Fearful of Left Coast Reprisal, Clooney Punks Out!

Clooney, Huffington Clash Over Blog Posting
Mar 15 9:06 PM US/Eastern
by SOLVEJ SCHOU

Associated Press Writer LOS ANGELES It's George Clooney versus Arianna Huffington in a standoff worthy of "Good Night, and Good Luck."
The newly minted Oscar winner says he did not write a blog posted Monday on commentator Huffington's Web site, though he gave her permission to use a compilation of his critiques of the Iraq war from interviews with Larry King and London's The Guardian.
"Miss Huffington's blog is purposefully misleading and I have asked her to clarify the facts," Clooney, 44, said in a statement issued Wednesday. "I stand by my statements but I did not write this blog."
In Monday's profanity-filled posting, Democrats are faulted for muting their views and criticism of the Bush administration in the months before the start of the Iraq war.
Huffington has denied any wrongdoing.
A rebuttal on her Web site claims she and her staff initially compiled a "sample blog" for Clooney from his interview answers because he wasn't sure how a blog worked.
Huffington said that after she sent Clooney the sample, a film publicist e-mailed her and three days later approved it, without any changes.
"This was an honest misunderstanding," she wrote. "But any misunderstanding that occurred, occurred between Clooney and the publicist. We based our decision to post on the unambiguous approval we received in writing............"