Is This Woman Nuts?

[John Cole]

I was in the market today and pulled Ann Coulter's new book off the shelf (I should have pulled them all off the shelf) for a quick look. Seems the wacko conservative mouthpiece has a thing for Joe McCarthy, actually calling him a poet of the working class, and spending two chapters praising this heroic American. I can't post a full review or analysis since I didn't buy the book, but from what little I read, this spoiled sorority sister once again has churned out some of the most mind-numbing, albeit unintentionally hilarious, prose I've read in quite some time. Verdict: some conservatives will love it. Others will be amused. She's far too stupid to take seriously.

John

[MMMMMM]

Well after you once asked me if I had ever actually read Ann Coulter (since I once used a quotation attributed to her), I did in fact search out and read a few of her columns. While I agree in part with some of her views, she does sometimes go too far, and "unintentonally hilarious" is not a bad way to put it--at least some of it;-)

She has a quite a way of taking the reader by surprise, though, don't you agree?

As a comparison, my recent post referring to Saddam and his sons as ogreish and half-human--probably my most strongly-worded post ever;-)--is almost par for the course for some of her writing. But I'll really have to work on the art of taking the reader by surprise with such incredible panache--maybe it's an inborn talent or something, and I have no hopes of ever attaining to such heights...

Suggestion for alternate post title: (Why) Is This Woman Nuts?

[Chris Alger]

You should have seen her with Chris Matthews, when he asked her to name the Democratic "traitors" in her book (who's thesis is that the Democratic Party is "treasonist") and she couldn't think of any.

Even Westbrook Pegler didn't talk openly about murdering U.S. officials, including the President, as Coulter has. Yet that doesn't keep her from appearing on ABC's "This Week" and "Good Morning America," NBC's "Today Show," "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher," CNN's "Larry King Live," CNBC's "Rivera Live," and "Equal Time," among others, according to her biography. Maybe the liberal media bias is more clever than I think, and she's part of a conspiracy to offer up right-wingers as even thicker and crazier than they are.

Here's part of Eric Alterman's take: (http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/7334)

I first met Ann Coulter in 1996 when we were both hired to be pundits on the new cable news station, MSNBC. Still just a right-wing congressional aide, she had been hired without even a hint of journalistic experience, but with a mouth so vicious she made her fellow leggy blonde pundit, Laura Ingraham, look and sound like Mary Tyler Moore in comparison.

Coulter was eventually fired when she attacked a disabled Vietnam veteran on the air, screaming, "People like you caused us to lose that war." But this was just one of many incidents where she had leaped over the bounds of good taste into the kind of talk that is usually reserved for bleachers or bar-fights. In her columns, published in one of the most extreme of all conservative publications, Human Events, she would regularly refer to the president of the United States, Bill Clinton as a "pervert, liar and a felon" and "a flim-flam artist." She termed the First Lady to be "pond scum" and "white trash." The late Pamela Harriman a "whore." Coulter said these things all the while appearing on-air in dresses so revealing they put one in mind of Sharon Stone in the film, Basic Instinct.

The greater Coulter's fame, the more malevolent grew her hysteria. In her 1998 book, High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case against Bill Clinton, she wrote, "In this recurring nightmare of a presidency, we have a national debate about whether he 'did it,' even though all sentient people know he did. Otherwise there would be debates only about whether to impeach or assassinate." Such was the wisdom of the alleged "Constitutional scholar" whose work George Will quoted on ABC's The Week. (Will is not very particular about his sources. I counted exactly one work of history in Coulter's copious footnotes. Coulter has also been accused of plagiarism by a former colleague, but denies the charge. )

Shortly after 9/11, Coulter became famous again when she suggested, in a column published by National Review Online, after seeing anti-American demonstrators in Arab nations, that we "invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." Coulter's column was dropped by the magazine, but not because the editors objected to its content. Editor Jonah Goldberg explained, "We ended the relationship because she behaved with a total lack of professionalism, friendship and loyalty." (Coulter had called the editors "girly boys.") Coulter remained unbowed. At a meeting of the National Political Action Conference, Coulter advised, "We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed too. Otherwise they will turn out to be outright traitors." She also joked about the proposed murder of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta.

In her second book-length primal scream, published in the summer of 2002, Coulter compared Katie Couric of the Today Show to Eva Braun. (She would later add Joseph Goebbels after Couric challenged her in an interview.) She termed Christie Todd Whitman, the former governor of New Jersey and the current head of the Environmental Protection Agency, a "dimwit" and a "birdbrain." Sen. Jim Jeffords is a "half-wit." Gloria Steinem is a "termagent" and "deeply ridiculous figure," who "had to sleep" with a rich liberal to fund Ms. Magazine. But the errors are even more egregious than the insults, and her footnotes are, in many significant cases, a sham. The good folks at The American Prospect's web log, "Tapped" went to the trouble of compiling Coulter's errors chapter by chapter. The sheer weight of these, coupled with their audacity, demonstrates the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of a journalistic culture that allows her near a microphone, much less a printing press.

[Boris]

I don't think she's nuts. My theory is that she is trying to make money. There is a decent sized niche in the mass media market for what I call the "AM talk radio" demographic. Others in this industry sub-sector include Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Dr. Laura, Michael Savage, etc... They do alot cross promotion and need to churn out an incredible amount of often repetitious material. Ann's strong suit is coming up with "refreshing" topics. Hot selling commodities in this market generally have a Conservative and Anti-PC attitude. Think of the Hip-Hop industry and then ask yourself how you would market pop-culture targeted for disenfranchised white males.

Dorothy Rabinowitz (an outstanding journalist, IMO)of the Wall Street Journal recently wrote a review of the book for the Journal's Op-Ed page. The review trashed the book and generally apologized on behalf of Conservatives everyhwere for the none sense being churned by Ann Coulter.

[BruceZ]

I should have pulled them all off the shelf

Of course, comrade!

[HDPM]

So what DID that soldier do in the war? /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

[Zeno]

"but with a mouth so vicious she made her fellow leggy blonde pundit, Laura Ingraham, look and sound like Mary Tyler Moore in comparison."

"Coulter said these things all the while appearing on-air in dresses so revealing they put one in mind of Sharon Stone in the film, Basic Instinct."


The above blurbs are the best part of your post. In defense of this Ann C. gal, who I have never read, I am willing to lay 10 to 1 odds she is better to have sex with than Amy Goodman. Beyond that, I have no comment.

-Zeno

[Chris Alger]

Interesting. Those were the only parts I was thinking of replacing with ellipses.

[John Cole]

Bruce,

Simply to cause people who actually want to buy it to bend over; it's a position they'll need to get used to. (I was waiting patiently for a straight man. Thanks.)

[John Cole]

M,

No talent needed. For example, just imagine Ann along with Joe McCarthy and Roy ("I'm not a homosexual; I just like to f*ck men") Cohn.

John

/forums/images/icons/grin.gif See, no talent necessary at all.

[BruceZ]

Simply to cause people...to bend over...I was waiting patiently for a straight man.

Well good luck to you.

[John Cole]

Bruce,

You were supposed to say "You're Welcome." I don't feed those lines to just anyone. /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

John

[MMMMMM]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33645

[Bill Murphy]

"The good folks at The American Prospect's web log, "Tapped" went to the trouble of compiling Coulter's errors chapter by chapter. The sheer weight of these, coupled with their audacity, demonstrates the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of a journalistic culture that allows her near a microphone, much less a printing press."

Sorta like Rosie O'Donnell! /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

[Chris Alger]

"Sorta like Rosie O'Donnell!"

How?

[scalf]

/forums/images/icons/mad.gif but dynamite mammaries, babeeee..something us conxervatives do not see often enuf.... /forums/images/icons/club.gif

[adios]

I thought she was pretty hot myself.

[John Cole]

M,

I thought she was going to be interviewed by Farah Fawcett. Now that would have been something!

John

BTW, her writing differs little from her talking. In some cases, this is a good thing. In her case, not.

[andyfox]

what about McCarthy? Did he unfairly malign anyone as a Communist who was not?

COULTER: Not that I know of.

Evidently.

[andyfox]

Too skinny.

[TAFKAn]

As a person who thinks Bush is too liberal in many ways, I still must say Ann Coulter is a blithering bombastic moron. She's far less intelligent than even that paragon of critical thinking, el Rushbo (another nauseating conservative).

She is 100% partisan and 0% thinking.

[brad]

she was on the alex jones radio show promoting her crappy book (youve read ron paul's view of neocons by now right? heh) and anyway shes such a shill for republican party, alex starts asking her about bush's policy (alex is true conservative),

and all she can say is president can only focus on three things (terrorism, war, and i cant remember the other) , u bore me , we can do this all day, etc.

meanwhile alex's questions are like, why has bush announced hes supporting major gun control bills, etc. (which are obviously in the 'liberal' camp), why bush approve supercomputers for china, why bush send nuclear reactors to n. korea, why bush block dan burton's pardongate investigation (remember where clinton pardoned all those guys at ending hours of his term), why is bush supporting campaign finance reform (which severly restrics media in vilation of 1st amendment), etc.

oh also she claimed she never read p.a.t.r.i.o.t. act and it doesnt affect rights of americans, etc. alex blew it though when she said name one american and alex didnt name the dirty bomber whats his name the chicago gang member held in secret detention with no lawyer no contact no nothing with no evidence against him at all.

=====================
quick search on google

http://www.syzygyjob.net/warissues/messages/44381.shtml
---------------------------
http://www.prisonplanet.com/
coulter_07_10_03.mp3

Coulter claimed that the original Patriot Act didn't
violate our rights and later said she never read
the Patriot Act, she denied that Patriot Act II exists,
denied that Bush's grandfather funded the Nazi's,
dismissed the existence of the CFR(Council On
Foreign Relations), denied that the U.S.
Government trained the 9/11 hijackers at the
Pensecola Naval Air Station(according to
MSNBC), denied that Bohemian Grove is a secret
organization, denied that Bush wants to take
away our guns and basically implied that anybody
who defends the Constitution is a nut.

Whenever Alex was making good points, Coulter
got loud and was nearly yelling.

Alex exposed Coulter as a trojan horse neo-con
shill for the New World Order.
----------------------------------------------

[John Cole]

brad,

But you found out that Joe McCarthy is a Great American Hero, didn't you?

John

[brad]

well lets not get crazy but you know he wasnt the nut he was (is) made out to be insofar as there were communists in government and such.

but he main point is that he wasnt destroyed until he started saying , hey, this goes beyond communism. (ie, attacking right wing too.)

and now 50 years later , nafta, gatt, etc. , globalism, our manufacturing base moving to china via mexico, etc., our leaders ('left' and 'right' btw) calling for 'global governance', etc.

[andyfox]

He was the nut he was made out to be. Sure there were Communist spies here, just like we had spies over there. But he just plain made things up. It suited the Republicans so they let him have his way until he went "too far," that is, outlived his usefulness. Anticommunism also suited the Democrats, as the Truman Doctrine of aiding "anticommunists" overseas logically required a fight against communists here in the U.S. too.

[brad]

'Anticommunism also suited the Democrats, as the Truman Doctrine of '

thats what i mean tho. i mean dont get me wrong, lots of say union guys who built this countrys middle class were called commies in order to beat down the working man (ie, guys like me).

but its on the record that truman appointed known communists to high level government positions. how truman is now regarded as an anti communist is just propaganda. (of course he did bust unions if i recall correctly, you see how stuff is so manipulated)