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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When you shoot from the hip, you tend to blow off a few of your own toes if you don't do it right.
She is not my cup of tea, and I think she hurts the conservative cause more than she helps it. Cheap theatrics are no way to discuss politics.
Oh yes, clarity like:
"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."
Clarity? I call that muddying and effing things up. She couldn't back that cheap-shot up if her life depended on it. She lost credibility, big-time.
AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN. I don't care what she said about anybody who is against, our security,undermines our war.
And who is encouraged by code pink moonbats, and democRats to push the liberal agenda.
One thing is certain: she loves this attention, no matter how negative it gets. She's like the "bad guy" in a wrestling match.
"Cheap theatrics are no way to discuss politics."
LOL!!! Politics = Cheap theatrics.... everyone knows that!
Thanks for the quotes from Ann - Priceless.
I'll enjoy reading them again when my book arrives.
Well, he was impeached. It's safe to say he suffered, and the adage that all publicity is a good thing clearly doesn't ring true. LOL.
I know that I share a lot of Anne's views, but she can point out their fallacies without getting so personal (what's with the playboy comment?). It's as though she is stooping to their level. I agree with her basic conclusion about the 9/11 widows but I think she could have used more tact.
A 141 off of the SW coast of Africa? Going back to Ascension?
I accept your apology. ;^) I do think that if Ann is not toast, she is on the road to toastdom very soon, and it will be traced back to these comments. Very unfortunate.
I agree. Coulter is great! The "witches" have been exposed. Thanks for agreeing with us.
One thing is certain: she loves this attention, no matter how negative it gets. She's like the "bad guy" in a wrestling match.
RINO's, who are really moderatest to liberals, don't like Ann. Is that you?
"She lost credibility, big-time."
We'll see. Her book will be #1 in short order. Many conservatives think she has great credibility and that she says what they all want to say but don't have a platform to say it on. RINO's, on the other hand, will have problems with Ann, as they really aren't conservatives anyhow.
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