A couple of years ago I did an interview with Arianna Huffington for Esquire Magazine’s What I’ve Learned page. What I’ve Learned is always a series of quotes removed from the context of the questions that prompted them. Almost a shorthand oral history.

I sat for several hours in her Bel-Air home. Everybody that knows Arianna will tell you that she is a whirlwind of activity and her house is as busy as she is. It includes her children, several people working on the Huffington Post, her sister and her daughters, and housekeeping staff, one of whom brought the most delicious fruit smoothie I’ve ever tasted. I think she had just picked the blueberries. At some point I suggested I move in but I can’t find her response anywhere in my notes. These are Arianna’s quotes cut just before the final version of the interview went to Esquire.

I left the Republican Party when I realized how hard it was to get the private sector mobilized to really make a dent in major issues like fighting poverty or providing healthcare.

The right-left way of looking at the world is obsolete. Some of the greatest opponents of the war like Chuck Hegel are conservatives. Contrast that with Bill Clinton who keeps justifying the war.

I think it is important to connect across the lines.

I am ultimately an optimist about human nature. It’s amazing how often people act against their own self interests.

The American DNA is not imperial, it’s not about imposing our will even for the good of another nation.

Running for governor was incredibly intense. I dropped out ten days before the election.

The hardest juggling act is work and children. These are the balls you can’t let drop.

Democrats will never be the dominant party again until they redefine national security.

The blogosphere is a way to get around the mainstream media which is suffering from an attention deficit disorder.

I don’t believe that you barricade yourself. I don’t believe in creating multiple skins. My philosophy is that you let the hurt in and out so that it doesn’t stay.

The less I’m attached to what happened an hour ago or a day ago the more productive I can be and the more effective I’m going to be.

My mother was perpetually cooking. The kitchen was her laboratory. That is why I never learned how to cook.

My hope was that if Kerry won he would have extricated us from Iraq.

Don’t look over your shoulder for approval. Find your friends among those you share a vision with about where you want the country to go.

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