Ann Coulter at CPAC

National Center for Public Policy Research ^ | 2-4-07 | Amy Ridenour

[SJackson]

Ann Coulter at CPAC

I'm sorry to see that Ann Coulter once again made certain news coverage of CPAC would be focused upon her instead of upon the conservative movement's goals and principles.

The National Center for Public Policy Research is one of very many co-sponsors of CPAC, and has been for some years. After Ann Coulter's offensive speech last year, we telephoned the organizers and strongly suggested that Ann Coulter's behavior was harmful to, and unrepresentative of, the conservative movement. We said we were considering pulling out our co-sponsorship because of Ann Coulter's "raghead" comment, and asked them to not invite Ann Coulter to speak in CPAC 2007, or, at the very least, only invite her if she was told to can the offensive speech, and explicitly agreed to do so. I had 90 percent decided to stop our co-sponsorship for CPAC 2007, but the sponsor seemed to be taking our concerns about Coulter's 2006 remarks seriously and with what seemed to us to be appropriate sympathy, so the National Center co-sponsored CPAC again this year.

(I am, by the way. under no illusion that CPAC's main sponsors lose sleep over possibly losing the National Center's co-sponsorship. We do pay a fee to co-sponsor, and all the fees paid by all the co-sponsors together do add up to quite a tidy sum, but I'm sure any one co-sponsor is quite expendable.)

As has been widely reported, Ann Coulter not only once again went out of her way to use a nasty epithet, she pushed her offensiveness up a notch, using a word that is even more universally reviled than the derogatory term she hurled last year.

So, CPAC's sponsors either invited Coulter back without first getting her pledge that she would speak without using demeaning epithets, or they obtained her pledge, and she broke her word.

We'll ask.

It would be better, in my opinion, to not have a CPAC at all than to have one that presents conservatism as a hostile, people-hating ideology. We conservatives have enough trouble overcoming the false things that are said about us without paying for a platform upon which we shoot ourselves annually in the foot.

Some of my past commentary on Ann Coulter can be found here and here.

Here's a roundup of other conservative (and moderate) commentary on the Coulter situation:

"With Friends Like These... (re Ann Coulter)," JonQuixote

"CPAC is Shocked--Shocked!--by Ann Coulter's Remarks," Jon Swift

"Coulter Screams for Attention, Again - Losing Whatever Supporters She Still Had," Patterico

"Ann Coulter Doesn't Speak For Me," Wizbang

"Coulter Said What? (Bumped)," Captain's Quarters

"The Shame Of Ann Coulter," The Moderate Voice

"Ann Coulter at CPAC," Betsy's Page

"Ann Coulter calls John Edwards...," Right Thoughts

"Count Me Out," Lone Star Times

"Ann Coulter Calls John Edwards The 'F-word'," Gay Patriot

"Coulter Needs A Rehab," Riehl World View

"Apologizing for Ann Coulter," MyDD

"On Ann Coulter, John Edwards, and Civility," historymike

P.S. A hostile liberal blogger issues a challenge to conservatives:

Reality: [Ann Coulter] is your biggest star. The people you claim to speak for feel she speaks for them much, much more than you do -- and they're right. She is modern conservatism's id -- she's the one who says what the rest of you would say if you didn't feel it would cost you your standing as reasonable, responsible people.

Want to prove me wrong? You cut her off. You boycott the sponsors of TV shows that still invite her on as a guest. You show up at her book signings and campus appearances and hand out flyers quoting her nastiest bon mots. You boycott CPAC next year if she's invited, and demand that others do the same. Or if you have a problem with boycotts as a matter of principle, at the very least urge your fellow conservatives, on college campuses and elsewhere, to stop extending invitations to her, given the profound harm you say she does to your movement.

But you won't do that, will you? In that case, shut the hell up, hypocrites, and acknowledge that while Coulter may be the bad apple in the family, your door is always open to her.

Well?

[SJackson]

I know, it's the National Center for Public Policy Research

Some people know them, some don't, so I suppose the communist front group nonsence might fly for awhile.

Myself, I acknowledge that as a Gingrich supporter who thinks were's harming the Republican (I know that doesn't impact everyone reading this> Party's chances with the anti-Rudy nonsense, I'm a traitor, an abortionist, a Jew who touts the ADL line, a promoter of the homosexual agenda, a draft dodger, and the worst, someone who thinks a lovely blonde, Ann, made a very stupid remark. Compounded by the lack of a simple explanation.

I'd be curious to hear how this helps whoever the Republican candidate might be. Even the mythical anti-Rudy who will be flying down from the moon come summer.

Romney fans, how does it feel to have his CPAC victory overshadowed by the issue of the day in a few peoples minds, faggots.

[Rodney King]

I would generally agree that it was a dumb comment (although funny). But, the GOP compounded the problem by throwing a fit over it rather than ignoring it.

[misterrob]

400 replies with overwhelming in favor of Ann's right to do and say as she pleases. Anyone who didn't agree was a troll, PC type, RINO, uptight, false conservative, etc.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1795166/posts

[Candor7]

Piss Off Jackson.

Anne made a very smart remark, but then you don't really understand Anne do you!

Republicans do not need the Liberal Socialists and Rinos permission to apply wit, innuendo, and vitriol to the political opposition.

Why is it that only Dems can slander slash and burn?

The Dems have awoken their moon bat base using vitriol, have called our president names like Nazi, Kerry called our president a terrorist, Murtha has called our president stupid, as has Nacy Pelosi, and we buckle at the use of the word faggot in an off hand reference to gurly man John Edwards?

How have Republicans devolved to have inherited such weenieship?

I say let the games begin, and in doing so, lets awaken the conservative grass roots of the electorate, instead of putting it to sleep like the RINOs want!

Thank you Anne for reminding us!

[BunnySlippers]

It was a dumb comment, not funny and she shouldn't be invited back to CPAC.

[DocH]

Disregarding all faggots, and "moderate" (read that LIBERAL) WIMP Republicans who don't have any balls, nor either a sense of humor - or sense in general...

Keep telling it like it is, with great biting wit and sarcasm Ann. If it goes over the liberal dolts heads, then, OH WELL.

Ann, you're welcome in my home any time.

[SJackson]

I would generally agree that it was a dumb comment (although funny). But, the GOP compounded the problem by throwing a fit over it rather than ignoring it.

Presidential candidates shared the podium, you can't ignore it. Anns smart, she's clever, plenty of reporters in attendance. Might not have been as much fun, but she could have told a couple them that heck, she's often over the top, but it was a comment on political correctness, that Edwards is a handsome married man, and it never occured to her anyone would take seriously he was a faggot (might want to use a different word). Publicity for Ann, embarassment for the candidates.

[Jeff Gordon]

Do you think it would be helpful if Ann went into rehab?

[R.W.Ratikal]

Ann called John Edwards a queer. Is it true? If it is he's dead meat. I can't believe Coulter would call Edwards a queer unless she knew he was. There would be no point in falsely calling him queer because he is not a serious contender.

The Left pays lip service to butt-bangers but when they can they show their disapproval of homosexuality. Look at how they tried to embarrass Dick Cheney because his daughter was a lesbian.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I know, I'm an ass if I don't condemn Ann Coulter. I won't apologize for saving my outrage for leftists who constantly accuse our military guys of being incompetent, poorly trained, and sadistic. Ann is not an elected official, she's a columnist. Don't like her material? Then don't buy it!

[quidnunc]

Quote:

-snip-

The reason I document these things is because I believe they are collectively the smoking gun that shows how pathological the modern left has become. So tell me – why would I support similar behavior on the right? Yes, Bill Maher did his typically brain-dead and offensive shtick on Friday. But, you’ll note, “brain-dead” and “offensive” aren’t terms of praise. Assuming one thinks that publicly using the word “faggot” is offensive, why would one praise Ann Coulter for doing so just because she has opposite numbers on the other side of the political spectrum who are also embarrassments to their side? I must admit, the logic here is lost on me.

An additional point related to this complaint for you political pragmatists out there: One of the reasons the left lost in 2004 was because of its sweaty embrace of Michael Moore. The hysteria of the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post are ongoing liabilities for liberalism. I’m not entirely clear on why conservatives would cheer similar liabilities in their own ranks.

The final argument was the most ludicrous (although admittedly the competition was fierce). Many of my correspondents thought Ann should have been able to say whatever she wanted. To them, it was a free speech issue.

Yes, America is a free country. Obviously, Ann can do her Lenny Bruce-meets-Gordon Liddy “edgy” conservative comedy shtick if that’s what floats her boat (and sells her books). But when she goes out in public and enters a mature forum, Ann has to clean it up. On Friday, she was speaking from a stage that in all likelihood also hosted the future Republican presidential nominee. This wasn’t a college campus appearance. More dignity was required. Obviously the presidential candidates agree; they have attempted to distance themselves from Coulter, obviously failing to grasp the benefit of having such a putatively hilarious conservative firebrand on their side.

Determinedly clueless to the bitter end, Ann emailed the New York Times’ Adam Nagourney responding to the candidates’ seeking distance from her. “Did any of these guys say anything after I made the same remark about Al Gore last summer?” she asked. “Why not? What were they trying to say about Al Gore with their silence?” To provide the obvious answer of why her Gore comments went unnoticed, her Gore comments (which I don’t have any memory of) obviously came at a less prominent forum than CPAC.

One last point, and this one more to do with conservatives than the outspoken pundit. A lot of people wrote in saying something like, “Big deal. No one offended by the term ‘faggot’ is going to vote Republican, anyway.”

I don’t deny that there are people who don’t consider “faggot” an offensive term. Of course, there are people who don’t consider “kike” an offensive term either. In our current day, the former is a hateful slur word just as surely as the latter is. If you don’t agree with that, it’s important that you at least realize the following – the offensiveness of “faggot” is a certain truth in polite society. And impolite society. And just about everywhere in between. If this comes as news to you, you’ve got to get out more. Don’t quote me a Dire Straits song from 1985 – times have changed. It’s frankly an embarrassment that some conservatives are so eager and willing to embrace Coulter’s comment.

When Ann made her offending comment on Friday, it wasn’t greeted by boisterous laughter as many of you have suggested in your emails and comments. It was greeted by uncomfortable silence. That spoke well of the attendees. The audience at CPAC knew that Ann had transgressed.

Some conservatives, or at least some of the conservatives who have flooded my inbox, think that her transgression was perfectly acceptable. It wasn’t. The use of a hateful slur word in a public forum is beyond the pale. It saddens me that we can’t have unanimity on such a simple and basic point.

As for me, in spite of all the thoughtful emails I’ve received to the contrary, I’m sticking with my original assessment of Ann and her “joke”: Idiotic. Disgusting. Stupid. Moronic.

(Dean Barnett in Town Hall, March 4, 2007)
http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/

[fish hawk]

More so call "conservative" cry baby crap. Hey Cons, get a life and grow some balls. This liberal type stuff from our side is getting sickening.

[Vigilanteman]

Ann should apologize for the "faggot" comment just as soon as the leftwing moonbats apologize for their "Bush lied, people died, selected, not elected, no WMD . . . " and countless other far more offensive comments which get passed along and even rubber-stamped by our Kool-Aid drinking media whores.

[popdonnelly]

Ann Coulter has made a career out of dumbass statements.

[bluecollarman]

I think it is a sad day when we let faggots or the liberals tell us what we can an can't say. How did we get here?

After all, we compromised at every turn and tried to get along with the left's constant whining and ridiculous PC demands.

The fact is we are afraid of them. What they say, what they write, whether we will kill too many bad guys. Hurt some feelings.

There is nothing for us to do but run a RINO I guess. Anything else would be so un P.C. We would surely be raked over the coals and be called very bad things if we ran a real conservative.

We play hardball with nerf balls. We are a neutered. We are Girly men, we are what the left defines us, no...allows us to be. We are afraid and who can blame us? We don't know how to play politics any longer. Let's just have a big cry (After we wring our hands some more of course).

Ann I love you.

[Candor7]

Whats wrong Bunsy Wunsy?

Got your panties all in a twist?

Rudy is a lothario liberal. No the grass root Rebublicans will not support him and plan to sink his primary campaign.

Why?

Get this:

While he was the “Republican Mayor” of New York City he appointed more than 60 men and women to the Civil, Criminal, and Family Court benches. In all of those judicial appointment only two were Republican.

All of his other judicial appointments were either registered Liberals or registered Democrats. As the “Republican Mayor” he had appointment power over more than 70 full commissioners in more than 50 City agencies, yet at no time during his administration did REPUBLICANS account for more than 10% of those appointments.

He even appointed Chuck Schumers wife as the City’s Department of Transportation Commissioner.

________________________________________________________________ http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9054.html “And even as we grieve for those who lost their lives, and our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and their loved ones, we may be able to find some sort of meaning in this tragedy by using it as a catalyst to revive national gun control efforts.” Rudolph Giuliani

Interesting how many Rudy Rotorooters like you think Anne is a harridan. We don't need the permission of RINO supporters like you or the liberal socialist Dems to tell the truth, or to use wit, innuendo and vitriol anytime we damn well feel like it. It awakens the grass roots base of the political party that will sink Rudy.

We WILL SINK RUDY. He is going down.

[Enterprise]

This is what you linked to:

Another stock shocker expected (Further Stock Market Declines For This Week?)

[BunnySlippers]

And Ann Coulter still stinks.

[Jacquerie]

But, the GOP compounded the problem by throwing a fit over it rather than ignoring it.

Correct. The GOP was far less outraged when Mo Dowd, Goodman, et al refer to our President as "Hitler."

[bluecollarman]

"And Ann Coulter still stinks."

I volunteer to check the veracity of this statement!