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ABC News Serenades Ann Coulter With "The Bitch Is Back"
ABC World News Now | June 28, 2007 | L.N. Smithee

Posted on 06/28/2007 3:15:39 AM PDT by L.N. Smithee

I was just about to flip off my TV set when I did a cursory spin around the channels to see if there was something happening I would want to TiVo for tomorrow when I came across ABC's World News Now broadcast, a hodgepodge of previously aired ABC News stories read by minor league anchors getting their first taste of national network exposure (Anderson Cooper began his career on this show).

The anchors had just finished a replay of Salon.com refugee Jake Tapper's story on the Coulter-Edwards kerfuffle, which contained Tapper's trademark leftward spin. After it was finished, the male anchor said to the female anchor (I'll fill in those details later if you care) something in the realm of "You know how we have a Paris Hilton blackout? Why don't we also have an Ann Coulter blackout?" As the female anchor proposed that Mrs. Edwards and Coulter somehow have it out on television, someone in the control room played in the background Elton John's "The Bitch Is Back." The song's volume rose as the show went to a commercial break.

Personally, I have soured on Coulter after she suddenly became needlessly strident and gratutitous in issuing insults. She's become a conservative enfant terrible, and doesn't seem to care that while she gets all the credit for stirring up outrage, it reflects badly on people who share her concerns but not her penchant for inflammatory rhetoric.

But this thread is not about what I think of her, it's about what is acceptable behavior for a news program. Essentially calling a best-selling author a "bitch" on a newscast? There is absolutely NO excuse for this.

While the BBC recently openly admitted that there is rampant leftist bias within its reports, there has been no similar self-reflection on the part of American news outlets. I propose a good place to start such a discussion would be right at this point: Who is it at ABC News who decided that it would be journalistically acceptable to play "The Bitch Is Back" after a story about Ann Coulter? Someone in that dark room with all the monitors, switches and levers set it up and said, "Do it." What was in his/her mind? What does David Westin have to say about it? Did the decision-maker figure Westin would be proud?


TOPICS: Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: abcnews; anncoulter; bias; coulter; edwards; jaketapper; media; mediabias
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To: jude24

You don’t understand the difference between Invective humor and namecalling. All of Queen Ann’s jokes have a foundation of truth and that is what the commies hate about her.

PravdABDNC is using censorship to keep her off “their” airwaves since they know they fear her to their bones. But yeah, you can go ahead and hide behind your holier than thou attitude under the bed.

Pray for W and Our Troops


61 posted on 06/28/2007 5:13:25 AM PDT by bray (The Surge is Working on both Enemies)
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To: L.N. Smithee
I cringe a little at some of Ann's comments. But then I think about her targets. These are public political figures with power. Some have a lot of power. They use their power to chip away at our freedoms while lining their pockets with cash and gaining more power. They hold our future and our children's future in their dirty hands.

Ann is using her sharp tongue and pen to expose their true character and undermine some of this power.

62 posted on 06/28/2007 5:16:47 AM PDT by Drawsing (The fool shows his annoyance at once. The prudent man overlooks an insult. (Proverbs 12:16))
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To: iopscusa

In the face of the increasingly “strident” and often outright THREATENING vitriol from the left,

it’s nice to have someone that doesn’t ascribe to the “New Tone” of just rolling over and taking it.

Fred Thompson for President! Ann Coulter for Press Secretary!


63 posted on 06/28/2007 5:17:08 AM PDT by MrB (You can't reason people out of a position that they didn't use reason to get into in the first place)
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To: Laverne
I agree with your comments about how the MSM treats liberals like Edwards in a more favorable light. Coulter’s choice of words, in my opinion, may energize some portion of the conservative base, but has the effect of setting herself up as a target for the MSM so that her influence outside that portion of the base is nil.
64 posted on 06/28/2007 5:17:11 AM PDT by GeorgefromGeorgia
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To: jude24
Truth is an absolute defense. If Ann Coulter showed even a little class, she wouldn't be open to the charges of being a "bitch." But with the little verbal grenades she lobs, she is essentially the Right's version of Michael Moore.

More often than not, Ann's "bitchy" moments are simply her saying similar things that libs have said about conservatives without an uproar. If Bill Mahar wishes Cheny dead, no problem. If Ann wishes John Edwards dead, national crisis.

I'm with Ann and don't give a flip what Lizzy Edwards thinks. In fact, it proves Ann's point!

65 posted on 06/28/2007 5:19:28 AM PDT by lonestar
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SHOW OF HANDS

Alright,

everyone that is a Constitutional Lawyer
and
a Best Selling Author,

raise your hands.


66 posted on 06/28/2007 5:19:28 AM PDT by MrB (You can't reason people out of a position that they didn't use reason to get into in the first place)
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To: lonestar
More often than not, Ann's "bitchy" moments are simply her saying similar things that libs have said about conservatives without an uproar. If Bill Mahar wishes Cheny dead, no problem. If Ann wishes John Edwards dead, national crisis.

"They did it too" is not a very compelling argument. It's wrong when Bill Maher says it; it's wrong when Coulter says it.

67 posted on 06/28/2007 5:21:02 AM PDT by jude24 ("The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born." - Lev. 19:33)
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To: L.N. Smithee

They can’t do that!

That’s Hillary’s campain song!!!!!


68 posted on 06/28/2007 5:21:28 AM PDT by G Larry (Only strict constructionists on the Supreme Court!)
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To: untrained skeptic

The difference between Micheal Mooreon and Ann only start at their weight.

Pray for W and Our Troops


69 posted on 06/28/2007 5:22:29 AM PDT by bray (The Surge is Working on both Enemies)
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To: L.N. Smithee

The bitch mentioned in the song isn’t a woman, per se. It’s Elton John himself as seen by his songwriter. ABC will have the real bitch to contend with if he finds out that ABC has assigned his song to Ann Coulter.


70 posted on 06/28/2007 5:24:52 AM PDT by RGSpincich
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To: jude24

The simple fact is that we need Queen Ann. We have enough of yous in the Republican Party.

You are the first one in line to throw every conservative under the bus that the Dims claim is dirty. We have enough jello spined conservatives and far too few Ann Coulters. Go find a Party that doesn’t upset your fair constipation.

Pray for W and Our Troops


71 posted on 06/28/2007 5:27:50 AM PDT by bray (The Surge is Working on both Enemies)
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To: Laverne
I like Ann, too. Analogies, hyperbole, sarcasm...that's her thing. It flows well in her books and because of it, the left attempts to use her as ammunition. Well, Ann doesn't seem to mind, either. She turns it right back around on them.
Go, Ann!
72 posted on 06/28/2007 5:30:38 AM PDT by babyfreep
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To: jude24; L.N. Smithee

A while back, I read about someone at DU gleefully bragging about being a longtime Freeper, who is trusted and listened to on FR.
I can’t imagine it being either of you because you’re just not that slick.


73 posted on 06/28/2007 5:33:54 AM PDT by philetus (Keep doing what you always do and you'll keep getting what you always get.)
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To: jude24

I don’t think Ann’s “justifying” her stridency by pointing out those on the left that say as much or worse.

What she’s doing is showing the comparative outrage of the “objective news broadcasters” between her statements and leftists’ statements.

She exposes the double standard, though it’s already obvious to most. She’s further grinding the left’s nose in their own bias.


74 posted on 06/28/2007 5:36:52 AM PDT by MrB (You can't reason people out of a position that they didn't use reason to get into in the first place)
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To: Stepan12
Unlike the author of this post, I don't believe Ann Coulter is unecessarily strident; I can understand why our drive by media doesn't admit its leftwing bias, however.

Coulter has become a net negative for conservatives within the last year. You don't need to call somebody a fag or wish somebody dead just because the libs use such rhetoric (yes, with relative impunity.)

Coulter is too smart to let her intelligent banter be sidelined by her unneccesary, go-for-the-jugular rhetoric.

75 posted on 06/28/2007 5:43:01 AM PDT by torchthemummy (Al Queda In Iraq - Undocumented Terrorists)
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To: jude24
Truth? No; her opinion and/or ideology. There's a difference.

She definitely presents her opinion, but she also presents a great deal of well researched facts to support that opinion and which you can evaluate to form your own opinion.

Moore blatantly, intentionally distorts the facts and misleads people to push his agenda. You can't really even honestly say that Moore is presenting his opinions, because if you carefully examine his documentaries, it is obvious that he doesn't believe what he is saying is the truth, he believes what he presents will compel people to support his agenda.

Moore doesn't try and honestly portray things in his "documentaries". Ann might sensationalize things a bit with over the top, caustic humor, but what she presents is based on fact.

Moore uses innuendo and compromising "ambush journalism" to make ideological points.

You forgot the selective editing, the use of biased and non-credible sources (Castro's government), and interviewing people that hold minority views and presenting them as if they are widely held views.

Coulter is lacking in manners, but not in integrity.

Moore lacks both.

Manners aren't really critical to being a credible source of information, unless you're too hung up on political correctness to care about what the truth really is.

76 posted on 06/28/2007 5:48:48 AM PDT by untrained skeptic
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To: philetus
A while back, I read about someone at DU gleefully bragging about being a longtime Freeper, who is trusted and listened to on FR. I can’t imagine it being either of you because you’re just not that slick.

Never went to DU - and I've always been a what-you-see-is-what-you-get guy around here.

Since when did one's like or dislike of Coulter become a litmus test of one's political stances anyway?

77 posted on 06/28/2007 5:52:06 AM PDT by jude24 ("The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born." - Lev. 19:33)
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To: L.N. Smithee

Say anything you want about her, she has opened the field for others to discuss areas the liberals have created as taboo.


78 posted on 06/28/2007 6:00:06 AM PDT by Raycpa
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To: jude24

I’ve always been a what-you-see-is-what-you-get guy around here.”

“she is essentially the Right’s version of Michael Moore.”

IMHO, we-ain’t-getting-much.

Moore is a sleazy, lying, whore.

Ann Coulter tells it like it is.

Comparing her to Moore is disingenuous.


79 posted on 06/28/2007 6:01:50 AM PDT by philetus (Keep doing what you always do and you'll keep getting what you always get.)
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To: L.N. Smithee
Personally, I have soured on Coulter after she suddenly became needlessly strident and gratutitous in issuing insults.

Then, you are apparently unable to discern sarcasm and biting wit, and the importance of it in our political discourse since the country was founded.

It's all about free speech, especially where the rough and tumble of politics is concerned.

Turning the other cheek is for WIMPS (and apparently, President Bush).

I say, fight the bastards tooth and nail.

Ann does that and doesn't back down.

MUCH of what Ann says is just demonstrating what liberals do on a daily basis, and WITHOUT getting the left-wing media's bowels in an uproar.

As usual, there's a double-standard.

Bill Maher says Cheney should die and there's hardly a protest from the left-wing media. Ann issues the same type of statement about Edwards, to help demonstrate the double-standard, and gets the expected, quick and extreme response from the same left-wing media that was virtually silent about Maher's comments.

We need MORE strong Conservative voices that can take it, and then dish it right back (a DOUBLE-DOSE of it, in Ann's case) with intelligence, force, humor, satire, sarcasm, etc.

Ann should be cloned.

80 posted on 06/28/2007 6:08:27 AM PDT by DocH (RINO-rudy for BRONX Dog Catcher 2008!!!)
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