Pretty much anytime I’ve written about Ann Coulter’s antics, some commenter has come along and asked me why I give her the time of day. After I while I came to agree with this criticism. Why give her any free publicity? Well, here is one reason:
Apparently it’s no longer news to the Associated Press and Reuters that a lead conservative voice at THE lead conservative conference, a conference attended by all the GOP presidential candidates (save John McCain) and even the vice president himself, publicly called a lead Democratic presidential candidate [John Edwards] a “faggot.” And it’s not news that the lead gay and lesbian civil rights group in America, and the head of the Democratic party, have called on the GOP candidatees, and the veep, to condemn her hateful comments. No, no story there. But I do hear that Anna Nicole Smith is still dead and Britney shaved her head. Oooh, how exciting.
UPDATE: Editor & Publisher notes that the Washington Post is also refusing to cover this story.
UPDATE: Not only does the New York Times story about the conference NOT mention what Coulter did, but the story DOES mention Coulter’s speech generally, and how it was apparently THE BIG DRAW of the entire conference. In other words, the most anticipated speech of the entire day was the one in which the speaker called John Edwards a ‘faggot,’ and the mainstream media thinks this isn’t newsworthy. But it is newsworthy to mention Coulter’s speech generally and how important it was to the attendees. Nice.
I don’t have to remind you that John Edwards recently had a controversy because he hired two bloggers that had made remarks construed to be offensive to some Catholics. The media did not hesitate to cover that story. But when he gets called ‘a faggot’ by a well known best selling author, Republican activist, and cable news guest? Crickets are chirping.
Coulter has said of Bill Clinton, “I think that sort of rampant promiscuity does show some level of latent homosexuality,” and Al Gore, “I don’t know if [Clinton’s] gay. But Al Gore — total fag.”
I guess it is kind of her shtick to call heterosexual Democratic politicans ‘fags’. At this point, this behavior on her part should not surprise anyone. But what about the total lack of news coverage?
I can’t answer your question, but checking around a bit I found this most appropriate (blog) lede:
Ann Coulter: The Cunning Stunts of a Stunning….
right out of the gate they call her a bitch. I lost interest after that.
She’s an entertainer, and she’s exceptionally good at her job. She wanted the blogosphere to bite, and you, MyDD, ThinkProgress, Glenn Greenwald (quick run – there are more) all have commentaries up with her name in the titles. One hundred percent predictable.
Do you really have to ask why there are those who refuse to put her name in print? P.T. Barnum isn’t dead, he got a sex-change operation and channels through a new, um, “medium”.
Personally, I am more concerned with double standards in the media than I am with Ann Coulter. And that is why I wrote what I did. If she did this at a college campus I would ignore it. But not at this event. It reflects on the candidates. And they should be forced to comment on it. Confronting hate speech is a necessary evil. If it makes her a few bucks, I’m sorry about that. Personally, I don’t think she’ll be able to make as much money if she finally gets banned from events like this and the cable news.
thing that drives us wild: IOKIYAR. Why should the media hound Edwards and the bloggers but leave Coulter and her ilk alone?
I agree BooMan but Republicans use Fear, Lies, Hate and Prejudice as a party tool so I doubt any of them will say a word.
Speaking of entertainers, Isaiah Washington caught more grief for that slur…and he deserved to catch it.
BUT. You’ve got someone who uttered that damned slur in a roomful of elected “leaders” and presidential hopefuls and nary a peep? You’ve got to be kidding me.
Oh, holy cow–I went back and read the quote and it’s a direct reference to him, and NOBODY reports about it? Does Mel Gibson need to be in the audience before it gets covered? Sheesh…!!!
for expressing his personal opinion, and he’s not even in politics.
Never thought I’d see the day when sports was more civilized than political discourse…then again, I gave up journalism school when I decided I’d rather make up stories than go out and look for them — too bad that was about 20 or so years before FAUX Noise Channel…
rba: “She’s an entertainer, and she’s exceptionally good at her job.”
If Ann Coulter is an “exceptionally good entertainer”, then the “talents” of millions of American 3rd graders are being mis-allocated.
Like I wrote above, her purpose is to create controversy, get her name in print as often as possible, sell as many books as possible, and take the money and run. Given the amount of press devoted to her single statement on Edwards, she seems to be doing her job well.
Predictably, GOP candidates demanded an explanation, which she provided to the New York Times this morning, expanding this bullshit beyond her wildest expectations.
Maybe they’re figuring if she is ignored, she’ll just go away.
All snark aside, attention (and the money it brings) are what she craves.
a generous interpetation Boran. When will they ignore it when she is heckled? When will they ignore her new books? When will they ignore Donahue’s latest outrage?
Maybe they could at least cover Howard Dean’s reaction:
The Edwards campaign sent out a news letter about it last night and since I am an Edwards supporter I went and made a donation. The mainstream media love Ann and will keep kissing her but as usual.
but I bookmarked it from your post just in case — will definitely pass Edwards some green this weekend…
I was so disappointed that KO was not on his show last night (some folks think he might be on his way to Florida for his annual spring training trip and will do next week’s shows from there) — hope he’ll devote a segment of WPITW to this alleged excuse for a human being.
And to all those who say, “Just ignore her, she craves attention”, well, that’s what people told me about bullies in school — then I got the living crap beaten out of me and those same people said, “Why didn’t you say something?” We have to respond to this kind of language in very strong terms, by pointing out the utter ridiculousness of her statements. Sooner or later, the American public will catch on, and her next book will end up on the “$4.95 or less” shelves down at Borders or B&N…
LOL same here!!!I do not ignore bullies and I will not find this acceptable anywhere!!!
The Republican Platform
Looks like progressives haven’t learned a damn thing from Kerry getting swift boated.
Progressives need to stop acting like wussies. Stop acting like like you did in Student Government when you were deciding the year’s Greek Week budget. Robert’s Rules of Order wasn’t written with a streetfight with thieves and murderers in mind.
Remember this exchange…
“Malone: You said you wanted to get Capone. Do you really wanna get him? You see what I’m saying is, what are you prepared to do?
Ness: Anything and everything in my power.
Malone: And then what are you prepared to do? If you open the can on these worms you must be prepared to go all the way because they’re not gonna give up the fight until one of you is dead.
Ness: How do you do it then?
Malone: You wanna know how you do it? Here’s how, they pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way, and that’s how you get Capone! Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that?
Ness: I have sworn to capture this man with all legal powers at my disposal and I will do so.
Malone: Well, the Lord hates a coward. Do you know what a blood oath is, Mr. Ness?
Ness: Yes.
Malone: Good, ’cause you just took one….”
The neo-cons are not a political movement. They are organized criminals. Until we stop treating the neo-cons like fellow students we know from Model UN, and start treating them like the gangsters they are, this country is going to continue it’s death spiral.
You know how you deal with this latest Ann Coulter outrage? You make multi-million dollar ad buys of commercials running the full list of convicted Republican child molesters. You run those commercials until every GOP presidential candidate in attendance at CPAC denounces Ann Coulter and demands she be stripped of GOP party membership.
Ann really isn’t the sharpest knife in the shed, either…(see video)
http://minor-ripper.blogspot.com/2006/12/ann-coulter-gets-owned.html
I found this decision on their part absolutely stunning and inexcusable. For what it’s worth, I wrote a letter to the editor this AM.
It’s good news if they’re trying to ridicule him with the most insulting thing they can think of. In their view, nobody is as manly as george – except for Hillary.
“First they laugh at you, then they ignore you, then they fight you, then you win.” – M. Gandhi
Stories I found on Google this morning:
UPI
Yahoo News (Op-ed)
Our blacks are better than their blacks? That’s also pretty outrageous.
LA Times (buried at the end of the story)
Fox News (online)
New York Times — Nothing.
well if anything, this will back fine and actually help the Edwards campaign. It will fire up more of his supporters and piss off a lot of Dems. LOL He is the only candidate who has come out in full support fo the bill to do away with Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and let Gays and Lesbians serve openly in the military.
Pat Buchanan at the Republican convention comes to mind. Coulter has damaged her party…finally.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this display from Red State:
When I blogged on the PandaGate scandal, I swore to myself that I would never support or defend anyone who uses the same kind of hateful rhetoric that Amanda Marcotte uses. I didn’t realize that this would mean having to denounce a conservative celebrity just days after joining the Republican Party and declaring myself a conservative. Be that as it may, that’s exactly what I’m doing: I’m denouncing her. And I’m saying that all other conservatives should do the same thing.
Read on . . .
How can we do anything else? How can we condemn John Edwards’ campaign for hiring someone who uses hateful and profane rhetoric and then look the other way when one of our own uses that same kind of rhetoric? Indeed, all of the Republican presidential candidates – and especially those in attendance at CPAC – should denounce Coulter. She should never again be invited to CPAC. She should, for that matter, never again be invited to another conservative or Republican event. She should be totally and utterly shunned by the conservative movement. We don’t need her; if anything, she has become a hindrance and an eyesore, a figure who liberals can point to and say: “Look. That’s why you don’t want to vote Republican.” She can’t possibly be drawing anyone into the conservative movement. If anything, she’s got to be decreasing our numbers.
You know, the conservative movement features a lot of brilliant men and women. Erick Erickson, Michelle Malkin, Sean Hannity, Ann Althouse, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham – these are names all of us know, and there are so many more. Ann Coulter used to be one of those brilliant conservatives. But now all she does is come out on the national stage once every few months, say a few outrageous and indefensible things, and proceed to make the conservative movement look like the horrible ogre that liberals say that it is.
You know, the conservative movement features a lot of brilliant men and women. Erick Erickson, Michelle Malkin, Sean Hannity, Ann Althouse, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham…
Now I’m cracking up roflmao. That would make one snarky signature.
They can’t be serious.
Well that’s the really creepy thing…they are serious about those people, damn serious.
Have any of the attempts to straighten out the media had any affect? Does anyone expect them to? Since Bill’s Telecom Reform Act of 1996 and Bush’s successes in deregulating the media I have noticed no change except that it is getting worse. Big money supports big money and I do not expect any changes.
Support Progressive Media. The progressives in England are smarter than the ones in the U. S. and already have their own progressive media. The ones in the U. S. are either too cheap or not smart enough.
The neofascists have a well-paid machine to comb through the passing “news” and blow up any comment by Dems/lefties/liberals as the crisis of the hour. They do media placement just like Colgate or Intel does. PR works, unfortunately.
Our side just gets all boringly outraged in the blogs and naively thinks the “news media” will pick up on it because they should. Simple as that.
As to Coulter, if every time you pulled down your panties everybody ran away screaming, you’d probably start thinking everybody’s a faggot too.
They say Ted Haggard was straight before Ann tried to do him. But I couldn’t repeat such gossip.
Well…of course!!!
You know how certain societal groups of African-Americans are given a pass by the media when using the “N” word, right?
(Not “NO’, schmuck. That’s a word that they are NOT allowed to use. DUH!!! Not to any serious effect, anyway. That OTHER “N” word.)
Well…y’all KNOW that Coulter’s a female impersonator, right? Even if she has had female sexual organs from birth, she is STILL passing. Bet on it.
Well…by the same token of minority-ness…she’s allowed to throw around the “F” word by the media.
(No, not “Freedom”, fool. Not “Fascist” either. DOUBLE duh!!! YOU know…”Farqhuar”. Rght.)
Whadda buncha maroons!!!
BB
…and asked if they want to denounce Ann Coulter’s “faggot” insult towards Mr. Gore and Mr. Edwards.
Coulter is given a platform because she’s speaking the mind of higher-ups, people who have the power to pull the plug on her at any time (or give her a bully pulpit).
Coulter’s not the problem–she’s the symptom of the disease.
Why do the people running major media outlets give Coulter a platform? Because they want her to say exactly what’s she saying.
Every prominent politician at that “conservative” conference needs to be confronted and asked to denounce, in no uncertain terms, Coulter’s “faggot” insult against not only Mr. Edwards but against gay Americans.
And if they don’t, they ought to be called what they are: hate-filled bigots who have no business holding public office.
No wonder Giulani and Romney are staying quiet on this issue. They think it’ll blow over. But we shouldn’t let it.
The infrastructure which creates Words of Mass Division shall be protected at all costs.
and other issues.
Ann Coulter the Darling of the Rightwing is a BIGOT, Largo Florida Biggotville, USA, and Republican Hatred and Prejudice
I just finished this one.