ABC's Overnight Anchor Jokes About a ‘Skinny Death Match' Between Paris Hilton and Ann Coulter

NewsBusters ^ | 6/28/2007 | Matthew Balan

[Pyro7480]

ABC's "World News Now," a news program that airs at 3:30 am Eastern, when most people in the U.S. are fast asleep, replayed Jake Tapper's earlier "World News" report on the war of words between Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of Democrat presidential candidate John Edwards, and Ann Coulter during its broadcast on Thursday.

At the conclusion of the report, hosts Taina Hernandez and Ryan Owens had a brief exchange, in which Owens proposed an "Ann Coulter blackout," similar to a "Paris Hilton blackout" that the program apparently has, and Hernandez, as a counterproposal, joked, "Or we can pit them together in some kind of skinny death match." At the end of Owens and Hernandez's exchange, and as the weather report began, someone in the control room at ABC queued-up Elton John's "The B**ch is Back."

Video (1:11): Real (1.93 MB) or Windows Media (2.18 MB), plus MP3 audio (463 kB).

I guess ABC News isn't above the "politics of hate," or to paraphrase Elizabeth Edwards' words to Ann Coulter, "the debasing of political dialogue."

Below is the transcript of the Hernandez-Owens exchange on Thursday morning's "World News Now:"

RYAN OWENS: "Ok. I have an idea."

TAINA HERNANDEZ: "Ok?"

OWENS: "You know how we have a Paris Hilton blackout? "

HERNANDEZ: (Laughs) "Yes?"

OWENS: "How about an Ann Coulter blackout?"

HERNANDEZ: "Ah, no Coulter cash for us."

OWENS: "No."

HERNANDEZ: "No. All right. Or we can pit them together in some kind of skinny death match?"

OWENS: "Skinny death match?"

(Unidentified person off-camera) "Or go to jail together."

OWENS: "Here's your weather."

HERNANDEZ: "Or go to jail together. That's Peter. Here's your weather."

[Hat-tip to FreeRepublic.com poster L.N. Smithee's thread.]

[Pyro7480]

[Hat-tip to FreeRepublic.com poster L.N. Smithee's thread.]

Ah, what would we do without Free Republic.

[Pyro7480]

Ping!

[bray]

If a Tree fell in the Forest...

Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters

[wastedyears]

Except Coulter has class.

[redpoll]

“A skinny death match?” I think that’s funny. Give the guy a break. Speaking for myself, I’d put Ann and Paris in a pit filled with mud and olive oil and let them go at it - the winner gets the first knockout. I’d say Ann Coulter would win in about 30 seconds. (And about the olive oil... well, my wife’s Italian... we cook with it a lot... LOL... )

I would think that this newsreader is a liberal, but that doesn’t mean that he or she can’t stumble into a good analogy.

[mhx]

You know, I like Ann, but I think a skinny death match between Paris Hilton and Ann sounds funny.

Doesn’t sound like it’s the kind of joke that would offend her at all. Of course I can’t wait to hear what she has to say about it.

[nutmeg]

At the conclusion of the report, hosts Taina Hernandez and Ryan Owens had a brief exchange, in which Owens proposed an "Ann Coulter blackout," similar to a "Paris Hilton blackout" that the program apparently has, and Hernandez, as a counterproposal, joked, "Or we can pit them together in some kind of skinny death match." At the end of Owens and Hernandez's exchange, and as the weather report began, someone in the control room at ABC queued-up Elton John's "The B**ch is Back."

ping!

[PEACE ENFORCER]

I pray every day Bush will get a brain....I voted for him twice & gave over 10K (cash) to his campaigns. On a lighter note regarding this article I’ll always say it is better to be “skinny” than to have a “Big Nose”...:)

[L.N. Smithee]

Thanks, Pyro. Thank goodness the NewsBusters people are reactionaries and understood that my slams were for ABC, not Coulter. The loyalty to her every word among some people never ceases to amaze me.

[YouPosting2Me]

That’s HOT!

[paddles]

What a bunch of jerks.

That said, I'd pay good money to see Ann and Paris jello wrestling.

[RDTF]

yep

[Tax-chick]

I think it’s funny, too.

[onedoug]

“C-c-c-cat fight!”

[DManA]

This from a man who's livelihood depends on the 1st Amendment

Or go to jail together

[doug from upland]

What they would get away with if we didn’t have talk radio and the internet.

[Juan Medén]

I’m outraged and offended! But, just damn, I’d sure like to see that fight too.

[weegee]

They want to have an Ann Coulter blacklist too. Boycott Disney.

[weegee]

(Unidentified person off-camera) "Or go to jail together."

Send Ann Coulter to the gulag.

[weegee]

What they would get away with if we didn’t have talk radio and the internet.

They'd have a return to the "glory" days of Cronkite. Journalists being the most "trusted" people in America. Misplaced trust in liberalism.