Huffington: Don't Overinterpret Tuesday's Results

Oct. 31, 2010— -- On a powerhouse roundtable on "This Week With Christiane Amanpour," Arianna Huffington and Dick Armey, the head of FreedomWorks, fought over the meaning of Tuesday's expected GOP victory in the House of Representatives.

Dick Armey, former House majority leader and now the head of FreedomWorks, a Tea Party organization, sees the likely Republican takeover of the House as an "enormous" achievement.

"For too long, the American people have said we're tired of having Washington squabbling with one another and telling us what we're going to get. We have decided to assert our citizenry, be involved and tell Washington what we require of them and what we must have or we will lose their jobs," he said on a fiery roundtable debate on "This Week."

"This is a great day where America is returning to its foundation roots of the citizenry telling the government what we will tolerate from you, what we expect from you and what we require from you. It is an enormous return to the foundation roots of this great country," Armey said.

Arianna Huffington sees the writing on the wall: Democrats are going to lose the House on Tuesday. But the founder of the Huffington Post cautioned Armey and other pundits not to overinterpret a big GOP win.

"Dick Armey is making the mistake that a lot of people are going to make on Tuesday night, which is overinterpreting the results," she said to anchor Christiane Amanpour and other guests on the roundtable this morning.

"This victory by Republicans, which I fully expect … does not mean that the nation is rejecting Democrats and affirming Republicans. It means they are rejecting the way our institutions are working, that they have deep mistrust of all establishments. That basically, our system has not worked for them," Huffington said.