The right wing's Paris Hilton
by Tom Maertens
Those who watch cable talk shows know that Ann Coulter made an appearance on "Hardball" this week.
Among her assertions were the claims that the U.S. found WMD in Iraq, and "of course" Saddam was working with al Qaeda — both blatantly false.
What got most of the attention was her exchange with Elizabeth Edwards over Coulter calling her husband a "faggot" and the assertion that the Edwards campaign was advertising the loss of their son a few years ago on bumper stickers.
Conservatives like Tucker Carlson defended Coulter, or more accurately, asserted that Edwards had carried out the same ad hominem attacks as Coulter by criticizing those who refuse to take action on global warming.
Herewith a few of Coulter's previous gems:
Those who watch cable talk shows know that Ann Coulter made an appearance on "Hardball" this week.
Among her assertions were the claims that the U.S. found WMD in Iraq, and "of course" Saddam was working with al Qaeda — both blatantly false.
What got most of the attention was her exchange with Elizabeth Edwards over Coulter calling her husband a "faggot" and the assertion that the Edwards campaign was advertising the loss of their son a few years ago on bumper stickers.
Conservatives like Tucker Carlson defended Coulter, or more accurately, asserted that Edwards had carried out the same ad hominem attacks as Coulter by criticizing those who refuse to take action on global warming.
Herewith a few of Coulter's previous gems:
"Whether they are defending the Soviet Union or bleating for Saddam Hussein, liberals are always against America. They are either traitors or idiots, and on the matter of America's self-preservation, the difference is irrelevant."
"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war. "
"My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building. "
"We need to execute people like (John Walker Lindh) in order to physically intimidate liberals."
"I think we ought to nuke North Korea right now just to give the rest of the world a warning.... They’re a major threat. I just think it would be fun to nuke them and have it be a warning to the rest of the world."
Labels: Ann Coulter, Hardball, John Edwards
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3 Comments:
And your point would be...?
Good comparison of Paris Hilton and Ann Coulter.
The Freedom of Speech concept does not require the speaker to articulate cognitive thoughts.
Hilton has no effect on society, but Coulter does. Many politicians today speak with such authority that their words are accepted as fact … fortunately for the informed, Coulter is so outrageous that her words are not respected … but the problems is that most of her audiance are not informed and accept her words as fact.
Richard Nixon discussed the Founding Fathers and the Conservatives of his times in his book Victory Without War :
They would have been appalled by the philosophy that seems so dominant in the capitilistic world today—when so many seem motivated only by selfish, secular, materialist values and for whom the only god is money. They were conservatives, but their conservatism, was leavened with compassion. They wanted America to be not just a great country, but a good country. They were passionately patriotic, but they knew that patriotism, literally interpreted, means love of country. They wanted their country to be worthy of love.
Nixon’s comment defines Coulter as what she is … a shameless self-promoter who uses outrageous comments only to incite bigotry which in the end erode our national unity.
Alas, I acknowledge that Coulter has the Freedom to Speak, but I am Pro-Choice, so in regard to Coulter and Hilton, I Choose to use my remote control and change the channel.
I recall the words of Supreme Court Associate Justice Hansell B. Duckett,
"What this country needs is more free speech worth listening to."
The only comparison between Ann Coulter and Paris Hilton is that they are both thin and blond. After that, what comparison is there?
I am suprised that someone would say Ann Coulter's words are not respected. I think she has five NYT best sellers to her credit, so, I am not sure it is accurate to say that her words are not respected. Perhaps her words are not respected in the legacy media (the mainstream media - the liberal media)? Now, she certainly pushes the envelope on politcal rhetoric, but a lot of what gets printed or shown on MSNBC, is taken out of context. Yes, she used the word 'faggot' and yes she made reference to John Edwards being killed in a terrorist plot, but the legacy media only prints the portions of what she says in order to inflame opposition. The legacy media says 'coulter calls Edwards a faggot' or 'coulter wants Edwards to die in terrorist plot' without giving the context or the entire list of quotes. The legacy media uses this tactic to marginalize people it doesn't like and to dupe people in to believing their print-bites. Sadly, those who are duped by the legacy media also take legacy media print-bites as 'fact'.
This same double standard allows Bill Maher to suggest if Dick Cheney were dead fewer people would die in Iraq and that Maher was 'sorry the assassination attempt on Cheney failed'. And Craig Kilborn goes on TV showing a picture of GW Bush with the subtext 'hunters wanted'. These comments and situations go virtually unchallenged in the legacy media.
And what national unity do you speak of? For as long as this country has existed, it has hardly ever had 'unity' as least in philosophical terms. Perhaps if we get rid of talk radio and adopt the liberal fascination with equality, we might attain national unity - everyone is the same, everyone makes the same money, everyone thinks the same way, no dissent of government is allowed.
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