Posted on 06/07/2006 4:51:37 PM PDT by new yorker 77
Conservative author Ann Coulter sparked a storm on Wednesday after describing a group of September 11 widows who backed the Democratic Party as millionaire "witches" reveling in their status as celebrities.
"I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much," Coulter writes in her book "Godless: The Church of Liberalism," published on Tuesday, referring to four women who headed a campaign that resulted in the creation of the September 11 Commission that investigated the hijacked plane attacks.
Coulter wrote that the women were millionaires as a result of compensation settlements and were "reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by grief-arazzis."
A spokeswoman for publisher Crown Forum said it had set a first print run of 1 million copies of "Godless" and there were 1.5 million copies of Coulter's previous four books in print.
The four women, Kristen Breitweiser, Patty Casazza, Mindy Kleinberg and Lorie Van Auken, declined to discuss the book in detail but issued a statement saying they had been slandered.
"There was no joy in watching men that we loved burn alive. There was no happiness in telling our children that their fathers were never coming home again," said the statement signed by the four, along with a fifth woman, Monica Gabrielle.
The four women, who live in or around East Brunswick, New Jersey, became friends after September 11 and formed a group that agitated for the investigation. "Our only motivation ever was to make our nation safer," they said.
Coulter, whose books include the bestseller "How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)," argues in the new book the women she dubs "the Witches of East Brunswick" wanted to blame President George W. Bush for not preventing the attacks.
She criticized them for making a campaign advertisement for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry in 2004, and added: "By the way, how do we know their husbands weren't planning to divorce these harpies? Now that their shelf life is dwindling, they'd better hurry up and appear in Playboy."
PERSONAL ATTACKS
Asked by Reuters why she made such personal comments, Coulter said by e-mail, "I am tired of victims being used as billboards for untenable liberal political beliefs."
"A lot of Americans have been seething over the inanities of these professional victims for some time," she added.
Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg (news, bio, voting record) of New Jersey said Coulter's "shameless attack" on the widows sparked disgust. "Her bookselling antics and accompanying vulgarity deserve our deepest contempt," he said in a statement.
The New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News. Corp., slammed the comments in an article on Wednesday headlined: "Righty writer Coulter hurls nasty gibes at 9/11 gals."
Coulter, a regular television commentator who is hugely popular among some conservatives, was challenged on NBC's "Today" show on Tuesday over what host Matt Lauer called "dramatic" remarks, prompting her to say, "You are getting testy with me."
Coulter is known for a combative column after September 11 saying, "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." In one book, she wrote, "Even Islamic terrorists don't hate America like liberals do."
Her latest comments were quoted on radio stations in New York on Wednesday and the book was the subject of debate on Web sites such as www.salon.com. The Daily News newspaper's front-page headline was "Coulter the Cruel."
The controversy appeared to be doing no harm to sales of Coulter's latest book, which was listed as the second-best seller of the day at online retailer Amazon.com on Wednesday afternoon.
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You're pretty much an expert at it as well my friend.
I don't write books saying that widows are glad their husbands died.
I'd already given up on him being sane, after he started attacking Bush for being as bad as Clinton.
I do enjoy her quick-wittedness and dashing repartee on TV when she is arguing with a lib like Alan Colmes. However, I think this type of argumentation comes across better in speech rather than writing.
Ann is unique, and we do need someone like her to give the libs a run for their money.
But does she really attract more people to the conservative cause?
You know, from what I remember her writing didn't have an angry undertone. Nasty, but not angry. It may just be a demeanor/voice thing for me. She comes off as angry on TV.
I don't know. I get tired of all the arguing on TV. A lot of ruckus for very little progress.
God bless Rush though. He will always be my first and there is something calming about hearing that intro music and the man with talent on loan from God. It's funny that he is such a pillar now. What a difference a decade can make, eh?
Saw Ann on the Today show the other day. Matt Lauer tried to get to her but she was having none of it. At one point, the crowd booed her, I forget about what. From the start, it looked like both Ann and Matt had had spat before the cameras were turned on, they just looked miserable. At the end of the segment, she looked around and asked where Katie was. Couldn't help but think that was about their celebrated cat fight a year or two ago. Ann won that one, too.
I completely understand.
I don't want to lick their boots. I want to win elections. And watch them go out of business. Is that good enough? LOL.
Sleep tight. It was fun.
Ah, if only the Crusaders hadn't bickered among themselves.
I agree with you and think witt always comes across better in person than in writing. Something we all have to be cognizant of in this computer blogasphere.
I can certainly count, and for cripes sake, she's getting beat up right here on FR.
Do you deny it?
If you can't act civil on a public board, don't bother responding.
Are thinking conservatives now suppose to be shrinking violets?
Many of you are proving Ann's point well.
Coulter is an idiot and an embarassment to thinking conservatives.
I'll bet she's gone a lot further up the rungs of the ladder fame and fortune than you have, for having been an idiot, as you claim. Plus, are you a constitutional lawyer and scholar? She is. What's your resume?
You mean we're being cruel, heartless bi*ches?
I don't think so.
LOL. I so seldom watch TV. Brit Hume a couple times a week and the cooking channel on occassion. H&C and the other argue shows never see my screen anymore.
Rush is still the kingpen.
Listen, gotta run. Have a pleasant night.
That is a VERY stupid thing to say and untrue as well.
Exactly.
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