Arianna Huffington and Harry Shearer
Entry 8:
Harry, I just arrived in Cleveland on a bumpy shuttle flight from Pittsburgh, where I spent six hours plugging Greetings and our anti-polling campaign. The callers on the shows I was on loved the idea of pledging to hang-up on pollsters, thus reducing even further the sample of bored and lonely Americans who have time on their hands to talk to strangers about the President's sex life. But I think we need a 24-hour hotline for those who weaken and cannot resist the urge to spout off on the balanced budget agreement. For the time being, I tell people if they don't have the strength to hang-up on pollsters, they should just lie to them.
Have you read the story about the pollster convention last weekend in St. Louis? It was their 53rd annual conference, and the 50th anniversary of Truman's victory over Dewey, which the pollsters of the time famously failed to predict. It took them a while to recover from that debacle, but now polling results are given the same respect as chicken entrails in ancient Rome. I want them to be given the same respect as chicken entrails today.
Arianna
Arianna Huffington is a nationally syndicated columnist. Harry Shearer is host of radio's Le Show, a screenwriter, an actor, and provider of several voices on The Simpsons.