Coulter Won't Buy Into Lauer's Liberal Logic

Today Show/NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[governsleastgovernsbest]

by Mark Finkelstein

June 6, 2006

While considerable attention focuses on Ann Coulter's more superficial charms, from a conservative perspective Ann's real beauty is her absolute refusal to buy into liberal logic, no matter how pervasive. That independence of mind was on display this morning during her interview with Matt Lauer. Ann was on to tout her new book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism, released today on . . . 6/6/6 - sign of the devil and all that.

The first example came in the the context of President Bush's current push for a constitutional amendment that would prohibit gay marriage. The liberal mantra on his initiative, as exemplified by Ann Curry's performance on yesterday's Today, is that this is a cynical political ploy and a waste of time when there are myriad 'real' issues out there to be addressed.

Right out of the box, Lauer invited her to buy into that logic. Lauer:

"David Gregory said if you ask people what they care abou they say Iraq and gas prices. Gay marriages are way down on the list, but that's what the president is talking about and what the Senate is taking up. Why?"

Coulter would have none of it:

"I don't know what people are talking about or how David Gregory knows that. But I do know that gay marriage amendments have been put on the ballots in about 20 states now and passed by far larger numbers than Bush won the election by."

Lauer then hit Ann with a classic bit of perceived liberal truth: "Here's how E.J. Dionne puts it in the Washington Post:'The Republican party thinks its base of social conservatives is a nest of dummies who have no memories and respond like bulls whenever red flags are waved in their faces.' Do you agree with that?

Coulter: "That the base are dummies or that Bush thinks that?"

Lauer: "That he can wave a red flag and they will run to the polls to respond to him?"

Coulter: "They don't need to respond to him. He's not running again."

Lauer: "They want the voters to turnout in the mid-term elections. They don't want to lose control of the congress."

Coulter: "Maybe they want to do what the voters want. Whatever you can say about whether or not Bush has a mandate, the mandate against gay marriage is pretty strong. It passed by like 85 percent in Mississippi. Even in Oregon, and that was the state that the groups supporting gay marriage fixated on and outspent their opponents by like 40:1, it passed even there. There is a mandate against gay marriage."

Lauer: "Do you think George Bush in his heart really cares strongly about that issue?"

Coulter: "I don't know what anybody cares in his heart."

Lauer: "Would you take a guess?"

Coulter: "I know what Americans think because they keep voting, over and over and over again overwhelmingly they reject gay marriage. So why is that a bad thing for politicians to respond to what is overwhelmingly a mandate?"

Ann's rejection of Lauer's liberal logic was again on stunning display a bit later in the interview. Lauer suggested that Pres. Bush's low approval ratings are attributable to Iraq. That in turn engendered the following exchange.

Coulter: "I don't think so. That's the one thing he is doing right and that the Democrats are incapable of doing. That is fighting the war on terror."

Lauer: "But I am talking about the war with Iraq, not the war on terror."

Coulter: "I consider them the same thing. We didn't invade Guatemala."

Cue the rim shot!

[SaveUS]

Ann's dry humor is great! Here is an excert from my favorite Ann Coulter:
"Having been cheerfully assured by "Handgun Control Inc." (aka the Brady Campaign) that the Constitution protects only kiddie porn and says absolutely nothing about guns, The New York Times has been viciously denouncing Attorney General John Ashcroft for having the temerity to suggest that the Second Amendment protects the "right of the people to keep and bear arms." (In an eerie coincidence, the Second Amendment actually says, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.")"
She is just too good.

[WFBFan]

"I doubt that you would call any of them (even Darth Vader Ginsberg) a "ditz"."

On the contrary. Ginsburg is a ditz and that's being kind. ;)

[Non-Sequitur]

And for Ann, she's trying to sell a book, and she gets a very large forum to do so.

Somehow I find it hard to believe that The Today Show audience would be a big source of Coulter fans.

[cinives]

She asked "Where's Meredith" ie Katie's replacement who will be even worse than Katie in the liberal agenda dept.

The weakest part of the interview from Ann's side IMO was the length of time it took her to respond to Matt's question about the reason for Bush's low poll numbers. She paused for a long time, said "um" for a long time, then finally came out very weakly with "immigration". I'd be curious why she had to think about her response for so long. I'd have chalked it up to illegal immigration and big government spending (siding with Ted Kennedy on these issues) alienating his base right off.

[elhombrelibre]

Ann shows these nitwits to be the shallow dilettantes that they are. Lauer is just like a leaf on the river of Liberalism. Where ever the stream takes him, he'll go. Yet he has the nerve to say Conservatives are unthinking and being whipped into a frenzy by a cynical Bush. Too bad he doesn't see so clearly when the Liberals are fanning their Gay base.

[Fudd Fan]

Ahem.
This "Bushbot" will never trash Ann. Never.




Apologies accepted.

[Fudd Fan]

lol~
As a female-type the "flowing hair and long legs" are lost on me. But I'm thrilled to have someone like Ann represent my views and my gender.

[VRWCmember]

On the contrary. Ginsburg is a ditz and that's being kind. ;)

Actually, Ginsburg is a fairly intelligent woman who unfortunately has such a fouled up world view that she reaches the wrong conclusions. It is her belief system in which the state is supreme that is the problem, not her intellect.

[VRWCmember]

Somehow I find it hard to believe that The Today Show audience would be a big source of Coulter fans.

She's not trying to reach Coulter fans on the Today show; she's trying to reach the people out there who are clueless enough to be watchign the Today show. They are the ones who need to be shown the truth, so appearing on the Today show to try to get THEM to buy her book is brilliant.

[Fudd Fan]

Freudian slip there, Zulu.

[pissant]

That would be my request as well.

[griswold3]

I like your tagline!! Haven't been able to stomach Today since 2000 elections. (BTW I didn't vote for GW then and the Today Show still made me sick)

[WFBFan]

"It is her belief system in which the state is supreme that is the problem, not her intellect."

I'll have to respectfully disagree. I've read some of her decisions and the speech she gave justifying their use of foreign law based on the Declaration of Independence....

Having a law degree doesn't mean one is actually intelligent.

[Hammerhead]

Coulter: "I consider them the same thing. We didn't invade Guatemala."


ouch!

I need to to Ann and Laura as my wives.

[clawrence3]

I don't think I've ever trashed Ann Coulter.

[goldstategop]

We should have invaded Cuba. But the liberals declared ousting Castro from power off limits. Since when have they taken the side of freedom? They still think it was wrong to get rid of Saddam Hussein. And yes, they're still godless in their rejection of what the American people value.

(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")

[ImaGraftedBranch]

Weak, Ann. Very weak. The proper reply is "They are the same thing." It's not a matter of opinion, so don't state it as such. The War on Terror has many fronts, including Afghanistan, Iraq, the States, etc. In fact, the War on Terror and the war in Iraq would be the same thing even if Ann Coulter didn't "consider them" so. I suppose you are routinely as quick-witted as Ann can be? Your verbal sparring skills are as honed? You've had time to consider her statement, and, once pondered, you spotted a flaw. Nice. How long did it take you? Could you have responded with such verbal acuity in milliseconds, as Ann has to while facing down these attacks every day?

Please, show me a video of your last encounter with rabid leftists, and the perfection of your replies within milliseconds! Psshht.

[Petronski]

Please show me where I said I could do it better.

Also, please show me how you know how long it took for me to spot her error.


Good grief, people, she's not perfect. The Cult of Ann is just a little creepy.

[ImaGraftedBranch]

#137.

[Steve0113]

This fundamental disagreement with liberals at the root perception of the way the world works, is why I can no longer tolerate the company of the Left.

Same here. Their notion of reality is so distorted that there can be no common ground for discussion or debate. In particular, they have a disturbing indifference to whether a statement is actually true -- if it's something they wish were true, then that's close enough. You can't argue with someone who is operating in his own personal reality.