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."
Weight challenged friends?
Ann Coulter is a great writer and conservative. Are you a groupie??? Dude, get a life.
You're a Clown, ain't ya!
Damn,
I wondered where the "You're an Attention Whore" diaspora wandered off too. As for the remark about weight challenged, do we act like we care? Am I jealous?
Why should I be? I wouldn't want you as a 'fan' for all the money in the world!
Listen,
I admire Ann's debating abilities--- when she uses them. But she hasn't of late and instead has become a rock thrower only. Silly name calling and being mean is what I DON'T like about her.
End of story.
Seriously folks, she sells books. She sold a lot more with her 'fag' comment about Edwards.
Concerning Edwards, I have to wonder about any man with hair that good.
.
.
(Wait for it!)
.
.
Did he scalp some poor woman and have it transplanted to his head?
Holy Moley did this thread deteriorate?
Najida looks pretty cute, actually. A few years ago
I went to the Laguna Art Festival which is also famous
for "The Pageant of the Masters". Anyway at the festival
there was a belly dancing troop. If I were a little kid,
I would have nightmares. These ladies were scarey
looking with trowled on makeup and belly rolls that rival
the lava flows of Kilauea.
Now about skinny Ann. I happen to be a "thin" woman
with an extremely fast metabolism. Ann is tall. Tall
people tend to be thinner because their body has to do
more work to metabolize. Though she's skinny, I could
give her benefit of doubt, because she appears to have
good muscle mass and skin color.
No. Ann would not make a good belly dancer. There, dots
connected.
I have never known her to be visious. She is sarcastic, you know, illustrating the absurd with absurdity.
The MSM portrays her statements as vicious, but they don't portray any Dem attacks as vicious.
Ann is funny. I wish I had a fraction of her wit.
I didn't see Ann's speech where she issued the "faggot" line, but I would think "poofter" or "flamboyant" would probably have been a better word.
Perhaps, but Ann loses sight of the fact that the best satire is only a very mild caricature of its subject. The better a satire piece, the further a reader can get before thinking "Hey wait a minute--is this the Onion!?"
Then, I suggest you should't use the word so liberally. Ann is a consevative icon and is never vicious, just accurate. Is she fierce? (savage, violent)? Puhleese! Words mean things!
Have you had any?
http://www.dazbert.co.uk/sites/rudefood/index.php?page=food/faggots.htm
This is the same black actor that ann coulter was referring to having had to go to rehab.
just a reminder that as a general rule, african americans are not friendly to the gays. this award was a way of underlining that point. it was a slap in the face to the pc people that made him go to rehab for saying "faggot".
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