Coulter's Crudeness

Boston Globe ^ | 6/19/06 | Cathy Young

[pissant]

SEVERAL years ago, left-wing cartoonist Ted Rall published a cartoon mocking the ``terror widows" -- the bereaved of the Sept. 11 attacks as well as Marianne Pearl, the widow of kidnapped and slain journalist Daniel Pearl -- as a bunch of greedy and shallow attention-seekers. The outrage was universal. A number of press outlets, including The New York Times website, pulled the cartoon. Subsequently, when the Times and The Washington Post stopped carrying Rall's work, conservatives called it a victory for decency.

Now, the right has its own Ted Rall in the infamous Ann Coulter. In her new book, ``Godless: The Church of Liberalism," Coulter takes a whack at the ``Jersey Girls," four Sept. 11 widows who have been highly critical of the Bush administration. She refers to them as ``self-obsessed women" who ``believe the entire country was required to marinate in their exquisite personal agony," and then concludes with this zinger: ``These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by grief -arrazies. I have never seen people enjoying their husband's death so much."

A number of conservatives, including prominent Republican blogger and radio talk-show host Hugh Hewitt, have denounced Coulter's statement. Unfortunately, many others have rallied to her defense. Radio and Fox News talk-show host Sean Hannity has mildly suggested that she may have gone too far, but has avoided condemning her outright and has given her plenty of airtime on his show.

Bill O'Reilly, the host of the Fox News show ``The O'Reilly Factor," has been harshly critical of Coulter's comments. Yet several of his conservative guests vigorously defended her. Republican strategist Karen Hanretty opined,

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

But that's not Coulter, thoughtful discussion doesn't sell many books.

.."with a two by four"

[MrCruncher]

Maybe you read it right, but you need to learn to write it right.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I remember listing to Glenn Beck on the radio in Sept/Oct of 2001.

He mentioned that all of the people who survived the falling of the Twin Towers, were not necessarily heros. Just surviving, yourself, is not heroic. Certainly, anyone who helped saved a life, or lives, would be considered a hero. But, perspective must be given its due.

In the same way, I believe that the widows and children do deserve our sympathy. But, sympathy alone does not make change.

All of those families who lost people on September 11th should move forward with their lives, to the best of their ability. And I especially believe that the surviving parents who had this burden placed on their shoulders should have moved cautiously. Their actions and statements do affect the children... forever. Losing a parent in such a way is horrific. But the aftermath can be even more painful, if care isn't given.

Some of Beck's callers were outraged. But, I understood his point.

[The Electrician]

Very few people will read "Godless" who would not have ordinarily read it anyway.

Can you back up that assertion with a cogent argument? "Preaching to the choir" is a shaky argument, because the latest hubbub has echoed throughout "the universe" in ways that far transcend her past efforts. In order for your dismissive comment to be valid, you would have to believe that the "buzz" generated about the book will have little or no effect. On what do you base that proposition?

Millions upon millions of people outside of normal conservative pathways have been exposed to the "controversy" through 'mainstream' outlets (that are not normally fertile territory for promoting her books) such as the Today Show and Jay Leno's show and two front pages of New York's tabloid Daily News and countless editorials and politicians' statements and on and on and on.

If your assertion is true, then one might conclude that either her previous readership must dwarf the numbers who have been exposed to this latest flap, so that comparatively few net additional readers are available among the possible audience for books that can conceivably be motivated to read it, or else the power of publicity (even bad publicity) has been vastly overrated, or that condemning an author or telling people not to buy a book results in people not buying the book. Or, perhaps you would like to posit an alternative rationale...

[pissant]

How you jumped to the conclusion that I was making a statement to you as opposed to the Rush callers is beyond me, based on the history of our posts. LOL. But hey, I'll be more careful from now on.

[hermgem]

Go and read Godless.
These Jersey widows are the least part of Coulter's revelations.
While reading, it becomes clear why the left attempts to destroy Coulter and her book.
Godless is a power house on spreading clarity.
The Democrat's ploy of using unassailable attack activists turns out as a quite shrewdly calculated strategy.

[cinives]

Unlike Debra Burlingame and Beamer's widow who also received some limited media attention, these 4 have lambasted Bush for giving them ONLY 1.6 million in compensation, they applauded the Clinton-coverup 9/11 Commission, and most pointedly, whenever they are on camera they are bashing Bush rather than keeping the focus on their lost loved ones.

Tell me, how in all that are they putting their lost husbands' memories forward ?

[pissant]

Terry Jeffries is giving a copy away to anyone who subscribes to his Human Events.

And of course you know that the publications such as HE and Newsmax that sell or give away books are not counted in the NY Times bestsellers survey.

[Libertina]

Love Ann Coulter BTTT :)
(She said the Jersey "Girls" (yeah, right) not all the 9-11 widows.

[MrCruncher]

i'm you corrected that.

All is forgiven.

[MrCruncher]

TRY AGAIN:

I'm glad you corrected that.

All is forgiven.

[soccermom]

"When Ann attacks someone she usually quotes them verbatim. I'd like to see a verbatim quote of the offensive section before deciding whether or not I should be outraged. I can tell you I am not ever going to be outraged by a leftist rag's paraphrase of what she said."

There have been plenty of news sources that have provided verbatim quotes. Beyond that, Coutler has been interviewed by several people where she has been presented with the verbatim quotes. She stands by them.

[smartin]

I like this quote from another source:

It just proves Ann's point that the Media decided that only these 4 women and their specific view point can represent ALL 9/11 victims and that to challenge them is to be considered wrong and hurtful.

Notice that everything these women did was for the "greater good" and they are lionized for having the "courage" to say what they said. What a bunch of bull. These women are nothing more than a box of kittens for the Socialists who want to destroy our country. Anytime someone speaks up and points out their utter ignorance and political opportunism, the box of kittens is opened up and the Media wonders "how could anyone say this" about their kittens. Ann is simply pulling the curtain and exposing the truth. The kittens are vultures.

[Islander2]

Right on. You nailed the most important part of this whole anti-Coulter affair. Mahalo Nui Loa

[najida]

So have all the Sweet Potato Queen's books :)

[Reactionary]

"And I like her even more, because she enjoys doing it as much as I like seeing it."

By g-d, I do too.

Ann Coulter is an American treasure.

[cinives]

Let's see - Coulter didn't suffer a personal loss that she claims gives her absolute moral authority to pronounce on areas in which she has no expertise.

THAT's the difference.