Has Ann Coulter Hit Her Tipping Point?

AP ^

[doesnt suffer fools gladly]

Has Ann Coulter Hit Her Tipping Point?

By DAVID BAUDER

NEW YORK (AP) - Ann Coulter has been a reliable name for years among people who plan television news shows - an attractive, articulate blonde conservative who's made a living lobbing verbal bombs.

Following her use of a gay slur about Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards this month during remarks to the Conservative Political Action Conference, some on TV are wondering whether her shelf life is expiring.

Many were angered by her use of the "f-word". Coulter later said she considered it a "schoolyard taunt." She said it was a joke about "Grey's Anatomy" actor Isaiah Washington saying he would seek counseling after using the word to refer to a fellow actor.

At least four daily newspapers have dropped Coulter as a columnist, citing her comment about Edwards.

Head-turning remarks are hardly anything new for the author of "Godless: The Church of Liberalism" and "How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)." In "Godless" last year, she wrote of World Trade Center widows: "I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much."

"It's a world of 'are you talking about me? are you talking about me?'" said Steve Friedman, executive producer of "The Early Show" on CBS. "And eventually you have to get more and more outrageous to be talked about. One day you cross the line and become persona non grata. I think she's getting close. I think Bill Maher is getting close."

Friedman has no plans to book Coulter on his show, but said he had no plans even before her Edwards comment.

Some people on NBC's "Today" show didn't want to see Coulter before she was booked to talk about "Godless" last summer, said Jim Bell, the show's executive producer.

He overruled them. Having only certain points of view would make for a bland program, he said. Since Coulter is a best-selling author, clearly there's an audience that responds to her. Coulter also appeared on a "Today" segment this Feb. 8, debating a University of Pennsylvania professor.

Bell said last week that Coulter's legitimate points of view are beginning to get lost in the noise of being outlandish.

"She sometimes goes out of her way to push some buttons and tends to generate more heat than light," he said. "We love a lively debate, but we would tend to get people who would generate more light."

Said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism: "You do wonder whether she's destined for 'Dancing With the Stars' at some point."

Several conservatives criticized Coulter for her Edwards remarks. Fellow columnist Michelle Malkin lamented that Coulter had tarred the work of people at the Washington conference. She called Coulter's humor "tired old shtick." Tim Graham, director of media analysis at the Media Research Center, said some conservatives envy the attention she gets and dislike how she distracts from legitimate arguments.

"If you got the sense that she was saying things you thought she believed, it would help," he said.

Still, Graham said it would be "outrageous" if Coulter is blacklisted by networks but Maher isn't. The HBO comic angered some by recent remarks suggesting more people would live if an assassination attempt against Vice President Dick Cheney had been successful.

The liberal organization Media Matters for America, which has long campaigned against Coulter, hopes this is a "defining moment" that causes TV networks to turn their backs on her, said spokesman Karl Frisch.

MSNBC once fired Coulter as a regular contributor after a remark she made to a Vietnam veteran. But Coulter has appeared there as a guest on shows and the network has no policy against her.

The remarks "won't stop conservatives from buying her books and her ability to sell books is what drives her bookings on TV," said MSNBC's "Hardball" host Chris Matthews.

CNN had scheduled Coulter to appear with Paula Zahn last Monday. The network said Coulter canceled her appearance.

"We have and will continue to interview provocative guests and ask them tough questions," CNN spokeswoman Christa Robinson said. "We don't have overall bans about anyone. We will book them when we think it is appropriate to do so, on a case by case basis."

The changing nature of cable news may limit Coulter's ability to speak to those who don't already agree with her. Cable talk shows used to be built upon fiery debate, while now there are more shows that take a point of view and depict world events through that prism. Think Lou Dobbs, Keith Olbermann and Glenn Beck.

A spokeswoman for Coulter did not return a call for comment. Coulter, however, did appear on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" three days after the Edwards remark and belittled the idea that it would do lasting damage to her. It's a cycle, she said: she says something, the same people become hysterical, and that's the end of it.

It's about her 17th allegedly career-ending moment, she said.

"It happens about every six months," Coulter said, "and you're always there to put me on TV, Sean."

[JRios1968]

But he (Mencia) IS a 'beaner'...

I'll let you tell him...

[Sam Hill]

And as we know, Coulter was joking about going into rehab for using the word. She wasn't using it to "smear" Edwards.

Meanwhile, in a parallel (but vastly different) universe:

Isaiah Washington holds the award for outstanding actor in a drama series for his work on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ at the 38th NAACP Image Awards, Friday, March 2, 2007, in Los Angeles.

[Sam Hill]

"Thats what makes so angry about "Captain Ed", Malkin, Hewitt, etc. for attacking Coulter. They are playing into the hands of the left-wing. And know it."

It's a blog-eat-blog world out there.

And a lot of these people don't like sitting at the back of the room at CPAC while Ann Coulter is speaking from the stage.

Some of them, like Captain Ed, have been "conservative" since way back to 2003. And they want their rewards for all the years laboring in the trenches, too.

And they are willing to tear down anyone they perceive in their way to get it.

[pablo H]

Pity the poor actor.

If only he'd called his fellow co-star a "Nazi", "honkey" or something offensive to Christians - he'd be praised instead of being forced to grovel, apologize, and go into "rehab".

Remember: 'Some are more equal than others'. And "four legs good; two legs bad".

[pablo H]

"Some of them, like Captain Ed, have been "conservative" since way back to 2003. And they want their rewards for all the years laboring in the trenches, too."

LOL!

You nailed "Captain Ed"

Conservative since 2003.

[BillyBoy]

>> Look, the left never sleeps. They have a goal of reshaping society in their image. They -never- let up trying to achieve it. Thats what makes so angry about "Captain Ed", Malkin, Hewitt, etc. for attacking Coulter. They are playing into the hands of the left-wing. And know it. <<

So where were you when Ann Coulter lead the charge to lynch John Roberts? Her looney "he's another Souter" reasoning might have been different than the motives the leftists had for lynching Roberts, but ultimately she sided with the likes of Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinswine, Hillary, Dickhead Durbin, Ted Kennedy, Osama Obama, and Chuckie Schumer in trying to bring down Roberts.

Ann sided with leftists against one of the most qualified conservative judges of our generation. Where was your "outrage" then?

[najida]

And you're the one liking Ann to Mohammed.

I mean, you can't be conservative and say anything bad about her, right ;)?

[BillyBoy]

”In the 1995 case of Barry v. Little, Judge Roberts argued—free of charge—before the D.C. Court of Appeals on behalf of a class of the neediest welfare recipients, challenging a termination of benefits under the District’s Public Assistance Act of 1982. I'm glad to hear the man has a steady work record, but how did this make it to the top of his resume? Bill Clinton goes around bragging that he passed welfare reform, which was, admittedly, the one public policy success of his entire administration (passed by the Republican Congress). Now apparently Republicans want to pretend the Party of welfare queens! Soon the RNC will be boasting that Republicans want to raise your taxes and surrender in the war on terrorism too. Finally, lets ponder the fact that Roberts has gone through 50 years on this planet without ever saying anything controversial. That’s just unnatural. By contrast, I held out for three months, tops, before dropping my first rhetorical bombshell, which I think was about Goldwater. It’s especially unnatural for someone who is smart and there’s no question but that Roberts is smart. If a smart and accomplished person goes this long without expressing an opinion, they'd better be pursuing the Miss America title. Apparently, Roberts decided early on that he wanted to be on the Supreme Court and that the way to do that was not to express a personal opinion on anything to anybody ever. It’s as if he is from some space alien sleeper cell."
'SOUTER IN ROBERTS CLOTHING'
-- Ann Coulter, Ann Coulter.com, 7-30-05

[Sam Hill]

"And you're the one liking Ann to Mohammed."

LOL. Right.

No, Einstein, I am comparing Ms. Coulter to the Danish publishers who posted the cartoons about Muhammad.

She is being castigated for a joke about the PC-ness of certain words, like "faggot." The Danes were castigated for making a joke about Muhammad.

It's no wonder you didn't get her joke if you can't see the aptness of the comparison.

[Sam Hill]

Here we go again.

Folks, do a search on this poster's posting history. And you will see that he has been on an endless jihad against Coulter since she posted her concerns about the Roberts nomination to SCOTUS.

Unless Billyboy is John Roberts' long lost son (or lover), this is psychopathic behavior worthy of a case study by Doctor Freud.

[najida]

I win!

Because of....
a. Namecalling.
b. If someone doesn't get a joke, assess your Joke Telling abilities. (You ain't Dennis Miller).
c. You haven't been reading the 'Get all the Ann haters out of the GOP!' posters. If you had, you would see how easy it is to see Ann as Mohammed and "us" (me) as those poor Danish publishers who are simply expression OUR POV.

Honestly,
Get sense of humor darlin'!

[Balding_Eagle]

Ailes manages to get Fox kicked out of a debate that will be nationally broadcast and that's all the outrage you can muster against him...... "Roger Ailes represents only himself and Fox News"?

After your obsession with Ann I suuspect there is something else at work here. Ailes did many times more damage to conservatism than Ann

Color me suspicious of your motives.

[Sam Hill]

I've re-read your post a couple of times. And it still makes no sense.

I don't know why I'm not surprised.

Congratulations on your "winning" whatever it is you think you have won...

Darling.

[najida]

Screw up jokes and now you can't even deliver a decent insult.

Don't quit your day job :)

[Sam Hill]

"Don't quit your day job :)"

Good one! Oh, my sides!

As I have said before, Coulter's jokes seems to be an IQ test of sorts.

You're just the latest proof of that.

[najida]

Oh please,
Your lunch has been eaten by the smart posters on this thread.
You haven't made a point, other than you are as vapid the idol you worship. ;)

[BillyBoy]

You forgot to add the part about how I should "go back to DU" for not mindlessly worshipping Ann Coulter the way you do.

Aren't you late for services down at the First Church of the Holy Infallible Coulter?

[Gene Eric]

>> Has Ann Coulter Hit Her Tipping Point?

So the Libs are now trying to marginalize AC through back handed sympathy; the recitative for the choir of hoity-toity Conservatives who'll blithely sing along.

[gondramB]

>>Ailes manages to get Fox kicked out of a debate that will be nationally broadcast and that's all the outrage you can muster against him...... "Roger Ailes represents only himself and Fox News"?

After your obsession with Ann I suuspect there is something else at work here. Ailes did many times more damage to conservatism than Ann<<

I don't want to get into Ailes vs Ann since I think they are both unfairly criticized.

1. Ailes made a joke that was much more directed at President Bush and yet the Democrats took the fact that it had Obama's name mentioned as an excuse. If somebody is looking for an excuse they'll find one.

2. The Ann discussion is a separate issue: I don't like the tactic of saying mean personal things about others - I don't like it when Ann does it and I don't like it when its done to Ann. But that's not why people are upset - they are upset because she used a word they don't like. They are really just making Ann's point - that we are dangerously trampling on free speech. Its odd how so many conservatives can recognize PC encroachment in every case but this one.

[Sam Hill]

"Your lunch has been eaten by the smart posters on this thread."

Then I guess there haven't been any smart posters on this thread.

But "vapid" is a word I would have thought you would know firsthand:

vapid, a. Also 7 vappid.
1. Of liquors, beverages, etc.: Devoid of briskness; failing to produce an agreeable effect on the palate; flat, insipid.
fig.
b. Said of taste or flavour.
c. Med. Of blood: Devoid of strength or vigour; weak, inert.
d. Of flowers: Scentless. rare1.
2. fig. Devoid of animation, zest, or interest; dull, flat, lifeless, insipid:
a. Of talk, discourse, writings, etc.
b. Of amusements, pleasures, etc.
c. Of persons or places.
d. In miscellaneous contexts.

Sure, Ann Coulter has you, the DNC and a thousand other jackals at her heels because she is so "vapid."

LOL!