Posted on 10/29/2004 11:02:14 PM PDT by publius1
'How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)': All Their Fault By LIESL SCHILLINGER
Published: October 31, 2004
LISTEN, I'm as open-minded as any liberal -- as all liberals. We have to be that way: it says so in Webster's dictionary, where, among other things, the word ''liberal'' describes someone who ''displays tolerance of others' views.'' So I'm happy to let Ann Coulter talk. She stands before me as I write this. Smug, boxy and impassive, she wears one of her trademark microminis. I recall what my high school English teacher back in Oklahoma used to say about essays -- they should be ''like a miniskirt: long enough to cover the subject, short enough to be interesting.'' Coulter's subject must be brief indeed.
I press the button at her waist, and she begins to spout: ''Liberals can't just come out and say they want to take more of our money, kill babies and discriminate on the basis of race.'' I press again: ''Why not go to war just for oil? We need oil.'' Again: ''At the risk of giving away the ending: it's all the liberals' fault.'' Again: ''At least when right-wingers rant there's a point.'' Oh really? I begin to quiz her on this last bit of whimsy, but she doesn't appear to hear me. This isn't surprising because the Coulter who is speechifying at this particular liberal is the Special Edition Ann Coulter Barbie-type doll, loaded with recorded sound bites of conservative vitriol from the venomous vixen herself. The doll is incapable of listening -- just like the woman who inspired her. But there's one difference between the flesh woman and the vinyl one: unlike the toy, the real Ann Coulter doesn't come with the useful advisory: ''Warning: Choking Hazard.''
Coulter's latest grab bag, ''How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must),'' which reiterates and expands upon the insights contained in her doll, in her partisan tirades on television and in her previous books, ''Treason,'' ''Slander'' and ''High Crimes and Misdemeanors,'' is a collection of her published and unpublished fulminations. It reaches as far back as 1991 (a justly rejected rant on feminist legal theory, written for National Review, that begins with her recollection of a snuff film), but concentrates on the more recent work from her syndicated columns. There's the one from last November that jeered at Democrats for asking President Bush for an exit strategy and discounted American war deaths in Iraq on the grounds that the murder toll in Washington in 2002 was higher. And, from this year, her stomach-churning attacks on Max Cleland, the former Georgia senator, mocking him for his 1968 grenade accident in Vietnam, which left him a triple amputee. The cracks are plastered in with assorted cultural musings. (Pondering examples of the ''slutty-girl genre'' like ''Sex and the City,'' she wrote in 2000: ''This is not how women talk. This is how some men might talk -- if women would let them.'' This from the woman who, 60 pages on, describes Americans who question George W. Bush's National Guard service as ''jock-sniffers for war veterans.'')
One of the book's few demonstrations of nuance is a chapter that defends the honor of the Confederate flag, pointing out that liberal-minded Union soldiers praised the valor of their opponents in the South and mentioning that Winston Churchill called the Civil War the ''last war fought between gentlemen.'' But even this chapter is soiled with a gratuitous smear of American blacks who, by wearing kinte cloth and choosing to call themselves African-Americans, Coulter says, ''express pride in their slave-trading ancestors'' back in Africa.
Still, the book affords some unexpected pleasures for nonconservatives -- like discovering how many of its statements you can actually agree with. On the Democratic Party, for example: ''Democrats will vote their consciences even if it hurts them politically and all Republicans ever do is call people names.'' On President Bush, ''the religious-right nut currently occupying the White House'': he ''said he was a 'reformer with results' -- LIAR!'' On civil liberties: ''We must not allow people like John Ashcroft to take away our rights and our freedoms.'' And the Iraq War: ''I'm saddened, saddened, that this president failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war.''
Of course, in all these passages, Coulter means to deride liberal attitudes, both real (two of those quotations are from Tom Daschle and John Edwards) and invented. But hey, for Coulter, that's as close to fair dialogue as a liberal is likely to get. To paraphrase what her side has said of John Kerry, she might as well debate herself. Coulter is the only opponent she's prepared to hear out; indeed, she writes early in the book that she doesn't really want to talk to liberals since ''in most cases I don't even like them.'' Well, in the words of mean girls everywhere: the feeling is mutual.
As a token liberal, I'm uniquely qualified to take on this token conservative because -- What do you know? Madame Alexander used to make a ''Liesl'' doll (still available in collectors' circles), named for the eldest daughter of an Austrian family that fled their country when it was annexed by a corrupt, power-drunk dictator. Perhaps the two dolls can square off. Disadvantage: only the Coulter doll can speak. Advantage: neither doll has to listen.
Liesl Schillinger is an arts editor at The New Yorker and a regular contributor to the Book Review.
BTTT
The term for this "review" is "catty."
Of course, this is exactly what today's "liberals" do NOT do. Even their name is a lie.
Got me. Pretty bad review when all you can really say is you don't like the author. Oh well. I'll bet she wishes she could sell as many books as Ann Coulter!
And probably not as pretty...
I prefer the term "beotchy".
Ok now girls why don't we just take a deep breath, thats right, and try to think of nice things, yes, a bird chirping, you are lying on a beach, feel the sun's warmth, ga ga ga PUKE!
Most conservative books don't even get reviewed by the New York Times.
I can see quite a bit of jealousy in the reviewer. Probably wondering why she is two bit book reviewer and Ann Coulter is praised and adored by conservatives. Also very intent on Ann's clothing. That seems a bit strange in a book review.
The critic really had her feelings hurt by the book. This review will sell books though, even libs will want to read it.
This review is the normal hit piece on Coulter. The liberals, especially this liberal, call her names and take statements out of context. Frankly, it would not shock me to find out that this liberal did not read Ms. Coulter's book. I have. publius1 is correct, just another liberal without facts demonstrating that they are (allegedly) smarter than we are. They are wrong of course, but sometimes it is better to let the liberals talk, because they get in trouble that way.
Or hard working, and judging from the hits on looks, not as good looking either.
I'm reading the book now - it is a riot. And highly accurate.
I don't like talking to "liberals" (leftists - they really stand for anti-liberalsim)either - glad someon ehad the courage and common sense to point it out.
Diva's Husband
I thought Ann Coulter related posts ALWAYS came with pictures? Cough up! LOL
No - - there's really nothing to understand except that Ann clearly hit a nerve. This rambling "review" is nothing more than the typical liberal's response to Ann - - a fit of childish pouting and delusional indignation. That the former "paper of record" actually published this review is another clear indication of just how far the New York Times has slid. It's pathetic.
Regards,
LH
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