Today's Setting Back the Human Race Award "Winner"
Ann Hart Coulter has been described by Wikipedia as: "an American conservative columnist and political commentator, and a best-selling author. She frequently appears on television, radio and as a speaker at public and private events.
Known for her confrontational style, she has been described by The Observer as "the Republican Michael Moore", and "Rush Limbaugh in a miniskirt". Coulter has described herself as a "polemicist" who likes to "stir up the pot" and does not claim to be "impartial or balanced." My problems with Ms. Coulter are not her political views, stridency or her arrogance. My real problem is her cowardice. A real social critic, pundit, even a gadfly first examines the foibles of groups or individuals that are at least connected to matters of public import. I understand that the personal is political and vice-versa, however the vituperative and mean-spirited attacks that are her hallmark are rarely directed at what are true issues.
A real social critic, pundit, even a gadfly first examines the foibles of groups or individuals that are at least connected to matters of public import. However the targets of the former practicing attorney and political staffer are not for the most part policy blunders, failures of leadership, intellect or even dishonesty. Rather she seems to simply go after the most vulnerable area as hard as she can and say the most inflammatory thing possible: "liberals love America like O.J. loved Nicole," calling the venerable Helen Thomas, "that old Arab," calling for a preemptive nuclear strike on North Korea, one of her best known- "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity," stating school desegregation produced, "illiterate students knifing one another between acts of sodomy in the stairwell." declaring liberals, " either traitors or idiots and saying the execution of John Walker Lindh would be good because it would, "physically intimidate liberals."
The question is does she intend to be taken seriously or does she even care? Though there are figures on the left, Al Franken and former beaux Bill Maher who have some similarities in terms of strategic approach but her scorched earth tactics set her apart. The left, it seems, has no answer for her rhetorical grenade attacks. Not to say she has not been counter attacked she was tagged with "telebimbo" [Salon] and "skank," and "the Paris Hilton of postmodern politics"; according to a blog kept by Vanity Fair's James Wolcott TIME's own Andrew Sullivan has called her a "huckster of ideological hate" on his blog. Her power radiates directly from her personality, unlike tradional academics, journalist or broadcasters she appears to need no network, foundation, or institution to do what she does. Even many fellow conservatives are leery of her From the late Jerry Fallwell to William Kristol and George Will have at times distanced themselves or mildly chided her.
Clearly she's not for all tastes, but how firmly is her tongue planted in her cheek? A large portion of her reader and fans are young white students or young professionals who want to be told the priviledges of their race and class are sacrements rather than a cause for guilt and shame.
Clearly she's not for all tastes, but how firmly is her tongue planted in her cheek? A large portion of her reader and fans are young white students or young professionals who want to be told the priviledges of their race and class are sacrements rather than a cause for guilt and shame. The fact is that much of what she says perhaps should be viewed through a prism of irony. Sascha Baron Cohen, Jon Stewart, Al Franken, Dennis Miller and the aforementioned Maher have all railed against easy targets and ruffled feathers using humor as a edged weapon as has Coulter: [from John Cloud's 4/17/2005 Time story-
Last year Coulter wrote a column in which she joked, "Like many of you, I carefully reviewed the lawsuits [alleging bias] against the airlines in order to determine which airlines had engaged in the most egregious discrimination, so I could fly only those airlines ... Imagine the great slogans the airlines could use:
"'Now Frisking All Arabs--Twice!' ...
"'You Are Now Free to Move About the Cabin--Not So Fast, Mohammed!'"
Though she often plays her word bomb assaults for laughs she also has a real passion and commitment to seeing the Post-McCarthy hardcore conservatism she espouses implemented in all phases of the public sphere from gender equity to racial discrimination and taxation. Part of appeal of Coulter is the juxtaposion of: Edie Sedgewickesque cool, patrician sex appeal, rough and tumble frat house humor and a highly sharpened legal mind. So is she just a "Borat" styled performance persona? I think not. When ever someone asks her that she makes a joke of it but in her eyes she seems to rankle at the thought of being seen as a phony.
The only reason I mention her is the most recent outrage. As many of you may know Ms. Coulter has announced that she hoped presidential candidate John Edwards would be "killed in a terrorist assassination plot," she has also referred to him as a "faggot" Coulter also accused the Edwards camp of making bumper stickers that say "Ask Me About My Dead Son," she has also made fun of Hillary Rodham Clinton's legs and compared Barack Obama to terrorists because his middle name is Hussein. The Left Bloggers called her a "verbal suicide bomber" and likened her to David Duke. Unlike Duke Ann Coulter is a money and media machine churning out best-selling books and commanding speaking fees as high as the mid-five figures. Not just because she is fetching to the eye of some and occasionally funny and smarter than she may sound, Ann Coulter is a true "American" success story whether we like it or not.
