Ann Coulter's Defense of McCarthy Appalls ABC's Diane Sawyer

MRC ^ | Wednesday June 25, 2003 | Brent Baker

[fight_truth_decay]

Appalled by Ann Coulter's suggestion in a new book that Senator Joseph McCarthy was largely correct about the infiltration of the U.S. government by those sympathetic to communist tyranny and some who spied for the Soviet Union, on Tuesday's Good Morning America Diane Sawyer suggested that Coulter's historic perspective means that she'd want anyone opposed to war in Iraq to lose their job since, to Sawyer, McCarthy promoted the idea of "thought crime."

Sawyer argued to Coulter: "Extrapolating to today, do you think there should be hearings on Capitol Hill for the people who were critical of the war in Iraq? Do you think that they should be hauled up and then banned from their jobs if they're proven to have been deeply critical of the war with Iraq?"

The June 24 Good Morning America brought Coulter aboard during its last half hour, just past 8:30am, matching NBC's Today which did not air its interview with Coulter about her previous book, Slander, until its last half hour, after 9:30am.

The June 25, 2002 CyberAlert related: Katie Couric argued Wednesday morning with author Ann Coulter who accurately quoted Couric as having opened Today in 1999 by trumpeting: "The Gipper was an airhead. That's one of the conclusions of a new biography of Ronald Reagan..." Couric took umbrage: "I'm just curious why you took it so out of context?" But Couric didn't interview the author, Edmund Morris, until two days later. Couric insisted that Today opened with the "airhead" insult just once. In fact, they did it two days in a row. See: Cyberalerts

Fast forward to Tuesday morning of this week, and Sawyer set up Coulter, as transcribed by MRC analyst Jessica Anderson: "Ann Coulter, such a familiar figure, such a strong voice, such a flame thrower she is, and of course, so successful. You'll remember that she recently had a book that made it to the top of The New York Times best-seller list and it was called 'Slander.' Well, she is back now with another new book about what she calls liberal lies against the American right. It's a book called 'Treason,' it takes it up a notch, accusing liberals of siding with America's enemies for 50 years. It is called, as we said, 'Treason.' Ann, treason! Treason, punishable by death? Treason?!"

Coulter: "Yeah, you switched the subtitles of my last book and this book. This one's about treachery, the last one was about lies...."

Coulter proceeded to explain how decrypted Soviet cables released in 1995 showed how there were communist agents inside the Roosevelt and Truman administrations.

Sawyer pounced: "Let me go to a couple of things, though. One of your big arguments is that McCarthy basically was right, and that in fact, he helped defend the country in a major way. Do you think, extrapolating to today, do you think there should be hearings on Capitol Hill for the people who were critical of the war in Iraq? Do you think that they should be hauled up and then banned from their jobs if they're proven to have been deeply critical of the war with Iraq?"

Coulter: "That misunderstands what McCarthy did and that is going to be probably the most shocking part of the book. I really just have to ask people to hit the delete button on everything you think you know about McCarthy because it is a huge liberal myth. It was created to hide the left's collaboration with a regime as evil as the Nazis. McCarthy's scope was far more limited than most people think. He was trying to get security risks, loyalty risks out of the government. As we now know, hundreds of spies for Joseph Stalin were working for the administrations of Roosevelt and Truman. That is a fact."

Sawyer: "Spies are one thing. There was also, in the McCarthy era, the issue of thought crime."

Coulter: "Not from Joe McCarthy. That's part of the myth about McCarthy."

Sawyer: "But it was the Republicans who censured him. His own party censured him."

Coulter: "And that same United States Senate did not censure Ken Starr. I wouldn't go too much by that. Did not censure Bill Clinton, excuse me."

Sawyer then played the famous clip from a McCarthy hearing in which Army lawyer Joseph Welsh demanded: "Have you no sense of decency, sir?"

Sawyer pressed Coulter: "Decency. Was it a violation of decency?"

Coulter suggested the public has a skewed view of McCarthy since most have only seen examples of people attacking him and not the evidence which supported his allegations.

Sawyer: "Alright, Ann Coulter. As we said, if you want your veins to be bulging, your pulse to be pounding and you really want to read something provocative, it is her book and it is 'Treason.' It is out today."

ABC News has posted an excerpt from Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism, published by Random House's Crown division: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/Books/GMA030624Coulter_Treason.html

For Coulter's own Web page: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/Books/GMA030624Coulter_Treason.html

[DoughtyOne]

Eeeeeeeeeee...

[autoresponder]

Anyone else besides me figure that very liberal Democrat partisan Oprah's sudden return to her TV "book club promos" is a sneaky way of using old classic books to bump all the top best selling Conservative writer's books down a notch?

As it has today on Amazon?

#1 - HARRY POTTER's latest

#2 - Oprah's dusty EAST OF EDEN pick

#3 - TREASON by Ann Coulter

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

And the Great Battle begins. Coulter will either fall, or she will destroy the root of liberal strength. This might not be, IMHO, as easy as some might think. It could get rough. That dread word, 'MacCarthyism', is like a powerful doomsday weapon for liberals. I knew it was a matter of time before someone like Coulter tried to defend MacCarthy. Buckley wrote a book about it, but it was too soon for other conservatives to back him up. I had a friend on the FR mention that the record needed to be straightened out some years ago. I thought then it was too soon. Is it too soon now? I'd say it's a close call. So long as Billery and Hellery can be leading fund raisers for the DNC, La-la Land is still the primary residence of many voters.

We need to pray for Coulter. We need to fight for her. I've been listening to tapes on MacArthy, based on Buckley's book. It's nothing like some movie I saw on TV about it. This is D-DAY, READY OR NOT!

[upier]

ping

[fight_truth_decay]

Review on Chuck Morse,radio talk show host, WROL in Boston

Joe McCarthy Vindicated, Again
Wednesday, June 25, 2003

Ann Coulter is a talented writer as well as an attractive and popular woman, which is why she’s in a position to take on an issue that many have courageously championed for decades to little avail.

In her new book, “Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism,” Coulter states: "The myth of 'McCarthyism' is the greatest Orwellian fraud of our times. ... Liberals are fanatical liars, then as now. Everything you think you know about McCarthy is a hegemonic lie."More

[NYC Republican]

LOVE post #8! Good work!

[Noumenon]

What it takes is a scorched earth-no prisoners approach - tell it like it is, call things by their proper names, don't back down and don't let the liars and haters on the left control the language and the terms of debate.

[DoughtyOne]

Thank you.

[Irene Adler]

"On another thread today, there was a report of Ann appearing on ABC's "The View," and one of the obnoxous bitties on that show asked Ann if she'd ever seen two women having sex. Ann shot back, "Not since Katie interviewed Hillary.""

Thank you for this quotation. It made my day.

[Archangelsk]

#2 - Oprah's dusty EAST OF EDEN pick

If this is considered dusty I guess Genesis is considered downright pre-historic. Good thing the Bible/Torah is timeless.

[janetgreen]

I saw Ann on The View this A.M. (she was the only reason I watched it) The View girls were shocked, I think, but smiled anyway. Most in the audience laughed. They had already picked on Ann because of her short skirt (she looked great), and had made other snide remarks to her. After that I thought they they tried to ignore her. They're not used to having an intelligent woman on their show, they are mental midgets.

[goldstategop]

Ann is a conservative WMD! The libs won't be able to handle her new book. Its contents are radioactive and they should stay away from it if they know what's best for them. Truth is hazardous to a liberal's mental health.

[razorback-bert]

Is the "View" still replayed on A & E, I have noticed a lack of adverting it, if it is still around?

[Martin Tell]

Did you see Dowd's column today? It included (in a screed against Clarence Thomas, fer cryin' out loud) a veiled hit at Ann (something along the (catty) line of "long-legged, blond right wingers, blah, blah ..."). Let the battle begin indeed!

[fight_truth_decay]

I predict her book signings would have lines longer than Hildabeast's. However, will the bookstores invite her?

[L.N. Smithee]

Sawyer: "Alright, Ann Coulter. As we said, if you want your veins to be bulging, your pulse to be pounding and you really want to read something provocative, it is her book and it is 'Treason.'

Smithee: "I remember one particular time when my veins were bulging, and my pulse was pounding, because I was watching something revolting. It was your interview with Ken Starr, and it was 'Disgusting.'

To wit (from the Media Resource Center):

---

[Sawyer] pressed strongly on Starr’s prudishness: "Someone said, who had worked for you, ‘He would just die if you told a dirty joke in front of him.’ True?...Do you hate R-rated movies?... You almost went in the ministry?" She asked of his upbringing in the Church of Christ, "No dancing, no movies?....So did you think it [dancing] was wicked?" Sawyer implied Starr is too religious to be trusted: "I think one of the things that makes people uneasy is the concern that your religious principles are an engine fueling your legal work. And they read that you jog and sing hymns and pray. And I think they wonder. Do you think God is on your side?...Because, again, people wonder if you understand human frailty.... in this area, this strange continent of marriages ....Can you separate the way you feel from the extent to which you think it’s important?" To underline how odd he was, Sawyer asked: "I cannot tell you how many people have said to me, ‘Ask him.’ Do I have a right to ask about your sex life?" Starr declared he could answer he has been faithful to his wife.

---

[Cordova Belle]

BTTT!!

[Greg Packer]

It must gall the bejeebers out of liberals to address Ann's words at all. They never thought this stuff would have a voice. HAHAHAHAHAHA! Up yours, dizzheads.

[WorkingClassFilth]

"...I thought they they tried to ignore her. They're not used to having an intelligent woman on their show..."

I have never seen this show, but I have seen many Leftists. By my lights, most of them are quite dull and seem to rise in their ranks more through a sort of catechismic memorization of ideology rather than intelligence and flexibility. Fortunately, Ann is both intelligent and dexterous in her debating skills on top of looking like a million bucks.

The skanky cats on this program simply seem to have been left firing blanks and they knew it. Casually flicking bon mots like: "Not since Katie interviewed Hillary." into their faces like boogers is way, way too much for these dullards.

I would suspect that the next step for the mainstream will be to shut Ann out entirely if they feel it is at all possible. Like Susanne Gratiana-Hupp (the NRA's atomic bomb), they just plain don't have any defense against the combination of beauty, brains, and guts.

Every conservative woman that don't back down is worth her weight in gold.

[alnick]

The question wasn't whether she'd ever seen two women having sex but rather if she'd seen two women get it on. Admittedly, there was a lot of innuendo(sp?) but those weren't the words that were used.

Well, if you want to be a stickler about it, the question wasn't if she'd seen two women get it on. The question was if she'd ever been aroused by watching two women get it on. Ann said no. Then she said that the last time she'd seen two women get it on was when Katie Couric interviewed Hillary.