Ann Coulter's remark at CPAC exemplifies the sad state of the Republican Party
Coulter-bashing has reached a fever pitch, with the story of her CPAC remarks moving to network television and, even, Albert Mohler signing on. "Why," Mohler wonders, "would Ann Coulter use that word? And, even more troubling to me, why would any in her audience laugh? There is nothing remotely funny about that word in any context."…
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26 - Baritone
I became painfully aware of all that if you recall.
I won't (purposely)use those initials on BC. As I noted, it just slipped. I will not have a schizoid presence here, or anywhere else for that matter.
Of course some people have different blog names for different types of blogs. That, as I have seen, is very common.
B'tone
27 - Al Barger
I LOVE when Ann gets the pinkos goats. I love even more when the right wingnuts start trying to out-denounce her over the lefties. When they're both hatin' ya for the same thing - that's likely a sign that you're on to something. This Edwards flap was so hardcore that it had even the evil Michelle Malkin reaching for her PC smelling salts.
I'll be writing more on the point, oh yes I will, but "faggot" is the PERFECT word for John Edwards. It WILL stick, and it's the top reason why there's no way in hell that this [pick the PC term of your choice - wussy, nancy boy, wimp, pussy] will never in a million years be elected president. That's not because Ann Coulter has magical power to make it stick, but because she simply named precisely the problem - in the rudest possible way, for maximum impact.
Ayn bless ANN COULTER
PS Did you ever want to see Ann Coulter and Natalie Maines do it?
28 - Baritone
I doubt that Edwards will ever be president either. But I don't believe it will be due to any "wussy, nancy boy, wimp [or] pussy" factor.
What we need now is a truly "kick-ass" president. How about "The Rock." He'd get rid of all those "Nancy Boys," by god!
B'tone
29 - Lee Richards
How about a contest to come up with the PERFECT word for Al Barger?
30 - Michael J. West
Oh, Al's just trying to get your goat. Let it go.
31 - Methuselah
"but "faggot" is the PERFECT word for John Edwards. It WILL stick, and it's the top reason why there's no way in hell that this [pick the PC term of your choice - wussy, nancy boy, wimp, pussy] will never in a million years be elected president."
Same failing as McCain when he failed to counter Bush's dueling challenge in SC in 2000?
For a certain rightwing clique willingness to be abusive is more important than anything else, principles, ability, etc.
32 - Al Barger
No Methuselah, it's willingness to state TRUTH, regardless of whether other people decide that they wish to be offended by it.
Brother West, I'm always happy to collect people's goats and have my way with them, but like with Ann Coulter, it's NOT the only or even primary point.
Again, the primary point is that John Edwards is just a wussy little ambulance chaser with a clever mouth, and absolutely not by any stretch of the imagination a credible commander in chief.
Whether or not you like Coulter, she put her finger precisely on the core credibility problem of John Edwards.
33 - MCH
"Ann Coulter is a lying, hypocritical, right wing turd [Edited]."
- Baritone
Don't forget chickenhawk. She's a chickenhawk, too.
34 - Lee Richards
#32: Maybe if she--and you--put your fingers more precisely you wouldn't have this overwhelming need always to attack.
35 - MCH
"Again, the primary point is that John Edwards is just a wussy little ambulance chaser..."
- Al Barger
Is he a bigger wuss than you, brother Barger?
36 - Al Barger
I don't mind a good insult, but I wish y'all could use some creativity or something. When Coulter makes an insult, there's some meat to it - and it's relevant to making a substantive point.
I, Al Barger, am a certifiable wussy. Yes. Now you got me. You found me out. But I'm not running for president. And John Edwards is still a nancy boy trial lawyer whom it would be difficult to imagine let alone support as commander in chief.
And when Iran gets a nuclear weapon, President Edwards will what... file a class action lawsuit against them in some world court?
37 - sr
ANN COULTER FOR PRESIDENT. SHE HAS MORE BALLS THEN GIRLIE MEN.
38 - Lee Richards
The main purpose of a serious political commentator is to analyze, compare and contrast what public figures are trying to do and what they're actually doing. Coulter's goal, instead, is ripping out throats for the main purpose of self-promotion and exploitation. If it excites you, fine. But don't try to sell roadkill as prime rib.
39 - Michael J. West
Brother West, I'm always happy to collect people's goats and have my way with them, but like with Ann Coulter, it's NOT the only or even primary point.
Without debating what your primary point may or may not be, Mr. Barger, sir, I tend to think it IS Ann Coulter's primary point. Even if you agree with her wholeheartedly, it's hard to miss that she is first and foremost a provocateur. Just as, for example, Rush Limbaugh's primary purpose is to entertain. In fact, I highly doubt that even Ms. Coulter would argue that her goat-getting is her real career.
40 - Al Barger
Brother West, we could speculate about Ms Coulter's real motivations. I'm not sure what the distinction is that you'd make between goat-getting vs being a provocateur, though. We can presume for the sake of argument that in her heart she's an evil monster who wants nothing more than to kill and destroy all that is good and right.
Nonetheless, she was absolutely right in her characterization of Edwards. Some will mock the idea of masculinity, or come up with Freudian crap about guns and penises or whatever. But in fact there's no mistaking that some idea of masculine dominance is utterly vital to being commander in chief of the US military and leader of the free world.
Even as a liberal who might be more sympathetic to a lot of Edwards' domestic agenda, could you really imagine John Edwards as a viable commander in chief?
41 - Baritone
Al,
Don't you think that's just a bit shallow as an assessment of somebody's abilities? It might in fact be quite different if you were in the same room with the man in a direct confrontation. Remember, like it or not, he was and I presume continues to be a successful litigator. Juries aren't generally swayed by a mamby pamby attorney.
By your masculine presidential standards you apparently believe that women are by nature unfit to serve in the capacity of commander in-chief.
Personally, I have always found GWB's demeanor to be the most wishy washy of any president I can remember.
Of course, Reagan was rough and ready because he used to play a cowboy on TV, and he was hell on those jelly beans.
B'tone
42 - Michael J. West
Al, first things first - I wasn't making a distinction at all between goat-getter and provocateur. Merely going for linguistic variety. In the context I was using them, they meant the same thing.
But to the meat of your question:
No. I don't see him as a viable commander-in-chief.
However, that is because I found him to be a lousy Senator, a do-nothing with much ambition for higher office and little interest in serving his constituents.
It has nothing to do with his masculinity or lack thereof. Masculinity has its place, sure, but in a Presidential candidate I could take it or leave it.
(And even assuming it's true of John Edwards, why not use a word that isn't an ugly epithet towards gay people? How about, say, "Pussy"?)
43 - Al Barger
But "pussy" would be an epitaph against women. "Faggot" does not necessarily mean homosexual, and Coulter clearly did not mean it that way.
The fact that some people will choose to insist that they determine what someone else means doesn't mean that they have to honor it. In fact, I've never seen any evidence of Coulter disliking gay people. Not favoring gay marriage doesn't mean that she hates them. Neither does calling John Edwards a fag.
And seriously, you don't see the importance of a masculine dominance as an important trait for a president?
I would definitely tend to be a little more skeptical of a woman as president. It'd take a little convincing for me to believe that a woman could command the US military. But I'd believe in either Hillary or Condi way before John Edwards.
44 - Michael J. West
Except for the British meaning of "cigarette" or "firewood," I've only heard the word used in America for two meanings:
(1) To refer derogatorily to homosexuals.
(2) To derogatorily suggest that someone might be a homosexual.
Coulter clearly didn't mean it with the first meaning, but the second? It's not at all clear that she didn't mean it that way.
(You say there's another meaning for the word, and maybe that's true -- and maybe that third meaning is the way Coulter meant it. But it's not absolutely obvious to anyone who's looking that she didn't mean my second definition. Obviously more than a few people, liberal and conservative, took it that way.)
As regards how Coulter feels about gay people: well, I didn't actually say anything about how she feels about gay people. I did say she insulted them, but one need not hate somebody to insult them.
And no, it never even dawned on me that masculine dominance should be a criterion for the presidency. I would want the military commander to be level-headed, committed, rational, intuitive, and smart, both in common-sense and strategic thinking. I don't think any of those things require a masculine person, or even a male person.
Actually, the more I think about it, if I thought a candidate was more concerned with being macho than with having one of those qualities, I would consider that a reason not to vote for them.
45 - sr
Maybe a Golda Meir of Israel or a Margaret Thatcher of England. They had balls. What do we have. The John Edwards and Rosie porkers hanging upside down on the show American femals get all things newsworthy and then go forth and vote. God help us.
46 - Christopher Rose
Without wishing to focus on anybody in particular, if anyone seriously considers the US President to be the "leader of the free world", they are either tripping or suffering from terminal delusions of grandeur.
Similarly, the role of a President is to lead a country, being Commander in Chief is just something that comes with the job, not a primary or fundamental characteristic.
The USA is a wonderful country, but there are plenty of other wonderful countries too. The role of a President or Prime Minister is surely more akin to being a competent manager or a great CEO.
47 - Michael J. West
Similarly, the role of a President is to lead a country, being Commander in Chief is just something that comes with the job, not a primary or fundamental characteristic.
Well, um, actually, it's rather primary and fundamental in the U.S., Chris. In fact, in the section of the Constitution that lists the presidential powers, it's the first thing mentioned.
48 - Christopher Rose
Don't things change over time though, Michael? Just because it came first in the list doesn't make it the most important quality, particularly when we've all seen the limitations of war as a political tool so starkly highlighted in recent years...
49 - Clavos
I would say that, at least when the country is actively engaged in a war, it IS "primary and fundamental."
50 - Michael J. West
Fair enough, Christopher, in that things change over time and war's limitations are painfully clear. I would submit, though, that the authors of the constitution do indicate by placement that (at least in their view) the commander-in-chief position is the most important presidential duty. But of course, that's probably changed over the years too.
I also agree with you, Clavos. At least, when the country is actively engaged in a declared war...
51 - Christopher Rose
Clavos: But the USA isn't involved in a war, as Michael also opined. As to his point, all I can say is that the constitution was written a long time ago, in a more overtly revolutionary and warlike context than the present day. And as someone smarter than me once wrote, "Violence is the last resort of the incompetent"...
52 - jaz
on Coulter, it appears 7 more newspapers have dropped her column
from Editor and Publisher mag via PR watch...
"In the last week at least seven newspapers have dropped the syndicated column of conservative firebrand, Ann Coulter. Speaking at the American Conservative Union's annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. on March 2, Coulter said "I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot,' so I -- so kind of an impasse, can’t really talk about Edwards." Newspapers that have dropped her column include: Sanford Herald (North Carolina); Daily Chronicle (Illinois); American Press (Louisiana); Lancaster New Era (Pennsylvania); The Oakland Press, (Michigan); The Mountain Press (Tennessee); and The Times (Louisiana). The editorial director of The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi, David Hampton, said that while he disagreed with her opinions, the paper would keep her column. "I think her popularity will continue to wane. I believe ideas rise and fall on their merits, and I haven't seen much depth in hers," he said."
the Tao of D'oh.
53 - El Bicho
"'Faggot' does not necessarily mean homosexual, and Coulter clearly did not mean it that way."
Puh-lease. That is so patently false it calls into question your integrity and your intelligence.
The context of the joke was a play off the situation with Isiah Washington having to go to rehab for calling T.R Knight, who is a homosexual, a "faggot". She was obviously using the second definition MJW listed in reference to Edwards and also mocked the fact that Washington was forced into rehab by some Hollywood elites for using a word.
Ann tries to be funny with her desperately outrageous statements, and I have heard far more offensive jokes that I have laughed at, but the majority of people don't consider her a comic. She plays the punditry game of "gotcha" all the time trying to ruin people's reputations, so now her enemies have turned the tables on her.
To say Ann was using some new definition of the word does not work in the context of the joke she told. Also, If you want to arbitrarily change the meaning of words, then I see no way people can expect to have a discussion with you.
54 - Al Barger
COULTER, FAGGOTS & EDWARDS, LTD
And really Bicho, do you think that Coulter didn't see this supposed turning of tables coming, or that it's hurting her in the least?
55 - El Bicho
Unless she got a terrible deal, she should be making money from every paper she syndicates in, so yes, it is hurting her financially if she got dropped from seven newspapers and hasn't found replacements.
Not enough to file for bankruptcy, but certainly enough to answer your question unless you are now going to change the definition of "hurting her in the least".
56 - El Bicho
Make that eight now counting the Herald & Review of Decatur, Illinois.
57 - TVI
KEEP ON TRUCKING MS. ANN COULTER. YOUR ONE FINE LADY.
58 - Nate
Don't be so hard on Coulter, she's a delicate flower. A revealing look.
(From Jesus's General, LOL)
59 - Michael J. West
In all fairness, even if Ann Coulter does hate gays, she doesn't hate ALL of them - she has mad love for J. Edgar Hoover.
60 - David
I think Coulter, like conservatives in general don't comprehend a level of sensitivity that normal people have. To insinuate anyone homosexual doesn't hurt the individual in our society, its childish bully talk.
What it does hurt is the evolution of homosexuals to mainstream because it uses homosexuality as a curse word. Conservatives consider themselves the moral highground Christians, but Jesus never spoke against homosexuality, it was a primitive culture that spoke to that, as in Exodus 35:2 saying that anyone working on the sabbath should be put to death.
61 - sr
AS LONG AS MS. ANN COULTER CONTINUES TWEAKING LIBERALS SHE'S DOING HER JOB. LOVE YA ANN.
62 - David
I think Ann's tweaking Conservatism. She's proving they don't speak from a higher plane, she's become in fact the poster-girl for Conservatism. I don't think she looks a demented anorexia like her persona dictates.
David