"Unknown"? Yeah, sure...

Okay, I've once again had enough of the spin machine that's HufPo. I was going to try to quit with any namecalling, but from an article in USA Today comes this specious gem:

In The Boston Phoenix last week, media columnist Mark Jurkowitz wrote that he is "skeptical about Huffington's transformation from one-time It girl of the Republican revolution to a sultry dah-ling of the left. Her Huffington Post, fueled by a stable of high-profile liberal bloggers, is just too anti-thetical to the concept of the blogosphere as a place for feisty, independent, underdog watchdogs. It's more like the Rolex of blogs."

Huffington disagrees. "We have celebrity bloggers, but we also have people nobody has ever heard of who are feisty (and) passionate."

The "people nobody has ever heard of" appear to be people that aren't your average, everyday blogger--but they are hardly unknown in the sense most bloggers are unknown.... .

Since when does the ideal of the unknown apply to people of status and acclaim? Please! Just because someone is not a media household name like Jessica Simpson does not mean that he or she is an unknown. Take a look at the list--oh, I very much love the way Alec Baldwin is made to sound like just your average guy named Alec Baldwin.

"Hi, I'd like you to meet my next-door neighbor, Alec Baldwin. Sure, his dad was a teacher, and don't mind the diamond rings. Yes, he's utterly charming and groomed within an inch of his life, but I'm sure he'll enjoy the liquor store across the street and the pizza joint up the block."

I don't think Huffington's given anyone a break on her blog who has not already had a break in some other realm--which makes the criteria for an unknown very similar to Rumsfeld and Scooter Libby's criteria for what consitutes a lie.

As many of us have said, Huffington's blog gives a voice to the already voiced.

So let's stop the lying--stop the spin. It's sickening. Just admit that HufPo is stocked with the weathy and priviledged--and that it wasn intended that way. She's a savvy woman, and I'm sure she figured out that stocking her blog with folks like six-book authors, TV writers, retired generals and former congressmen would lend far more cred than if she enlisted Jay-and-Joan AverageBlog.

Heaven forbid we should let the rabble in for tea and civilized conversation!