Coulter Won't Buy Into Lauer's Liberal Logic

Today Show/NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[VRWCmember]

I'll read the book myself...

It's 310 pages, your mouth is going to be tired.

OK. That line actually made me laugh. At least this infantile catfight between you accomplished something.

[MamaDearest]

This isn't the first time Matt Lauer got one-upped:

GI gives Matt Lauer the answer he didn't want to hear

Snip: ...Lauer interviewed a group of soldiers at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, and at one point asked about the state of morale. After getting two responses to the effect that morale was good, Lauer had this to say:

"Don't get me wrong, I think you're probably telling the truth, but there might be a lot of people at home wondering how that could be possible with the conditions you're facing and with the insurgent attacks you're facing. "...

After probing for a different opinion, Lauer got an answer from Sherman Powell that you can see over at NewsBusters:

"Well sir, I'd tell you, if I got my news from the newspapers also I'd be pretty depressed as well!"

[VRWCmember]

It's not second hand. It's there, under her byline, on the townhall website.

Since you didn't provide a quote for the characterization that you presented of what she said, it is in fact second-hand. I provided a link to the excerpt for any who are interested in reading for themselves. However, if there actually was a quote there somewhere that I missed where Ann "described the American Eagle as vermin and compared it to a rat" and your characterization turns out to be something other than a grossly distorted misrepresentation of what she said, then please copy and paste it into the thread for our consideration. Thanks.

[HalleysFifth]

The first chapter is online at townhall.com. In it, she described the American Eagle as vermin and compared it to a rat. She's got a heck of a nerve calling other people unpatriotic.

Provide the quotation please.
(Or do you already know that it's not there.)

[Right Wing Professor]

In fact, it exposes not only the fact that liberals usually lie about the environment with their hysterics, but also that the consequences of their lies (such as the banning of DDT) cause thousands of unnecessary human deaths.

That DDT caused a massive decrease in raptor populations is a scientific fact. The Bald Eagle, one of those birds she compares with rats and later refers to as the vermin liberals are always trying to save, was down to a few hundred pairs in the lower 48 states by 1972. Banning DDT was what saved the eagle, the peregrine, and likely some other raptor species from extinction. Yeah, bird populations recovered - after we stopped poisoning them!

On the other hand, the idea that DDT's banning caused thousands of deaths is fantasy. Malaria was eradicated in the US 20 years before DNA was banned, and a good thing too; by the time of the ban, our mosquito populations had already evolved resistance to DDT. The World Health Organization never banned DDT for mosquito control. DDT has been banned locally and sporadically in Africa- most recently in South Africa - but until the 1990s there had never been a serious eradication effort in most of Africa, for reasons which had nothing to do with environmentalism. And the sort of indoor spraying that is most effective in Africa won't have a significant negative effect on birds. The EU pressured Uganda not to use DDT, but mainly at the behest of agricultural producers and chemical companies that make alternative insecticides.

The two biggest current problems with malaria are evolved resistance of the vectors to insecticides, and evolved resistance of the parasite to antimalarials. Evolution of mosquito resistance was a direct result of the massive agricultural use of DDT, which has made it far less effective for indoor use in controlling malaria, especially on the Indian sub continent. But Coulter doesn't believe in evolution!

[Right Wing Professor]

Provide the quotation please

Read the thread.

[HalleysFifth]

Read the thread.

Don't avoid the challenge. You said, "The first chapter is online at townhall.com. In it, she described the American Eagle as vermin and compared it to a rat..."

I read the chapter. Where in it did she make such a description? Did you lie?

[VRWCmember]

Coulter's reference to all the birds being back, and that they were like rats, was a reference to the fact that within 6 weeks after the ecological disaster caused by a sabateur bombing of the Alasksa oil pipeline the birds had returned. As for the "scientific fact" status of the impact of the DDT ban on saving the eagle and other species from extinction, there are conflicting views (or conflicting interpretations of the data) on this issue. To claim otherwise is as intellectually honest as algore's latest enviro-crisis screed.

[Right Wing Professor]

In case you haven't ever noticed, the Bald Eagle is a bird, and in fact it was one of the major species threatened by DDT. Coulter said, and I quote

Carson brainwashed an entire generation into imagining a world without birds, killed by DDT. Because of liberals’ druidical religious beliefs, they won’t allow us to save Africans dying in droves of malaria with DDT because DDT might hurt the birds. ...Birds are like rats—you couldn’t get rid of them if you tried.

and then, in the very next sentence

The various weeds and vermin liberals are always trying to save are no more distinguishable than individual styles of rap music

QED.

[Right Wing Professor]

agle and other species from extinction, there are conflicting views (or conflicting interpretations of the data) on this issue.

Yeah right. Like there's a controversy about evolution.

Let me recommend to you my colleague Paul Johnsgard's 'Hawks, Eagles and Falcons of North America", which is the seminal text on raptor biology, particularly pages 84-95, where he extensively documents the threatened status of raptor populations in 1972 and their recovery since that time. He also cites a massive body of literature on the decline of osprey, peregrine, bald eagle, Cooper's hawk, and other populations as a result of DDT use, as a result of the effect of DDT and its metabolite, DDE, on egg shell thickness.

I can also speak from personal experience. I've been watrching birds in Europe and the US for forty years, and I can testify to the rarity of raptors in the 1970s.

[Right Wing Professor]

Read the thread. And you may also enjoy post 290.

[VRWCmember]

It appears that you are the type of professor who simply dismisses out of hand the scholarship, qualifications, or intellect of anyone who holds a different view of the data from yours. While there are sources that document the decline of raptor populations and studies that both supported and questioned the DDT/DDE primacy of cause in the decline, there are also sources that point out that the raptor populations were declining (and egg-thinning was observed) prior to the widespread use of DDT, and the recovery actually started before the ban on DDT use as laws protecting the birds from hunting and other restrictions were put in place.

[Right Wing Professor]

While there are sources that document the decline of raptor populations and studies that both supported and questioned the DDT/DDE primacy of cause in the decline, there are also sources that point out that the raptor populations were declining (and egg-thinning was observed) prior to the widespread use of DDT, and the recovery actually started before the ban on DDT use as laws protecting the birds from hunting and other restrictions were put in place.

Funny you didn't cite any.

[altura]

It's a shame this thread totally disintegrated into a kiddie fight.

I was hoping someone would mention what Ann said about the Jersey girls.

My husband was listening to the Dan Patrick show and he asks me, "Has Ann Coulter gone crazy?" It seems that Dan and some other loser were saying that Ann was describing the 911 widows as wealthy and enjoying exploiting their widowhood.

I'm sure there was more to it than that. I suspect it was something to do with the Jersey girls. Does anyone know or know how to read an actual transcript?

[RonDog]

From www.anncoulter.com:

Book Tour Schedule
Note: All times are Eastern.

Tuesday, June 6, 2006
7:09 – 7:15 am NBC – National The TODAY Show
11:00 – 11:20 am KVI – Seattle, WA Kirby Wilbur Show
11:25 – 11:40 am WSUS – Franklin, NJ Issues and Ideas with Chris DiBello
12:30 – 12:45 pm WLW – Cincinnati, OH Bill Cunningham Show
1:35 – 1:55 pm WJGR – Jacksonville, FL The John Pendleton Show
6:10 – 6:25 pm WTKK FM – Boston, MA The Michael Graham Show
9:00pm Fox News Channel – National Hannity & Colmes
11:00pm MSNBC – National The Situation with Tucker Carlson

Wednesday, June 7, 2006
7:45 am Fox News Channel – National Fox & Friends
2:00 – 5:00 pm Nationally Syndicated Sean Hannity Radio Show
11:00 – 11:30 pm Fox News Radio – National Alan Colmes Radio

Thursday June 8, 2006
7:30 – 7:45 am Salem Radio Network — National Bill Bennett’s Morning in America
11:05 – 11:17 am Cox Radio Syndication — National The Neil Boortz Show
1:05 – 1:25 pm KVI – Seattle, WA The John Carlson Show
1:30 – 1:40 pm WABC – New York, NY The Mark Simone Show
2:30 – 3:00 pm WMUZ Christian Radio – Detroit, MI Bob Dutko Show
4:00 pm Fox News Channel – National Your World with Neil Cavuto
6:00 pm CNN – National Lou Dobbs Tonight
7:30 – 7:55 pm Radio America – National Michael Reagan Show
8:00 – 8:30 pm KKLA – Los Angeles, CA Frank Pastore Show
8:35 – 8:45 pm Fox News Radio – National The John Gibson Show
10:00 – 10:15 pm KPAM – Portland, ORD Victoria Taft Show

Friday, June 9, 2006
6:40 – 7:00 am WEEI – Boston, MA Dennis and Callahan with John Dennis and Gerry Callahan
7:00 – 7:20 am WWBA – Tampa, FL The Morning Magazine
7:36 – 7:57 am WWTN – Nashville, TN The Steve Gill Show
8:05 – 8:20 am WFLA – Orlando, FL The Pat Campbell Show
8:30 – 9:00 am WCWA – Toledo, OH The Troy Neff Show
9:05 – 9:30 am WGST – Atlanta, GA Denny Radio with Denny Schaffer
9:35 – 9:55 am WAAV – Wilmington, NC Rhonda Bellamy Show
10:25 – 10:30 am WREC – Memphis, TN Memphis Morning News
1:00 pm Fox News Channel — National Dayside with Juliet Huddy and Mike Jerrick
4:00 – 5:00 pm Michael Medved Show 6:00pm CNBC – National Kudlow and Company

Saturday, June 10, 2006
12:10 – 12:40 pm KVTT – Dallas, TX (also syndicated) The Gary DeMar Show
8:00pm Fox News Channel – National Heartland with John Kasich

Sunday June 11, 2006
8:06 – 8:40 pm WRKO – Boston, MA Pundit Review with Kevin Walen and Gregg Jackson
9:06 – 9:32 pm KOGO – San Diego, CA The Steve Yuhas Show
9:35 – 9:55 pm WDBO – Daytona each, FL The Andrea Shea-King Show

Monday, June 12, 2006
7:40 – 7:48 am WGST – Atlanta, GA AM Atlanta with Thom Hughes
7:50 – 8:00 am WBAL – Baltimore, MD The Dave Dorian Morning Show
8:10 – 8:25 am WKRC – Cincinnati, OH 55KRC Morning Show with Craig Kopp and Jerry Thomas
8:30 – 8:40 am KFTK – St. Louis, MO Allman and Smash in the Morning
8:45 – 8:57 am WTIC – Hartford, CT Mornings with Ray (Dunaway) and Diane (Smith)
9:05 – 9:17 am KCOL – Loveland, CO Mornings with Keith and Gayle
10:05 – 10:25 am Salem Radio Network – National Mike Gallagher Show
1:45 – 1:55 pm Nationally Syndicated Ed Shultz Show
2:00 – 3:00 pm Salem Radio Network — National Denis Prager
4:00 – 4:30 pm WRKO – Boston, MA The Howie Carr Show
4:35 – 4:55 pm KOGO – San Diego, CA The Mark Larson Show
5:00 pm Fox News Channel — National The Big Story with John Gibson
6:00 – 6:15 pm KCBI – Dallas, TX Jerry Johnson Live!
6:30 – 7:00 pm Westwood One – National Lars Larson Show
7:05 – 7:15 pm KLIF – Dallas, TX The Greg Knapp Show

Tuesday, June 13, 2006
5:00 – 6:00 pm WBT – Charlotte, NC The Brian Wilson Show
6:30 – 6:40 pm WPHT – Philadelphia, PA The Suzanne LaFankie Show

Wednesday, June 14, 2006
11:00 – 11:05 am KEX – Portland, OR Saturday Morning Update with Steve Lindsley
11:15 – 11:55 am American Family Radio (AFR) – National Today’s Issues
3:35 – 3:55 pm KFAB — Omaha, NE The Tom Becka Show
4:05 – 4:25 pm Ave Maria Radio Network Kresta in the Afternoon with Al Kresta
5:06 – 5:20 pm WFLA – Orlando, FL Bug Hedinger LIVE
6:30 – 7:00 pm Fox News Channel – National The O’Reilly Factor

Looks like Ann will be a busy gal!

[Petronski]

The funniest thing is that AC hardly needs someone to come to her defense - and would probably scoff at most of the attempts demonstrated here...

YES

[chiefqc]

I also heads that it nwas a good thing he was wearing depends.

[chiefqc]

I also heard that it nwas a good thing he was wearing depends.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Kristol lives in am elite bubble. Talk about insignificnt.

[dmw]

You can read about that dialogue here. This is from the Drudge Report which I thought was interesting.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/06/06.html#a8602