Nice move Damian. Discussing Political viewpoints can be done without the vitriol. If you really want to change a person's thinking you not only have to deal with cold hard logic but also appeal to people's motivations. Mocking people isn't going to change their mind, only harden their stance. Ann is like the cousin that embarasses us at the family get-togethers. She's obviously of the creed that any publicity is good publicity, just like the hollywood types she also takes cracks at.
Posted at 2006-06-07 15:55:24 [PermaLink]I agree with what she said but wince at her style. I have most of her books so I've winced more than ounce. However unlike the lefts usual Ted Rall like meaningless rants Ann always makes the point. With out any sensitivity to her opponents all to thin hides. Personally I'll take her sense over her Insensativity anyday.
Posted at 2006-06-07 16:03:51 [PermaLink]Widows and orphans make lousy targets.
Posted at 2006-06-07 16:20:03 [PermaLink]I too agree with the thrust of her arguments, but do think she could have toned it down a little. People who lose relatives in wartime (or in this case a terrorist attack) are given carte blanche to speak about just about anything they want it seems. Cindy Sheehan is one good example. Lord knows the woman doesn't know what she's talking about most of the time and I think Coulter could have been talking about Sheehan as well in terms of 15 minutes of fame, abusing the death of a relative, etc. We don't need to stray far in this country to find such actions. Consider Dinning and Goddard, parents with a son and daughter killed in combat. Both fathers chose to attack the policy of the government over keeping the media away from repatriation ceremonies. It is unfortunate that the media have given these two grieving fathers a pass on their opinions while not doing the digging that would show that many military families (certainly ALL of the families in my circle....about 40 to 50 families) don't want the media present and that several Military Family Support Centers approached the government with a request that media be kept away. All part and parcel of us not challenging grieving parents. I'm not saying that that is wrong, it just is what it is.
Posted at 2006-06-07 16:52:34 [PermaLink]Any criticism Ann made of the widows, she could make about herself....me thinks her ego is in the way of her politics.
Posted at 2006-06-07 17:29:42 [PermaLink]You think she is wrong?
Who sainted the goup of Victims so that they are above criticism?
They (the 9/11 widows of this particular group) have been acting EXACTLY as Coulter describes.
So why not question or rebuke that behaviour?
Oh yeah right! Somebodies 'Feelings' may be Hurt.
So why is there still an ad for the book on the page?
Posted at 2006-06-07 18:46:59 [PermaLink]Banning Ann Coulter for being too Ann Coulterish?.
Oh well, it's your site.
Ann's writings are a guilty pleasure to read, but guilty nonetheless.
What really irks me is how brilliant the woman is! Coulter's no bubbleheaded Maureen Dowd or ham-handed Ted Rall; any look at her writing or her resume shows a consistent streak of genius. She's on par with Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Reynolds as far as political analysis and rapier wit. Yet she can't make a brilliant political commentary in one sentence without making some completely over-the-top insult the next.
The only explanation I can think of is that he drinks (alot!) and gets drunk when she writes. She's says exactly what some of us would say about _______ (fill in the blank: Muslims, liberals, Clinton, Kennedy . . .) that we'd say if we had a few drinks in us.
Hey... I'm on Ann's side. (I may even buy her book, though I've put off a few things until the new job starts.)
... Hey, she's acid and mean and she takes no prisoners. Then again, those 'greiving widows' are too. It's just a pity for them that they drew Ann's sites. They're outnumbered!
Something else: I was in Manhattan that day. Getting ready to vote at P.S.9.
The Jersey Girls are aptly named... irresponsible, childish, self-centred, and paid like the girls at the Badda Bling (sp?) They do not speak for all who lost loved ones that day. Promo materials of the New York Times and the NYC major TV media.
My only criticism of Coulter is that she's shooting fish in a barrel.
I enjoy the site, though I certainly don't always agree with all the postings. That there is an ad for Coulter's book, however, has made me think twice about bothering to come here so thank you Damian for putting principles before money. She's a demagogue pure and simple who traffics in hate and name-calling. You who criticize her delivery while ghoulishly enjoying her sickening meaness should realize how your aiding and abetting affects the political discourse entirely for the worse. There is nothing good about what she does.
Posted at 2006-06-07 22:01:11 [PermaLink]You're bang on, Protagonist.
It's a shame Coulter's occasional lunatic moments undermine her unrivaled talent for skewering the left.
Cruel, but Fair!
The Jersey Girls have a political agenda that undoubtedly pre-dates 9/11. They are simply native Bush-deranged entitlement types, with a bit more class than Cindy Sheehan. Look at their supporters: Joe Wilson, Howard Dean etc etc.
Case rests, Your Honour.
Will be interesting to see if Damian can get PJ to end all Ann Coulter adverts on his page. Surely she is a big advertiser for them?
Posted at 2006-06-08 03:26:41 [PermaLink]She should've avoided the widows; as one poster said "widows and orphans make poor targets".
Politics needs ranters, though, and Coulter is probably one of the best.
The remarks about "harpy shelf-life" and posing for Playboy are somewhat unfortunate; they undermine, at least for certain people, the very points she's trying to put across.
Besides, at 43 Coulter, though certainly not old, can hardly be classed to as "freshly minted".
Still, though, her writings provide a good jolt, some great laughs and some food for thought.