For the Ann Coulter Fans Here

[web_norah]

THE UN-AMERICANISM OF ANN COULTER


By Joseph Honick

An appalling reality is that someone being released from jail—Paris Hilton—will get greater media coverage than the call by a licensed lawyer—Ann Coulter—for the death of John Edwards, a political candidate for the presidency of the United States.

The political atmosphere during election years is always filled with rhetoric that is hardly of any major intellectual level. Usually comments are either specific character attacks, demeaning the stands of opponents on issues of relative importance, and so on. What is unusual is the kind of un-American commentary by the rancid tongue of Ann Coulter, who makes a living pouring out some of the most offensive vitriol that is not equaled by other campaigns.

Elizabeth Edwards discusses Coulter with Chris Matthews this week. Photo: Newsbusters

In the last couple of days, Coulter used her constitutionally guaranteed right of free speech to express her wish that presidential candidate and former Senator John Edwards had been killed by terrorists. When the candidate’s wife, in reasoned commentary, urged the end of hate talk, the best Coulter could muster was a loud: “She [referring to Mrs Edwards] wants me to stop talking. No!”

Actually, I agree with Coulter on this one as it applies to whether she should keep talking. The more she talks with her dripping hate messages, the more people will come to understand who and what she is and represents. It reeks of the kind of oratory in the days of the late Father Coughlin, who had millions of listeners to his preaching over the radio in the 30’s, or Ku Klux Klan rantings over the years.

The wonder is not what makes up a person of the Coulter ilk so much as it is what makes her so attractive to some people—willing to sign on to her smear tactics and even pay to listen to her—and what that says about the rest of us.

Most of us, in calculating the character of public spectacles which Coulter has made herself, often try to go back to how such character was formed; what causes anyone to spew hatred and demeaning rhetoric in all directions in ways that exceed the bounds of impoliteness or even the usually vague lines of political combat.

With Coulter and her array of supporters, if online comments are included, we are witnessing a new meaning of Un-American activities that cry out for review. Comments that call for the death of another come close to the kind of rhetoric removed from constitutionally protected areas and represent something close to incitement to dangerous actions against others.

Where is the outrage?

But why is there no loud expression of outrage? Where are the other Democratic candidates to condemn such language? Why are not conservatives doing the same as citing Coulter’s obscene language as totally contrary American values, forgetting the law? Where are the major religious organizations who should be in the forefront to nail her words as disgraceful?

The answer is that almost all of those mentioned have responded with something just above wimpy reactions. It is this kind of irresponsible acquiescence that is contributing to the continuous falloff of citizen confidence in our electoral system at a time when the nation is suffering reputationally around the world.

It behooves anyone reading this article to renounce the kind of unpatriotic Coulter comments that might contribute to the physical harm of any candidate of any party. It can be done by flooding your news media with letters and phone calls and doing the same to your representative in Congress.

In the end, it is all the more shameful that the release of Paris Hilton from prison can gather more public attention than a person who would incite the killing of a candidate for public office.

[Apotheosis]

she should be checked for the mark of the beast...it's gotta be there...

[web_norah]

the things people do for attention ...i wonder what she was like as a teenager


???

[pod]

Probably let the football team run a train on her.

[JMT]

i try to avoid getting my news from editorials so i looked up the direct quote.

"I was denounced all over. All over. I think the one that hurt the most was, was from I'mALittleGirlInAPinkPartyDress.com… Very upsetting…Though about the same time Bill Maher said - and by the way, I did not call John Edwards the F-word. I said I couldn't talk about him because you go into rehab for using that word. But about the same time, you know, Bill Maher was not joking and saying he wished Dick Cheney had been killed in a terrorist attack. So I've learned my lesson. If I'm gonna say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot."

[web_norah]

....If I'm gonna say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot

i suppose that's being 'diplomatic' in Ann Coulter language.

[endymion]

Thanks for looking up the actual quote.

And that's pretty harsh.

[slamminshaun]

I didn't know Ann Coulter had any fans here....??

But you're right JMT, as harsh as her quote is on the surface, it's no more harsh than what Bill Maher said about Cheney. And it's pretty obvious she was simply making a point. I don't recall Norah posting Maher's comments, and it was pretty obvious he was NOT simply trying to make a point.....

[endymion]

Bill Maher was commenting on a blog post that somebody else wrote. The post was:

"I have zero doubt that if Dick Cheney was not in power, people wouldn’t be dying needlessly tomorrow."

Asked by Frank if Maher believed that sentiment, the host replied, "I’m just saying if he did die, other people, more people would live. That’s a fact."

source: Fox News

Bill Maher didn't say, "I wish Dick Cheney would get killed by terrorists". Coulter wins this round for sure: "I wish [John Edwards] had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot." Wow that's harsh.

[Apotheosis]

Originally Posted by TechJunkie

Bill Maher was commenting on a blog post that somebody else wrote. The post was:

"I have zero doubt that if Dick Cheney was not in power, people wouldn’t be dying needlessly tomorrow."

Asked by Frank if Maher believed that sentiment, the host replied, "I’m just saying if he did die, other people, more people would live. That’s a fact."

source: Fox News

Bill Maher didn't say, "I wish Dick Cheney would get killed by terrorists". Coulter wins this round for sure: "I wish [John Edwards] had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot." Wow that's harsh.

i wish bill maher ran for president.