Posted on 11/15/2003 10:01:05 AM PST by EveningStar
Coulter gets what she wanted at CU
Conservative author says she thrives on battling liberal critics
By Aimee Heckel, Camera Staff Writer
November 14, 2003
Ann Coulter knew what she was getting into when she agreed to speak at arguably the most liberal hotbed in Colorado on Thursday night.
That's why she came.
"How many normal females are going to want to stand up and be called a Nazi and a racist?" said the conservative author and columnist. "As luck would have it, I happen to enjoy it. ... It perks me up to see liberals have nothing in the arsenal."
About 2,000 people filled the University of Colorado's Macky Auditorium on Thursday night to hear Coulter criticize Democrats in light of the war in Iraq. About half hissed and booed, and the other half laughed at her prickly humor and thanked her with a standing ovation.
Some, like Kevin Cooper of Louisville, said he wanted to hear another viewpoint, even if it contradicted his own.
"You can't make a viewpoint with one side. You have to understand the other side, too," he said.
Coulter said CU was typical of most colleges she speaks at, with a little extra heckling. But one thing surprised her, she said.
"I've never seen this on a college campus before: They were applauding Saddam Hussein," she said after her speech. "I was a little taken aback."
Coulter was referring mainly to one question about when the United States will put the interests of the world before its own.
"I think removing Saddam is good for the world. That question presupposed it's not," she said.
In response, some audience members said that because they do not support the war doesn't mean they support Hussein.
Coulter criticized most of the crowd's questions, calling them not intelligent or thoughtful.
"I go to these college campuses and I'm witnessing a breakdown in cognitive thought," she said.
But criticism Thursday night was mutual. In response to Coulter's advocacy of racial profiling to weed out terrorists, some called her racist and others stomped out of the auditorium.
"It's one thing to talk about liberals or conservatives," said Kerry Kite, CU's diversity director. "There's a big difference to come out and crack jokes that have some sort of meaning. But to just defame other cultures and ethnicities is just plain ignorant."
The CU Cultural Events Board organized the event.
Contact Aimee Heckel at (303) 473-1359 or heckela@dailycamera.com.
Later that evening as the smoke from the still burning Pentagon wafted through the neighborhood, we watched the images over and over of the collapsing towers, the falling bodies, the heaps of rubbel.
The next morning there were already those asking what it was we could have done to have so angered the enemy.
We ignored them then and we ignore them now. There are a class of jihadis in the world who have decided that it is their mission to murder the innocent and bring shame to their own people in the act. It is truly unfortunate that there really are so many in this country who actually feel it is our fault that the jihadis are angry.
Maybe we have to get rid of both the jihadis and their enablers!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.