whatsoever. "It would help if the media reacted to the Right's drivel by treating it with the contempt it deserves instead of dutifully reporting it as if it contained an ounce of logic or sanity." She continues, "The old-fashioned 'mainstream' media have, in many cases, become the best friend of the Right -- simply by adhering to the belief that every major issue has two sides, two valid perspectives, and both deserve to be given equal weight." Indeed, she repeatedly attacks the late Tim Russert for being too fair to conservatives and Republicans.

p>Huffington continues: br> /p>

There are not two valid sides to issues like global warming or health care. We can argue about what to do, but unless you are crazy or a liar, you can't honestly claim that the drug and insurance companies aren't an obstacle to public health...or that global warming is a fraud and then demand equal time to spout some nonsense that gains an aura of legitimacy from the "let's hear from both sides" approach of the news media.

br> See the thuggish brown shirt tactics here? They want to shower conservatives with name calling, then smear them with allegations that their arguments are made in bad faith, and then demand that they even be excluded from public debate. This is not a discussion of ideas, it is all a purely ad hominem

topics:
Taxes, Foreign Policy, Trade, Health Care, Barack Obama, Business, Global Warming, Constitution, Military, NATO, Medicare