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Has Ann Coulter Hit Her Tipping Point?
AP ^

Posted on 03/11/2007 9:08:10 AM PDT by doesnt suffer fools gladly

Has Ann Coulter Hit Her Tipping Point?

By DAVID BAUDER

NEW YORK (AP) - Ann Coulter has been a reliable name for years among people who plan television news shows - an attractive, articulate blonde conservative who's made a living lobbing verbal bombs.

Following her use of a gay slur about Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards this month during remarks to the Conservative Political Action Conference, some on TV are wondering whether her shelf life is expiring.

Many were angered by her use of the "f-word". Coulter later said she considered it a "schoolyard taunt." She said it was a joke about "Grey's Anatomy" actor Isaiah Washington saying he would seek counseling after using the word to refer to a fellow actor.

At least four daily newspapers have dropped Coulter as a columnist, citing her comment about Edwards.

Head-turning remarks are hardly anything new for the author of "Godless: The Church of Liberalism" and "How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)." In "Godless" last year, she wrote of World Trade Center widows: "I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much."

"It's a world of 'are you talking about me? are you talking about me?'" said Steve Friedman, executive producer of "The Early Show" on CBS. "And eventually you have to get more and more outrageous to be talked about. One day you cross the line and become persona non grata. I think she's getting close. I think Bill Maher is getting close."

Friedman has no plans to book Coulter on his show, but said he had no plans even before her Edwards comment.

Some people on NBC's "Today" show didn't want to see Coulter before she was booked to talk about "Godless" last summer, said Jim Bell, the show's executive producer.

He overruled them. Having only certain points of view would make for a bland program, he said. Since Coulter is a best-selling author, clearly there's an audience that responds to her. Coulter also appeared on a "Today" segment this Feb. 8, debating a University of Pennsylvania professor.

Bell said last week that Coulter's legitimate points of view are beginning to get lost in the noise of being outlandish.

"She sometimes goes out of her way to push some buttons and tends to generate more heat than light," he said. "We love a lively debate, but we would tend to get people who would generate more light."

Said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism: "You do wonder whether she's destined for 'Dancing With the Stars' at some point."

Several conservatives criticized Coulter for her Edwards remarks. Fellow columnist Michelle Malkin lamented that Coulter had tarred the work of people at the Washington conference. She called Coulter's humor "tired old shtick." Tim Graham, director of media analysis at the Media Research Center, said some conservatives envy the attention she gets and dislike how she distracts from legitimate arguments.

"If you got the sense that she was saying things you thought she believed, it would help," he said.

Still, Graham said it would be "outrageous" if Coulter is blacklisted by networks but Maher isn't. The HBO comic angered some by recent remarks suggesting more people would live if an assassination attempt against Vice President Dick Cheney had been successful.

The liberal organization Media Matters for America, which has long campaigned against Coulter, hopes this is a "defining moment" that causes TV networks to turn their backs on her, said spokesman Karl Frisch.

MSNBC once fired Coulter as a regular contributor after a remark she made to a Vietnam veteran. But Coulter has appeared there as a guest on shows and the network has no policy against her.

The remarks "won't stop conservatives from buying her books and her ability to sell books is what drives her bookings on TV," said MSNBC's "Hardball" host Chris Matthews.

CNN had scheduled Coulter to appear with Paula Zahn last Monday. The network said Coulter canceled her appearance.

"We have and will continue to interview provocative guests and ask them tough questions," CNN spokeswoman Christa Robinson said. "We don't have overall bans about anyone. We will book them when we think it is appropriate to do so, on a case by case basis."

The changing nature of cable news may limit Coulter's ability to speak to those who don't already agree with her. Cable talk shows used to be built upon fiery debate, while now there are more shows that take a point of view and depict world events through that prism. Think Lou Dobbs, Keith Olbermann and Glenn Beck.

A spokeswoman for Coulter did not return a call for comment. Coulter, however, did appear on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" three days after the Edwards remark and belittled the idea that it would do lasting damage to her. It's a cycle, she said: she says something, the same people become hysterical, and that's the end of it.

It's about her 17th allegedly career-ending moment, she said.

"It happens about every six months," Coulter said, "and you're always there to put me on TV, Sean."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: coulter
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To: Sam Hill
Yes these three or four dozen Coulter bashing threads are all about "ideas."

Coulter is a public figure, who displayed her figure on the cover of her latest book.

Public figures get bashed. It comes with the territory. Ann has made it clear she doesn't mind. In fact, she welcomes it.

But I don't like Coulter bashing threads any more than I like any bashing threads. People are made in the image of G-d and deserve to be respected as such.

Their ideas don't necessarily need to be respected, though.

Najida (or however you spell it) is not a public figure. She has not posed as a cover girl anywhere I know of. She has not put herself in the public eye and done outrageous things to draw attention to the outrageousness of the left. Picking on her personally is as bad as it gets.

If you disagree with what she said, say why. Maybe you can defend yourself and maybe you did. But you picked on her for her looks, and I can't see any excuse for that.

Of course, you don't have to please me so do as you like. I just posted my opinion about what you said.

That's what we used to do on FR.

Shalom.

261 posted on 03/12/2007 2:18:23 PM PDT by ArGee (Reality - what a concept.)
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To: ArGee

"Najida (or however you spell it) is not a public figure. She has not posed as a cover girl anywhere I know of. She has not put herself in the public eye and done outrageous things to draw attention to the outrageousness of the left. Picking on her personally is as bad as it gets."

I didn't pick on her for her looks. I merely posted her photo.

In my more than a decade of posting on the internet I have never made fun of anyone's looks. Ever.

And I only posted Najida's photo after she smeared Coulter with the libel that she is anorexic.

Get over your tiresomely self-righteous self.


262 posted on 03/12/2007 2:26:16 PM PDT by Sam Hill
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To: Sir Francis Dashwood

No. You are not the only one.


263 posted on 03/12/2007 2:30:04 PM PDT by Jo Nuvark (Those who bless Israel will be blessed, those who curse Israel will be cursed. Gen 12:3)
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To: Dr. Scarpetta

That's nice. He is still an effeminate and therefore a faggoty example of liberal trash and a political enemy. Ditto in answer to your #258. If you spent as much space attacking Edwards as in going after Annie, it would be more effective conservatism no matter how mannered or scholarly. Ann is right. Her critics are not.


264 posted on 03/12/2007 2:34:41 PM PDT by BlackElk (Dean of Discipline of the Tomas de Torquemada Gentlemen's Club)
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To: Sam Hill; najida
I had to go back and find the post that set you off. This is Najida's post:

To: SerpentDove

You mean the nearly ANNorexic fighting machine.

Folks seem to be forgetting how bad the 2006 November elections were. We were stomped, remember?

We ain't gainin' ground, we're losin' it, and folks here just seem to keep wantin' to lose more!

135 posted on 03/11/2007 2:33:31 PM CDT by najida (One day, a door opens, and you get a chance to start over. But the phone rings......)
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She did NOT say that Ann IS an anorexic. Not in the clinical sense. As I read it, she said "nearly Annorexic" which in that usage can simply mean outrageously thin. And even you have to agree she is thin. Can we all just let it go? Conservatives eating their own is not a pretty thing and it helps no one. No wonder the Dems are in power - we beat ourselves.

Back to lurking.

265 posted on 03/12/2007 2:40:42 PM PDT by StarCMC (FR is a success, in spite of all...cats they've sacrificed ...demon gods they've prayed to. - Bryan)
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To: Sam Hill
In my more than a decade of posting on the internet I have never made fun of anyone's looks. Ever.

It certainly looks like you did today.

And I only posted Najida's photo after she smeared Coulter with the libel that she is anorexic.

It's OK that I did it, teacher, because she did it first.

Get over your tiresomely self-righteous self.

I'll consider your suggestion. And may I politely suggest that you grow up a little.

Shalom.

266 posted on 03/12/2007 2:44:10 PM PDT by ArGee (Reality - what a concept.)
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To: ArGee
"Free Republic is supposed to be about ideas. I wish it were."

"People are made in the image of G-d and deserve to be respected as such."

Testify!

The "Official" Friday Silliness Thread - FREE FOR ALL ^
  Posted by ArGee to HOTTIEBOY
On General/Chat ^ 02/23/2007 4:00:06 PM EST · 198 of 242 ^

Forgot the HTML

A certain young lady named Brittney
Was upset she wern't gettin any
So she tried out rehab
But it wasn't too fab
Because HottieBoy knew better, didn't he?

 


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And while you are at it, what was this BRAAD thing that JimRob asking you to stop posting on FR?

Did it have something to do with your current "SASU" thing, which you say stands for Straight Americans Speaking Up?

Isn't Brittney, aren't even homosexuals, in G_d's image?

Why are you pretending to such piety here?

267 posted on 03/12/2007 2:46:28 PM PDT by Sam Hill
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To: StarCMC

"She did NOT say that Ann IS an anorexic. Not in the clinical sense. As I read it, she said "nearly Annorexic" which in that usage can simply mean outrageously thin."

Nice try, but in her subsequent posts Najida went on to confirm her "diagnosis."

Moreover, being "nearly anorexic" is a lot like being "slightly pregnant."

You either are or you aren't.


268 posted on 03/12/2007 2:51:52 PM PDT by Sam Hill
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To: StarCMC

"Can we all just let it go? Conservatives eating their own is not a pretty thing and it helps no one. No wonder the Dems are in power - we beat ourselves."

Again, the irony.


269 posted on 03/12/2007 2:54:28 PM PDT by Sam Hill
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To: Sam Hill
And while you are at it, what was this BRAAD thing that JimRob asking you to stop posting on FR?

I think it's still described on my home page. You can read it. I'm proud of it. I was demonstrating the emptiness of GLAAD's arguments by applying the same ones to people they would hate. The arguments made exactly as much sense, which is to say, none.

Jim Robinson didn't like it. It's his forum so I dropped it.

Did it have something to do with your current "SASU" thing, which you say stands for Straight Americans Speaking Up?

Similar, but not the same. Straight Americans have a right and a reason to be as vocal about what we believe as homosexual Americans are. SASU was an attempt to encourage them to do so.

You'll notice that both BRAAD and SASU have to do with ideas.

Isn't Brittney, aren't even homosexuals, in G_d's image?

Yes. I don't make fun of homosexuals, although I do make fun of homosexual activists. And, for the record, I think Ann crossed the line calling Edwards a faggot.

I did not make a fool fo Brittney, she made a fool of herself. I made a limerick about it which also picked on a friend at FR who likes to claim he'd hit anything with legs. I did this on a silliness thread (in all this time you spent researching my history at FR you did check out the purpose of a silliness thread, did you not?). Brittney is a public figure who made a fool of herself in public. Remember what I said about public figures?

Why are you pretending to such piety here?

Because I didn't switch to a personal insult when I found out my argument wasn't getting anywhere.

Why are you pressing the issue so hard? Why are you doing full history research on posters on FR. I sense some deep seated issue here.

Methinks thou doest protest too much.

I thought the limerick was pretty good. So did hottieboy. Thanks for posting it again. Some of the folks on this thread might not have seen it.

Shalom.

270 posted on 03/12/2007 2:56:44 PM PDT by ArGee (Reality - what a concept.)
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To: Sam Hill
I'm out for the night. Since you had time to research my history on FR this is apparently your life. It is not mine. If getting in the last word means you win, please post something and win. I'm done.

Shalom.

271 posted on 03/12/2007 2:58:18 PM PDT by ArGee (Reality - what a concept.)
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To: ArGee

To sum up, you complain that FR used to be about "ideas" but spend most of your time posting on FR's "Sillliness" threads. (And other "serious" threads making fun of someone with the name "Redick.")

You say that you respect everyone because they are in G-d's image, but you mock whoever you feel like when it suits you.

And, in fact, you have even organized two "ping" lists to organize your mocking of homosexuals. The first one was so offensive to the owner of this site that you were forced to stop it.

And yet you are here to chide me for posting a picture about someone who was calling Coulter anorexic. (No insults. Just her photo, of which she is proud.)

And you are also here to chide Ann Coulter for making a joke that you find offensive.

No, no hypocrisy at all. None whatsoever.

(And, no, there is no explanation of what BRAAD was on your homepage. But it's easy to guess.)

You keep saying "Shalom" (although you claim to be a Christian), but you don't go.


272 posted on 03/12/2007 3:07:35 PM PDT by Sam Hill
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To: All

I have found the "idea" rich BRAAD mission statment, after all:

http://tinyurl.com/2j6gkp

Sheesh. It's dumber than I had imagined.


273 posted on 03/12/2007 3:19:53 PM PDT by Sam Hill
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To: Sam Hill

Anyone notice a pulled thread here? Just wondering.


274 posted on 03/12/2007 3:27:29 PM PDT by PJ-Comix (Join the DUmmie FUnnies PING List for the FUNNIEST Blog on the Web)
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To: Sam Hill

Ya know, you seem to have a chip on your shoulder as big as the state of Texas.


275 posted on 03/12/2007 3:30:01 PM PDT by Fierce Allegiance (There are 2 types of Rudy fans - uninformed or anti-conservative TROLLS who do not belong on FR!)
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To: PJ-Comix

Are you calling for censorship?

What a surprise.

(Not.)


276 posted on 03/12/2007 3:30:17 PM PDT by Sam Hill
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To: Sam Hill

Nope. But SOMEONE is trying to censor me.


277 posted on 03/12/2007 3:31:35 PM PDT by PJ-Comix (Join the DUmmie FUnnies PING List for the FUNNIEST Blog on the Web)
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To: Fierce Allegiance
Ya know, you seem to have a chip on your shoulder as big as the state of Texas.

Everyone else sees a semi-emaciated Ann Coulter but Sam Hill continues to see a big white whale.

278 posted on 03/12/2007 3:33:21 PM PDT by PJ-Comix (Join the DUmmie FUnnies PING List for the FUNNIEST Blog on the Web)
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To: Fierce Allegiance

I have a "chip on my shoulder" because I am not willing to stand back and watch a person be savaged in thread after thread for making a (very good and apt) joke?

A person who has done more for conservatism than anyone with the possible exception of Limbaugh. (Who was also savaged around here.)

A person who has gone out of her way to help promote this very site.

Hilarious.


279 posted on 03/12/2007 3:34:16 PM PDT by Sam Hill
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To: PJ-Comix

"Everyone else sees a semi-emaciated Ann Coulter but Sam Hill continues to see a big white whale."

Your jokes might actually be funny (though it's unlikely) if you could even get the basics right.

I am not pursuing Ann Coulter determined to destroy her with a irrational wrath like Ahab's. Those people are on the other site -- with you.

But I suspect your education comes more from comic books than real books. So your confusion is to be expected.


280 posted on 03/12/2007 3:37:42 PM PDT by Sam Hill
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