Screed (Is Coulter doing a disservice to Conservatives?)

Spinsanity ^ | 6/30/03 | Brendan Nyhan

[stimpyone]

The more I read of Coulter the more I think she is becoming a liability to Conservatives. She is our version of Al Franken, mildly entertaining at first, but the more you read, the more you realize she doesn't know what she is talking about.

IMHO, we're conservatives, we're right, and we don't need to embrace liberal smear tacticts to make our points. We instead do better making well thought out, well reasoned arguments that disarm liberals on the basis of the facts.

[RJayneJ]

Quote of the Day by Cicero

[Bush2004]

Your view is Baloney.

The fact that she draws the attention she does speaks volumes. The fact that this article exists solely to feebly attempt to smear her is a testament to her significance.

[AZLiberty]

And finally, in a similar accusation, Coulter claims the Times "barely mentioned" the release of decrypted Soviet cables (the Venona Project), saying "[i]t might have detracted from stories of proud and unbowed victims of 'McCarthyism.'" The Times actually ran a 1000 word story on the declassification of the Venona cables. It did not run on the front page, but neither did the stories in the Washington Post, USA Today, Newsday or the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (among others). Among major newspapers, only the Los Angeles Times put the story on its front page.

OK, the other newspapers should be tarred with the very same brush. This weakens Coulter's point?

[agitator]

Seems to me that this guy, who happens to be a favorite of Salon.com, just doesn't like Ann's opinions. And frankly, for all of the nitpicking, I don't see much in the way of anything substantive to complain about. My guess also is that Ann would rip this guy a new @#$hole in a heartbeat if he had the coglioni to show up.

[SkyPilot]

cheap shots and asides directed at targets like President Bill Clinton, the American Civil Liberties Union and Hustler publisher Larry Flynt

Gee, and those three are deserving of so much honor, respect, and dignity!

[hosepipe]

The only people that could possibly be upset over makeing things right for ol' tailgunner Joe are communists, other socialists, democrats and of course RINOS <<-- that both democrats and conservatives despise..

Since the democrats are not credible on any subject, obviously some "conservative" will have perform the hit piece against ANY of Ann Coulters books... especially TREASON... some are watching closely to see whom those "conservatives" are... Let the ad-hominum's begin..

[MaxPlus305]

Already been done:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/939529/posts


I agree, though...just because Ann is saying what we want to hear doesn't mean we should automatically be satisifed with her methods in reaching those conclusions. This author may think she's the anti-Christ but he still makes some pointed claims about her credibility that are worth examining (and tearing apart, if they are erroneous).

[Jim Scott]

I often wonder whether Ann Coulter's political views are just a pose. Having seen her on television, she is bright, witty and appears to be the product of a good education and good grooming. There is nothing about her which suggests she has spent any time crawling on her belly in the mud at a right-wing militia training camp in Idaho. But when she opens her mouth or logs on her computer, Dr. Coulter is transformed into a political creature that could take Pat Buchanan's breath away.

The inference being that Ann is 'too smart' to be a conservative. Another liberal canard: Only liberals are intelligent so if you demonstrate any intelligence, you must really be a liberal. How condescending - and how typical. Ann Coulter is doing fine and the more 'conservatives' and liberals whine about her the more successful she becomes. Very telling.

[Adrastus]

As a rule, the more negative ink an author gets, the more heat his/her writing has caused. Liberals don't waste time on those who are not getting in very solid licks on a regular basis.Comparing A.C. to Al Franken is like comparing Bill Bennett to Elmer Fudd. Not the same league at all. I agree whole heartedly with you.

[Nick Danger]

I don't agree with the author's thesis. I think Coulter fills a necessary role and she fills it pretty well.

Ann Coulter does not claim to be a think tank scholar. I'm sure there are many civilized panel discussions one might attend in Washington where domeheads from the Heritage Foundation square off against pointyheads from the Brookings Institution, quoting Hegel and Plato as they joust and parry. Perhaps they are interesting. I do not know. I've never been to one, and neither has anyone else.

I've been listening to Snakes From The Dark Side call the guys on my side every name in the book for thirty years. We're nazis, we're racists, we throw grandmothers out of windows. You look for somebody on our side shooting back, and they give you Tucker Carlson.

Is Ann Coulter over-the-top? Yes. And it's about time. She has a fast mind, an acid tongue, and a lightning wit. Plus brass ovaries... she'll go right on the Morning Show and call Hillary Clinton "Thunder Thighs." Well shocked-I-say-shocked. The same people complaining about that have been writing "The President is a Dunce" columns for three years. Scroom.

Let's have no more of more of these pablum-fed eunuchs up against Carville and Begala so the networks can demonstrate their "objectivity."

I just love the idea that these liberals are finally getting a dose of their own medicine. Traitors! That's what they are... frigging traitors! Go, Ann, go... and pile it on.

[freebilly]

Of course, Coulter must engage in a complicated set of rhetorical tricks to accuse liberals of "fifty years of treason" (in a 2001 column, it was only "[t]wenty years of treason" - did inflation set in?).

So, the problem is not liberal treason. The problem is whether liberal treason goes back 50 years or only 20....

[expatguy]

...IMHO, we're conservatives, we're right, and we don't need to embrace liberal smear tacticts to make our points...[sic]

Sorry but you seem to be off the mark.

Socialism has more in common with Communism that is does with our own political system and the Democrats are determined to pull us in that direction.

Keep your eye on the ball next time.

[agitator]

Since nobody beat me to it.......

[DPB101]

The more I read of Coulter the more I think she is becoming a liability to Conservatives.

No..she is making other conservatives appear moderate and worth dealing with.

The left has used this tactic for over 70 years. They have the Communist Party out front paving the way, then greens, then progressives, then the DLC. It works very well.

The right needs more bomb throwers on the front lines. Gives cover to the troops bringing up the rear.

Besides, she is correct in what she says.

[roadcat]

Very well said! Thank you for a clear concise response! The liberals have been throwing so much crap around for so long that I'm ecstatic that Annie is calling them to task for their BS.

[Jabba the Nutt]

When liberals are being really hurt, they attack the messenger, they promote 'civility' and they question whether this will hurt the conservatives. It's so heart-warming that the liberals are concerned about the welfare of conservatives. That's so white of them.

I skimmed through this blob of an article and couldn't come up with any substantive way that Coulter was wrong. It is probably her opinion that when the 'Times' or the 'Post' publish something, they are promoting their opinion. She may have explained her citation rules in her book somewhere.

Bottom line, the liberals know they are anti-American and Coulter is hitting the target.

[Jumper]

This only shows that the LEFT is bankrupt and the average intellectual capacity to reason is greatly diminished today in America in addition to "feelings" being more important than the rule of law to the democrats (who feign offense) than actual substance. Ann Coulter is merely having fun dismantling the myth of the socialist elite in America – a group of people who scream bloody murder that a child might be spanked but defend the notion that the child should have not be born but rather terminated via abortion. The Book Treason is making waves because it shows America (at least those in America who can still read) the truth well documented and undeniable with a dose of journalism right out of the socialist slander playbook. Liberals now suffer from the politics of personal destruction syndrome…, of their own making, in which they defame people and switch facts to suit their agenda – only now they are being mocked and exposed for their hypocrisy.

[stimpyone]

IMHO, I can't in good conscience criticize the lies of the left while at the same time ignoring what seem to be gross factual inaccuracies in Coulter's work. If we have our own Jason Blair on our hands, we must speak out.