A Post on Huffington...

You've probably heard of Ariana Huffington... the beautifully outspoken queen of new media, who started "The Huffington Post" -- a blog that gives celebrities a chance to speak out about politics, entertainment, pop culture, or whatever the hell is on their mind -- It began out of her home awhile back, and it'd be an understatement to say it's taken off.  Like wildfire.   So I had the chance to go to her Brentwood, CA. home to interview her (she rarely opens her home) and she gave us permission to stream part of the interview live on our website www.extratv.com  -- (if you go to our website and click on 'Extra Raw' and search Huffington, you'll find not only the interview, which has gotten an amazing 35 thousand plus hits, but also the little 'tour' I did of her home while we were waiting for her).    

While we were patiently waiting for Ms. Huffington, who was tied up in traffic on her way back from doing The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, I was curious to show our live web viewers some pictures Ariana had laying around, like her and John Cusack, and President Obama, way before he was elected President, with Ariana and her daughter.   It made for a fun, insiders look at this woman's life before she arrived.

Now, this wasn't the first time I would be meeting Ariana.  Back when the John Edwards scandal broke, where he was caught cheating on his wife with a woman who had been producing campaign 'webisodes' with him on the road, Rielle Hunter, I had been asked to appear on "Larry King Live" and Ariana was a fellow guest that night.  I met her while she was having her makeup applied at CNN, and in her charming accent she said... "Jerry, why don't you blog for me??"  Which is very disarming, and sweet, and that sums up who this woman is, and how she gets the likes of Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, and others in the entertainment field to blog for her. She simply asks in a very charming way, and they do it!   For me, "The Huffington Post" is the perfect collision of politics and entertainment for this reason.  

She gets to the house, and we begin the interview... a lengthy discussion ranging from whether she would ever consider politics (no, she's happy in her day job as Mom and superblogger), to what she thinks about the stimulus package (it's going to be a slow relief-process), to what celebrity would make a great president (Tom Hanks)... Of course, what ends up on EXTRA are mere snippets of the conversation, which is why I am a big fan of these interviews streaming live on extratv.com, when the subject agrees to it, because at least the entire conversation can be viewed, or at least a large chunk of it.   

So, Ariana, thanks for welcoming us into your home, and I have blogged about you.  One day, I will blog for you.