Ann is back, and she's as bad as ever. And when I say "bad," I really mean "good."
Which, of course, makes what I'm going to write all the more controversial. But hear me out — perhaps you'll understand why I admire Ann both for her political genius as well as her business and marketing saavy.
Yes, Ann is a woman who says incredibly controversial things. From her description of Katie Couric as the "affable Eva Braun of morning TV," to her more recent attack on the liberal and politically active 9/11 widows widely knows as the "Jersey Girls," in which Ann labels them the "Witches of East Brunswick," it's quite obvious that Ann enjoys "stirring the pot," so to speak.
Which is why I'm amazed she does not get more support from feminist organizations. After all, Ann lives the life that women's rights groups fought hard to secure for themselves, to the betterment of all.
What makes Ann a feminist's ideal? Let me count the ways:
- Ann is willing to say whatever it is she thinks needs to be said, even when others will not
- Ann is a highly educated, highly intelligent business-person
- Ann is devoted to her career, a phenomenally successful author, columnist, and pundit
- Ann challenges the status quo on a regular basis
- Ann loves a good fight and will take anyone on anywhere
- Ann is a self-made woman
I could go one but, I think I've made my point.
So, if Ann is all of these things, why in the world would feminist organizations such as the Feminist Majority Foundation basically label Ann a right-wing radical?
NOW President, Kim Gandy, expressed this sentiment in a recent column entitled Where is The Love?:
How sad that Ann Coulter's latest book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism, in which she spews bigoted spittle at 9/11 widows, is climbing the bestseller lists as we speak.
Where is the love indeed!
Perhaps our liberal feminist friends have some unrecognized biases of their own? I guess you are a "true" feminist only if you do as you are told. So, when Kim Gandy or Linda Hershman tell you to do something, like, "shut up" or "get back to work," you'd better be a good feminist and go do it?
Of course, Ann is being caricatured by media liberals of both genders. In a NY Times article published recently, columnist David Carr offers and interesting yet contradictory analysis both of Ann's strategy and her style:
Ms. Coulter, who seems afflicted by a kind of rhetorical compulsion, most recently labeled the widows of 9/11 "harpies." It is just one in a series from a spoken-word hit parade that seems to fly out of her mouth uninterrupted by conscience, rectitude or logic.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - methuselah
Does anyone care what Coulter says, or what her fans and enemies say?
One should have better things to do with ones time.
2 - sr
METHUSELAH, If one should have better things to do with ones time, why are you here?
Great blog David. Just keep in mind most liberals are and always will be stuck on stupid.
Forget the dip stick feminist's. The muslims will flog them when they take over.
ANN COULTER RULES.
3 - Margaret Romao Toigo
There are many good points here, especially those dealing with the hypocrisy of some feminists.
But let's get real here. Ann Coulter would not be nearly as successful as she is if she was not pretty and -- regardless of the context of Mr. Carr's article -- it is not "sexist" to say so.
In fact, the notion of attractive women being in a position to use our looks as an additional asset to our skills is most decidedly empowering.
If Ms. Coulter was fat and/or ugly she would never have gotten away with all of those shocking books, articles, and remarks -- and it is very likely that she knows this and intentionally takes full advantage of it. Good for her!
I don't really like her writings at all, but I cannot help admiring her accomplishments.
4 - David Flanagan
Margaret,
I have two words for you... "Madeleine Albright." ;-)
David
5 - David Flanagan
Margaret,
I should also say that I appreciate your perspective. I will also respectfully disagree in terms of looks as key to Ann's success. If that theory were true, then you could take any attractive blond woman, give them a script, and they would become famous, correct?
The fact is, Ann is a very intense lady, and somewhat eccentric if you ask me. She doesn't seem to like the spotlight as so many other do. She seems to believe what she believes with a passion, and she has managed to build for herself an highly successful career taking on both conservatives and liberals who disagree with her.
She's an unusual person who defies every stereotype. And I can tell you that I admired her mind and read her columns regularly before I ever saw what she looked like. In the end, if I never saw a single picture of her, I would still be a fan, just as I've never seen a real picture of Peggy Noonan (just the WSJ sketch they have for her) and could care less what she looks like.
Again, thank you for your perspective and I hope to hear more of your thoughts on this.
Regards,
David
6 - David Flanagan
sr,
Thank you for your kind words and I agree completely in regards to your response to Methuselah. If he didn't care, he wouldn't post comments.
David
7 - sr
Margaret, speaking of fat and/or ugly Rosey thunder thigh O'Donald comes to mind. YUM.
8 - David Flanagan
And, while we're on this whole, bash-the-not-so-attractive-yet-highly-successful-women track, I will add two more words "Ellen DeGeneres."
She's not ugly by any means, but, again, no blond bombshell either.
David
9 - Clavos
Donna Shalala, Barbara Walters, Margaret Thatcher.
10 - David Flanagan
Maybe we should start a list somewhere? :-)
11 - Margaret Romao Toigo
I did not mean to imply that Ms. Coulter's looks are the key to her success, only that they are a contributing factor, along with her erudition and writing talent.
Suffice it to say that smart women know how to use all of their assets to attain success. After all, Ms. Coulter doesn't hide her looks. Her make-up, hair, and clothes are always very glamorous and stylish.
She could wear minimalist make-up and boxy suits, and pin her hair up in a bun, but she doesn't because her pretty face and trim figure are a part of that unusual beingness that defies every stereotype.
Madeleine Albright, Peggy Noonan, Rosie O'Donnell, Ellen DeGeneres, Donna Shalala, Barbara Walters, and Margaret Thatcher don't try to shock and offend people the way Ms. Coulter does.
Even in this day and age, women don't get away with that sort of thing unless we're pretty.
12 - David Flanagan
Again, I'm going to disagree with you Margaret. First in that, the Times columnist I quoted, David Carr, very much believes that Ann's looks are the key to her success. You reiterated the very argument he made in that her beauty is a counterpoint to her sometimes harsh rhetoric, which Carr believes is the difference between success and a nut who lives in her Mom's basement.
You yourself said that, unless a woman is pretty, she won't get away with shocking people. Let me offer you yet another example, and that is Jeannine Garafalo. Again, Jeannine is not in any way ugly, but, again, neither is she blond and beautiful like an Ann Coulter. Yet Jeannine has cashed in on her harsh rhetoric in exactly the same way Ann has. Jeannine is a successful radio personality, actress, columnist, and pundit.
This is the early 21st century, and I say that Ann could look like Rosie O'Donnell and still have the kind of success of, well, a Rosie O'Donnell.
And, finally, Ann does not dress the way she does so that she can sell her looks. She dresses the way she dresses because that is the way she wants to dress! Sometimes she dresses professionally, such as when she is a guest on a talk show or part of a political roundtable. Sometimes she dresses elegantly, and sometimes she dresses in plain clothes.
What Ann doesn't do is dress herself up to try and sell her sexuality. She doesn't have to, she has more brainpower than just about any five other authors/columnists she is debating.
Thanks,
David
13 - MCH
"Maybe we should start a list somewhere? :-)"
Well, she's pretty close to top of the war-wimps list at www.nhgazette.com/chickenhawks
14 - nugget
One very important point, if I might butt in...
ann Coulter = not pretty.
However, doable after 4 drinks.
15 - Dave Nalle
Yeah, I don't get all this talk about Coulter being pretty. It seems to come mostly from the left. Perhaps her creepy, unhealthily thin and soemwhat crazed look appeals to socialists on a subliminal level or something.
Dave
16 - Margaret Romao Toigo
You have a lot of class, David. However, sex sells for a reason, even if there are rare men out there, like yourself, who can respect women's brains first and our bodies somewhere further down the list from that.
I'm not looking to pick a fight here, because I agree with you that Ann Coulter is -- or should be considered as -- an example of a feminist ideal.
Jeannine Garafalo is an actress, she's supposed to say shocking things and call attention to herself and her work. Women broke the "shock barrier" in films and television decades ago, but not in punditry, a la Rush Limbaugh (Remember when he was still considered shocking?), until Ann Coulter came along.
The truth of the beauty thing is that, ugly or pretty, what we look like plays a part of who and what we are. Smart women who are also attractive almost always know how to get ahead using all of our gifts.
The notion that it is anti-feminist to suggest that a woman's success can be partially attributed to her looks -- which wouldn't have done her any good in her particular field if she did not also possess above-average intelligence -- is an example of the sort of hyper-feminism that makes attractive women into the hapless victims of men's alleged lustful thoughts, thus demonizing and degrading men, and making said "feminists" into hypocrites.
I'm not criticizing Ms. Coulter for using everything she's got to get ahead. I'm saying, "You go, girl!" Break down those barriers! Show them all that women can do it, too. (And nevermind those envious, catty women crying, "exploitation!" They're just upset that they didn't think of it first and that Ann Coulter is thinner and prettier than they are.)
17 - Margaret Romao Toigo
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Dave.
Nonetheless, the archetype of the thin, blonde-haired woman with long limbs and pale eyes and skin sells lots and lots of stuff to people of all sexes and persuasions.
18 - David Flanagan
Margaret,
I would say the points you make apply then to both men and women. I remember a heck-of-a-lot of comments during the 2004 presidential campaign season regarding Kerry's handsome features. Including a comment from a women who is just as conservative as I am whom I use to carpool with.
So, in that sense, I think everyone uses all of their assets to sell themselves, and we all sell ourselves as we try and move ahead in our careers. In my mind, in regards to Ann, her beauty is incidental. She just IS a beautiful woman, she doesn't highlight her beauty, or try to sell herself on it.
Paris Hilton, on the other hand, made a career out of her beauty, and that is fine with me too. As you say, you use all your assets. It's just that different people lean more heavily on one asset or another, and that is the core argument I'm trying to make.
And neither am I trying to pick a fight. I'm just being stubborn. :-)
Thanks!
David
19 - Brad Blake
Michael Moore and Ann Coulter should get married and have a love child together. They both know controversy sells and both are shameless in their ability to create it and sell a lot. Each cares passionately their beliefs and whichever side you're on, if you are honest with yourself, you know I'm right.
BTW, I happen to love MM and think AC would've been right at home on Hitler's staff.
20 - jack e. jett
i have a question for straight dudes and lesbians regarding ann coulter.
do you find ann attractive? to me, she is kind of on the border.
there is a rumor in the gay community that she use to be a fairly well known nyc drag queen who has now gone through a sex change....thus the adams apple.
jack jett
21 - David Flanagan
Brad,
As you suggest in sort of a back-handed manner, believing passionately in what you do does not make you right. Hitler no doubt believed passionately in what he was doing.
And I would never say of Michael Moore, as you've said of Ann Coulter, that he would be right at home on Hitler's staff. People who say such ridiculous things are those who cannot, or will, not take the time to think through an issue or an argument to offer up an intelligent response.
If you are honest with yourself, you know I'm right.
Right?
22 - MCH
yo, jack e. jett...where you been dude?! long time, no read...
23 - Michael Connolly
Ann Coulter does not begrudge the 4 Jersey Girls their fundamental right of free speech. What she is against is the MSM's double standard in begrudging anyone who disagrees with their political viewpoint their fundamental right of free speech as well. The reason why you can't challenge their position is the fact that they have suffered greivous loss of spouses in the Iraq war. Because of this as Maureen Dowd of the NYT has stated it is blasphemous to challenge their political opinions. That is why they are the darlings of the Leftist anti-war media and that is why Coulter insists on her right to disagree with them in her own inimitable style. It's free speech, stupid.
24 - Mario Caprara
We can argue back and forth all day about Ann Coulter's beauty or lack thereof. On one thing ,however, we must all agree: Helen Thomas is absolutely stunningly, drop-dead gorgeous,and this is certainly the key to her political success and fame, her brilliant intellect notwithstanding.
25 - David Flanagan
Mario,
I couldn't agree more. Next to Helen, Ann is just a dried up old hag!
David