Coulter owes those women an apology.
I have pretty much ignored Ann Coulter for the last year or so. As her celebrity has grown — actually since she appeared on the cover of Time Magazine — she has had to make ever more outrageous and off the wall statements in order to maintain her position as a "controversial" commentator. This has often placed her at odds with many of us who, while generally in agreement with much of her critique of American liberalism, nevertheless recoil in horror and disgust at her rhetoric.…
Article comments
— go to most recent comments26 - DrPat
Many conservatives have expressed distaste for Ann Coulter's graceless style. (I can't listen to her for more than two minutes myself.)
There is, however, a difference between pointing out that some people are treading hard on their victimhood from 2001, as Coulter has done, and demonstrating in the face of fresh grief at a funeral.
27 - Dave Nalle
wish progressives would be more strategic about all this. Sure, Ann Coulter is beneath contempt. But, her rantings and ravings are exactly what the American people need to see to get a good idea of what the Republican Party really thinks. The more it is exposed in the mainstream media, the better off Democrats are
Except, of course, that most Republicans don't share her views in any but the most general ways, and we certainly don't agree with her rhetoric. There are a lot of us who think the democrats have been seduced to the dark side and become downright evil, but we're still willing to work with them and try to redeem them. Coulter isn't and while that's understandable, it's unpalatable.
Coulter's worldview is one of simplistic black and white and that's kind of appealing in a way. Democrats want to kill babies, take away our money and our rights, sacrifice our economy on the altar of political correctness and crackpot environmental schemes, take our property away, put the UN in charge of our government and flood the country with illegal aliens. That's not a very appealing picture, and if that's all you see and you've got the kind of evangelical personality Coulter does, you can come off as pretty strident.
Dave
28 - zingzing
rick... just show me some links about malkin, not general hate mail... i don't have time to look through all of these... why did you post a link leading to bon jovi hatemail? i don't get it. i'll look it up myself.
29 - zingzing
looked through a couple of links... nothing from any of those that you mention. how about a link to that?
...poor conservatives, they never say anything bad. don't you think you are exagerrating just a tad?
30 - Rick Moran
Here are a few AOL search results. All I had to do was google "Michelle Malkin, slut:"
31 - Matthew T. Sussman
She's a horrible hypocritical bitch slut whore with fake blond hair and stupid tramp loser hateful racist bigot man-hands stereotypical self-loathing foaming-at-the-mouth asinine nonsensical loony right-wing despicable soul ... but hey on this page I can buy her book with one click of the mouse!
32 - Dave Nalle
Malkin has cataloged some of her own amazing hatemail from left-wing racists and bigots. Check out this page:
You are a fucking slanty-eyed cunt, etc.
And do a search for Malkin in combinations with words like whore, slut, bitch, cunt, gook, slant and chink. Great way to find links to left-wing websites.
Dave
33 - Michie44
I am appauled by her comments.
She looks like a Hooker on the cover first of all. And second of all we now know she is UNAMERICAN!
Anyone who critisizes or attacks The Widows, Wives, Mothers, Fathers, Children or any survivor of the Sept 11th attacks needs to be flogged, then tarrred and feathered.
Just because she does not agree with these women or their views it does not give her the right for her to put it in her book in such a vicous hateful way.
For all to read and to go down in history.
It says in the Bible, Thou shall not judge, lest ye be judged.
Who is GODLESS NOW MS COULTER????
You apparently think it is your God Given right to judge whom ever you please.
34 - zingzing
dave--hrm. i didn't take much time to read that, and i can't pick out kos commenters. maybe you'd like to help? looked at your's as well rick... couldn't find any bloggers... maybe just some ya-hoos.
show me something worth looking at.
35 - Baronius
I'm not Ann Coulter's biggest fan, but she is an extraordinary strategist. She accuses the press of giving the 9/11 widows a free pass. Then she insults them horribly. Sure enough, the press responds by saying "how dare you criticize them; they're widows", thus proving her point.
Most conservatives I know flinch when they read Coulter, but they do read her. You've got to. She's like some crazed junkyard dog. You know that sooner or later you're going to have to put her down, but in the meantime, no one's breaking into your yard.
36 - Dave Nalle
Zing, I had an interesting experience at Kos. There are comments there about Malkin which are full of racist epithets and other rudeness, but interestingly most of them seem to have been deleted, so what you find is the comments that reference the comments that were deleted. The Malkin link I gave actually has a nice comment from her for Kos relating to the people who have defended her and tried to shout down some of the bigots who have since been deleted.
Dave
37 - Larry A. Sakin
Truth be told, I don't like Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Cindy Sheehan, or anyone else who pretends to be the conscience of political or moral movements.
Some liberals may indeed by "Godless", but Coulter et. al. are "Classless" in that they all distort reality by running it through their pre-conceived notions. Then, they misrepresent their personal opinions as being an amalgamation of the views "their people" hold.
38 - Clavos
Believe it or not, even O'Reilly is criticizing her on his show right this moment; he's speaking of her attacks on the 9/11 widows.
39 - Donna PA. Firemans wife
I am asshamed to say that I live in the same country as this woman.
I am appauled that such a horrible thing could come out of an American's mouth.
I am a cristian and I am also married to a firefighter/corrections officer.
ANd I pray everyday that nothing happens to him.
I am to young to be a widow.
9/11 hit home for us as well as the rest of the country.being married to a firefighter as well as a CO.
I worry about him all the time.Those men,women and chrildren deserve everything that they can get. ALL I know is that you neeed a lot of prayer lady.because you are NOT going where the christian are going.
Just remember Ann an eye for eye.
You are not dead yet and this could happen to you, you may loose a loved opne someday.
Than we all want to know if you are standing alone.
Ask your self will He turn his back on me like I did him.
I don't think so.
40 - Clavos
Whoops, looks like another organized campaign starting--#s 33 & 39 both misspelled "appalled" the exact same way.
41 - Dave Nalle
And I thought you had a knack for this, Clavos. It's actually two different people who both like that alternate spelling with possible biblical implications. Isn't that what Saul of Tarsus was when he saw Jesus on the Damascus road - apauled?
Dave
42 - Clavos
Sorry about that. BTW you do know what they say about puns, don't you Dave?
43 - Ray Ellis
just when I begin to think that Dave and I share some common views--besides our fondness for goatees--he has to throw in the jab at dems.
Guess I'm just doomed to be one of them godless liberals, after all.
44 - ed simmons
I love Ann and Michelle. They make all my fantasies of having a three way with two sorta ugly right wing hatefilled bitches come true. They obviously both need a real good bangin' to set their backward minds straight. Maybe a good money shot in the eye might help. But who to cum on first....hmmmmm....??
45 - Clavos
Intelligent!!
46 - JP
Malkin I can handle, she makes a good point but isn't over-the-top like Cun*ler. Ann is truly a "shallow, bitter, bitch of a woman" and Sean Hannity should be ashamed of himself for dedicating a show to her drivel.
May they both spend eternity together in Hell, Michigan.
47 - friendlier
I love the comment above that compares Ms. Coulter to Morton Downey! Exactly. And where is he now?
Oh.
48 - William Dufkin
It's ironic that most of you are making her point exactly...not all Americans can get away with free speech. I see lots of really ignorant and profane statements about two woman speaking what to them is truth. Like the Dixie Chicks of yesteryear if you don't like what you hear don't buy the product. If they go away then you win. If they don't go away, well then, I guess you don't win.
49 - Ray Ellis
If they go away then you win. If they don't go away, well then, I guess you don't win.
Roaches don't go away--they multiply in the dark. It's only when you turn on the lights that they run willy-nilly away.
50 - Arch Conservative
MMMMM ok...
Even I find Coulter frequently, shrill, callous and unappealing.
However if one were to ignore all the personal remarks she made about these widows.... Coulter does have a valid point...and that is that the left uses victims to adavnce thier agenda and then attacks anyone who has an opinion of anything one of thier victim spokespeople has said.
These women lost their husbands..........yes this is a horrible thing.....but does this mean that they have the right to do or say anything they want and no other american citizen is allowed to express thier opinions on anything done or said? does having a love one killed in combat automatically make you holier than thou and beyond all reproach of the citizens of an entire nation? odes it automatically negate everyone else's free speech?
I guess it's fine and dandy for cindy sheehan to publicly call islamic terrorists freedom fighters because her son died in iraq right? i didn't lose a loved one so I'm not allowed to have an opinion or express and opinion on sheehan saying this right?
I wonder how the left would feel if the gop were trotting out mothers/wives of dead soldiers who were supporting Bush and the war and then viciously attacking anyone who disagreed with anything they said.....
51 - Arch Conservative
I wonder how a post that called Hillary Clinton all of the hateful things Malkin and Coulter have just been called would be tolerated on BC.
52 - Sick of it All
"I wonder how the left would feel if the gop were trotting out mothers/wives of dead soldiers who were supporting Bush and the war and then viciously attacking anyone who disagreed with anything they said....."
It's funny, Arch - but it seems like the "right" does that whenever they are able...
I think the reason we don't see it that often is that they can't actually find many.
The real problem with folks like Ms. Coulter is they prey upon base emotions of regular folks - especially "liberals". This in turn has the effect of skewing the average Americans' perceptions of what is really going on in this country, which is the co-opting of democracy by the corporate junta - citizens are regularly referred to as "consumers" by elected officials - Bush telling America the best thing they can do after 9/11 is to go out and spend money.
How can we reconcile this moral/intellectual deficit? Get back to basics - states' rights, stop attempting to legislate morality (right and left alike), dissallow career politicians - these people need to represent us. They cannot do this when they do not understand what we go through every single day.
The power lies with the people - all Americans - not just those who subscribe to Ms. Coulter's vitriol.
53 - Erik
Arch the whole point is coulter's argument is a big straw man. She disproves her own argument by criticizing these supposedly "infallible" figures so virulently on the highest rated morning show in the country. duh. i think Lauer tried to get her to acknowledge that and she said he was getting "testy."
54 - RogerMDillon
"frequently, shrill, callous and unappealing."
luckily there's no conservatives like that around here, arch.
55 - JR
Arch Conservative: I wonder how a post that called Hillary Clinton all of the hateful things Malkin and Coulter have just been called would be tolerated on BC.
An RJ Elliot post usually catches some flak, but nobody censors him.
56 - Dave Nalle
just when I begin to think that Dave and I share some common views--besides our fondness for goatees--he has to throw in the jab at dems.
Guess I'm just doomed to be one of them godless liberals, after all.
Anyone who agrees with me all the time is either lying, confused, or transcendently enlightened.
As for jabbing at the left, it's inevitable. But don't mistake my description of what conservatives believe of the left with what I actually believe myself.
And there's nothing wrong with being a Liberal. It's a fine thing. Being a leftist is entirely different.
Dave
57 - Uncle Reamher
Coldhearted Coulter needs to get laid more often ...
58 - Christopher Rose
Archie, if you have (or start) a blog of your own and were brave enough to step out from behind your veil of anonymity, you could apply to join Blogcritics and, if accepted, write whatever articles you like.
The articles here are not censored unless there is a solid legal reason to do so and then reluctantly.
The Comments Policy is there to promote debate and avoid the kind of childish name-calling of other commenters with whom one disagrees.
You ought to consider the idea seriously; you have some interesting points to make and it would add more flavour to the BC stew to have your voice added to the mix. You'll find it takes a different kind of energy to be the one making the points rather than taking potshots at others...
59 - Arch Conservative
I don't understand why everyone is kissing Matt Lauer's ass. He's just another MSM douchebag. A few months back when he was in iraq he asked a soldier what he thought of Iraq and Matt actually look stunned when the soldier said he believed we were doing the right thing and that a lot of good things were being done there. I guess matt shouldn't ask anymore questions of people when doesn't already know the answer he will get. Maybe nesxt time the today show wants to get a cookie cutter "America is a big bad imperial bully and what the fuck are we doing here" response they ought ot dress george clooney up in a soldier's uniform and ask him some questions.
Who are the victimized spokespeople that the right has trotted out sick of it? I mean the left tried to turn Cindy Sheehan into some kind of antiwar icon but she couldn't keep her big piehole shut for two seconds and stop saying things like the terrorists in Iraw were actually freedom fighters and well here's a breif list of quotes:
"You're taking away our freedoms. The Iraqi people aren't freer, they're much worse off than before you meddled in their country."
"You get America out of Iraq, you get Israel out of Palestine"
"We were told that we were attacked on 9/11 because the terrorists hate our freedoms and democracy ... not for the real reason, because the Arab Muslims who attacked us hate our Middle-Eastern foreign polic"
“All you have to do is look at New Orleans to see how vulnerable he's made our country.”
“I'm just so honored that the universe chose me to be the spark that has set off a raging inferno.”
“We really need to stop the imperialist tendencies of countries like the United States and Great Britain.”
“If he thinks that it's so important for Iraq to have a U.S.-imposed sense of freedom and democracy, then he needs to sign up his two little party-animal girls. They need to go this war. They need to fight.”
Ummm yeah..... why didn't anyone want to send Chelsea Clinton to Bosnia?
Bitch all you want about ann coulter but the far left is no better considering they have a practice of preying upon the grief of people who have lost loved ones in iraq to adavance their agenda. Not to mention you fucking hypocrites lap up every lie that Michael Moore tells in his little anthologies of mistruths and mischaracterizations and then accuse the right of being war profiteers.
60 - Alexandre
i believe Ms. Coulter's remarks to be truthful that's why it hurts so much. as for the 4 widows, if they want to inject themselves in the public debate, then do not assume that they would be forever immune from criticisms just because they lost their loved ones. as far as i can recall there well amost 3,000 men and women who perished that day. why do we not hear from the others???
61 - Andy Marsh
It is amusing to see how fired up the liberals get over the words of a skinny white chick! I have one of her books right here on my desk...I'll sell it to you for the used book price if you like!
She may be a bitter bitch...but she makes me laugh...and watching people get all fired up over her makes me laugh even more!
62 - JP
Arch, I hate to point this out, but one of your Sheehan examples is correct to a word--"We were told that we were attacked on 9/11 because the terrorists hate our freedoms and democracy ... not for the real reason, because the Arab Muslims who attacked us hate our Middle-Eastern foreign policy."
That "9/11 changed everything" is a deception you've swallowed hook, line and sinker. Read what Bin Laden writes just as one example, and what the Pres of Iran wrote to Bush. We like to paint them as "incoherent" and wackos, but they're actually quite logical and precise about it.
The others have varying degres of truth.
63 - Arch Conservative
They're all direct quotes.
64 - JP
I also think it's quite funny that conservatives love to paint all left-wing or liberal commentators--obnoxious like Michael Moore or not--as larger-than-life caricatures, but as soon as a liberal points out the hypocricy of the commentators on the right and starts to paint them the same way, they get defensive.
65 - Rick Moran
Read what Bin Laden writes just as one example, and what the Pres of Iran wrote to Bush
Do you often agree with people with a worldview any 3 year old westerner would laugh at?
Those men have lived unbelievably sheltered lives in addition to having such a warped sense of reality, twisted by their hate and bloodlust, that to even mention them as making an iota of sense in any way, shape, or form brands you as a myopic fool.
Un. Be. Lievable.
66 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Dave Nalle writes,
"... there's nothing wrong with being a Liberal. It's a fine thing. Being a leftist is entirely different."
Just when you think you know a guy....
67 - esmense
Coulter is a media celebrity (always "fun" to have on, as Lauter says) who gained and maintains her celebrity, and earns her fortune, by relentlessly exploiting sex appeal and controversy. In our media-dominated culture there's nothing especially unusual about that -- Paris Hilton and Anna Nicole Smith's careers and fortunes, and those of many others, are based in a similar media dynamic. The celebrity of Hilton and Smith is built on their indulgence in outrageous behavior and intentional creation of an outrageous persona, as is Coulter's. The only real difference is that celebrities like Hilton and Smith use their personalities and personal lives as mediums for their outrageousness, while Coulter uses her personality and our nation's shared political life. Also, while they are simply interested in gaining (profitable) attention by being outrageous in public, Coulter is also dedicated to creating and feeding public outrage.
The question Coulter's attack on the 911 widows raises for me is this; if the "911 widows" -- women who (unlike Coulter, sought out the responsibilities of marriage and motherhood)are now coping with the aftermath of a horrific event that tore their families, and private lives, tragically asunder -- don't have a right (perhaps even an obligation) to speak openly, and politically, about the public issues arising from that life altering event, then on what basis does Coulter (or any of us) have that right?
68 - RogerMDillon
"Who are the victimized spokespeople that the right has trotted out?"
Terri Schiavo's parents.
"Those men have lived unbelievably sheltered lives in addition to having such a warped sense of reality,"
I wasn't clear. Were you including Bush in "those men"?
69 - Jeff in Philly
On the whole I agree with your comments, with the exception of:
"And the networks who use Coulter as some kind of "spokesman" for the right should be told in no uncertain terms by as many of us as possible that she doesn't speak for any conservatives that we want to be associated with."
You may feel that she doesn't speak for you Rick, but she certainly speaks for a large number of conservatives. She's hitting #1 on the bestseller lists and the non-MSM (Fox, most of the talk radio pundits) have her on as often as she would like. Why would any MSM journalist have to put in a disclaimer that she is not representative of mainstream conservative thought.
As a matter of fact, you don't really disagree with her main point. You just don't like the wrapper she put it in.
70 - Rick Moran
Portraying themselves as "non-partisan" advocates during the 9/11 Commission hearings and then showing up at John Kerry campaign events smacks of a gigantic hypocrisy that is fair game anytime, anywhere, and under any circumstances.
And I just said it without referring to them as "grieving widows" or inferring that they "enjoy their husbands deaths."
That's the point, isn't it? I disagree with those ladies and think they are hypocritical. But I don't have to get personal and use hateful language to get the point across.
71 - Silas Kain
Ann Coulter. The genetically engineered child of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. She has the balls of Falwell and the insight of Robertson. She is the ultimate argument for male homosexuality.
72 - Lumpy
I heard coukte®on the radio and the argument she is getting all this flack for is actually halfway reasonable. All she is saying is that having your husband killed on 9/11 doestn't magically make you a foreign policy expert.
73 - Silas Kain
I agree, Lumpy. She's got a point. That being said, she still comes across as a man-hating, liberal bashing shrew.
Those with political agendas will use whatever tools are at their disposal to propagate their respective cause. These widows can just stand in line with all the other 'victims' of political rhetorical warfare. The families of those slaughtered on 9-11 deserve answers. We, as a people, owe that much to them. The blame doesn't rest completely on this Administration and certainly must be shared by the folks in Congress.
74 - Ron
You guys need to get over yourselves. I don't hear any outrage when Rumsfeld and Bush are called terrorists, murderers and commit acts of tourter. You are the same people that say Bush planned 9/11, but that is ok to say. you guy are hypocrites. What Ann said is correct and I totally agree with her.
75 - Silas Kain
Actually, Ron, don't put words (or anything else for that matter) in my mouth. I don't think Bush and his cronies are terrorists. I also support many of the issues he does. Finally, I've said it many times in the past - George W. Bush really doesn't give a rat's ass about many of the causes near and dear to the far right. He just panders to them because they are such an easy bunch to get money from. And they call us Liberals blind spenders! Bwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh