The Washington Post (11-15-02)
The Reliable Source
Lloyd Grove, Washington Post Staff Writer

There was much ado about yesterday's item regarding Los Angeles pundit Arianna Huffington and her incipient ad campaign against gas-guzzling SUVs. A swarm of television news producers immediately booked Huffington on this and that, and readers e-mailed us in amusement and outrage.

Washington Post columnist James Glassman wrote: "Enjoyed your item on Arianna, who has gone completely off the deep end.... I am the one who got her to buy an SUV in the first place and created a monster. Was on a radio show with her and she kept ranting and raving about SUVs, and I said to her, 'But you own one, right? Why don't you get rid of it?' Which she did a week or so later." Huffington said she had already made arrangements to lose the Lincoln Navigator and buy her 50-miles-per-gallon Toyota Prius by the time she appeared with Glassman.

Time magazine writer Amy Dickinson wrote: "I loved your item about Arianna Huffington 'driving' and now 'not driving' an SUV, but -- as I'm sure you know -- Arianna doesn't drive. Arianna gets driven." Huffington said that these days she's behind the wheel.

Ritz-Carlton Hotel publicity director Colleen Evans wrote: "Puleeeeze -- I am not giving up my Cadillac Escalade SLV (Sport Luxury Vehicle). Since I'm only 5'3 I love the 'on top of the world' feel....Ms. Huffington is once again sounding very 'fuelish'."

And Tom Riley of the Office National Drug Control Policy, whose ubiquitous television commercials are parodied in Huffington's proposed anti-SUV campaign, wrote: "We're pleased that Ms. Huffington has joined with millions of other Americans in recognizing the power and impact of our ads linking drug trafficking with international terror." Huffington told us: "Actually, their ads have been totally ineffective."