A misinterpretation would be another matter, but Ramsey emailed Coulter asking her to correct her book and received no response. The paperback, "which came out well after my email to her" was not corrected.
The closest Ramsey himself comes to saying she was a spy in his own voice is when he says "It was true that the Coplon case — and those against Hiss and the Rosenbergs — stigmatized left-wing views. But the case was not about that. It was about spying, and the spying, the authors conclude, was real."
If you don't like that, you can always go a few paragraphs above, where he says, "Popular culture has named this period 'the McCarthy era' after the least cautious and most buffoonish of the anti-Communists. It has used the term 'witch hunts,' which neatly suggests a hunt for something that did not exist.
"But spies do exist. Through the story of the two trials, of the doddering judge who lets the defense attorney run wild, of the government's fumbles and lies, Coplon's innocence is never clear. It was always a leap of faith to believe she was carrying those documents as notes for a book."
Maybe that's not quite as clear, but it certainly doesn't qualify as "refusal to accept any evidence".
I also find it odd that he refers to McCarthyism as stigmatizing what he apparently calls "liberals" and I usually call "leftists". Is he rejecting the common left-liberal premise that McCarthyism set back the cause of anti-Communism?
He said that "the Coplon case — and those against Hiss and the Rosenbergs — stigmatized left-wing views." He was not referring to the McCarthy hearings. I don't know whether he is rejecting conventional wisdom on this or not.
what he apparently calls "liberals" and I usually call "leftists"
Me too.
Coulter isn't the first conservative Ramsey's attacked. For instance, here's his negative review of Michelle Malkin:
Sure they were negative reviews, but I wouldn't call those "attacks".
Also, Ramsey is NOT a conservative--- he is a libertarian, and he should not represent himself as a conservative.
Actually, one of his articles for Liberty magazine was titled "Why I am not a libertarian".
That's my point--- Ramsey IS a libertarian who for whatever reason calls himself a conservative. Was this the article by him you referenced? http://libertyunbound.com/archive/2003_07/ramsey-absolutist.html Interesting article.
I strongly disagree with Ramsey's criticisms of Michelle Malkin, but perhaps I was engaging in hyperbole myself when I called his review an outright attack. Still, I don't think his criticisms were justified and I don't think Coulter's honest interpretation deserves to be called a lie. Now, I will admit she should probably add Ramsey's e-mail to her book-- Michelle Malkin has been the bigger person in a similar situation, despite the fact that the person complaining was much more obnoxious than Ramsey.
Still, I think the most that comes out of your point is that Coulter was too busy too be bothered. A good point on your part that points up a possible flaw of hers, but not enough to detract from my admiration of her, nor from the fact that "Treason" is a very good and very useful book whose time had come.