A.k.a. Coultergeist
A mainstay of any list of loons as well as the American Taliban,
Ann Coulter has created a career out of saying the same things other rightwing
pundits say in even more offensive and stupid manners.
As such, her role among conservatives could be viewed as part of a systematic strategy to move the Overton window.
Facts are of course less important, and Coulter has become
rather famous for her ability to distort, misrepresent, or omit them, sometimes
to what would have been hilarious effects were it not for the fact that an
uncannily large number people actually listen to her. Among her numerous
attempts at rewriting history, for instance, one of the most celebrated may be
her view on McCarthyism. Her book Treason:
Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism had a chapter
called “The Indispensable Joe McCarthy,” in which McCarthy was portrayed as the
victim of liberal persecution and witch hunts: “The myth of ‘McCarthyism’ is
the greatest Orwellian fraud of our times [which is a rather strange claim,
given that Coulter supports precisely the tactics of the demon of those alleged
myths] … Liberals are fanatical liars, then as now. Everything you think you
know about McCarthy is a hegemonic lie.” Which is not entirely true.
More obviously self-defeating is her staunch support of the Confederacy, which
sits rather, well, interestingly with her accusations of liberal treachery and
her claim that it was the Democrats (who have since became the Republicans) who
formed the KKK and were the segregationists, and that liberals were to blamefor slavery.
In her book Slander,
she claimed that “Books that become publishing scandals by virtue of phony
research, invented facts, or apocryphal stories invariably grind political axes
for the left … but it’s hard to think of a single hoax book written by a
conservative,” which says little about the existence of crazy conservative
books but lots about Coulter’s ability to survey reality.
Among her other more notorious publications you will find:
- Godless: The Church of Liberalism,
a much-anticipated book in which she claims that liberals reject God and hate those who don't, and that
liberalism is a religion in itself.
- Guilty: Liberal ‘Victims’ and their Assault on America,
in which she claims that liberals are always claiming to be victims while
victimizing conservatives;
for instance, she and Bush and McCarthy and Christians are all victims of
liberal persecution, she claims. No, the slight tension in her thesis does not
occur to her.
- Demonic: How the
Liberal Mob Is Endangering America, in which she claims that liberals
constitute a demonic mob and that she is a victim, and advocates shooting everyone who disagrees with her.
Also, liberals are anti-science.
Godless presented
her views on evolution,
with talking points obtained from Bill Dembski and Michael Behe,
as well as plenty that even Dembski and Behe wouldn’t touch (much of it is completely debunked here).
She presented evolution as “the flatulent raccoon theory,” since the theory of evolution is just as likely to be true as the theory that a
raccoon created the universe with a fart (see this for an eloquent takedown). In other words, she does not understand probabilities.
Or evolution.
But she does point out that evolution is just a theory and that lots of biologists are women,
which is a smoking gun.
Michael Egnor endorsed every word of it,
but then Egnor is not particularly good at reality or reason himself.
Among Coulter’s celebrated opinions are the idea that the US
should invade Canada, that the Occupy Wall Street protesters should be shot (discussed here),
as well as the following (more quotes here):
- “I'm always suspicious when a story is covered heavily on
one of the liberal stations and not being talked about on Fox. For example, the
birther story, all over MSNBC – no one on Fox ever mentioned it.” Which is not
entirely true (she also argues that liberals are to blame for the birther
conspiracy).
- “The ethic of conservation is the explicit abnegation of
man's dominion over the Earth. The lower species are here for our use. God said
so.”
- “I think our motto should be, post-9-11, ‘raghead talks
tough, raghead faces consequences.’” Which was followed by “We should invade
their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.”
- “They’re [Democrats] always accusing us of repressing
their speech. I say let’s do it. Let’s repress them. Frankly, I’m not a big fan
of the First Amendment.”
- “My libertarian friends are probably getting a little
upset now but I think that’s because they never appreciate the benefits of
local fascism.”
- “My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to
the New York Times Building”
- “It would be a much better country (the United States) if
women did not vote. That is simply a fact. In fact, in every presidential
election since 1950, except Goldwater in ‘64, the Republican would have won, if
only the men had voted.” Followed by “I think [women] should be armed but
should not vote … women have no capacity to understand how money is earned.
They have a lot of ideas on how to spend it.”
There is a helpful guide to Coulter’s quotes here.
She also blamed 9/11 on Edward Kennedy and Barry Lynn, but
didn’t elaborate on the causal mechanisms purportedly at work.
She did receive some attention for her positions on the
Fukushima disaster, where she endorsed the most radical crackpot position on
radiation hormesis, even claiming that radiation released from the nucear power
plant was good for you and can reduce the rate of cancers,
and that “the scientific consensus has changed, but that the media are not
reporting it.” It should tell you something that Bill O’Reilly had to assume the role of the voice of reason here. In the aftermath there were
plenty of attempts to raise funds to send Coulter to the Fukushima reactor so
she may experience the healing powers herself.
To put things into perspective Coulter has received
criticism by people like John Lofton for being too liberal (and a woman), and has the last couple of years stirred up some
controversy by speaking at “Homocon”, a conference sponsored by the homosexual
Republican group GOProud. Her appearance made several wingnuts go off the rails, and invited criticism from notable characters such as Joseph Farah.
Coulter is accordingly currently unpopular with some segments of the wingnut
community, as illustrated by this not entirely coherent critique from Steve Deace.
Diagnosis: Ann Coulter
Why wasn't she #1 on the list? She almost makes Frank Turek and William Lane Craig look compassionate.
ReplyDelete"Diagnosis: Ann Coulter" says it all.
ReplyDeleteShe's the standard by whom other loons are judged. Even though she has no class, she still is in a class of her own.
Coulter suggests organizing death squads for the people responsible if immigrant reform passes.
ReplyDeleteActually, Coulter is even worse then appears in this article. According to a former gentleman friend (an FBI agent no less), Coulter doesn't believe 90% of the crap that comes out of her mouth or her word processor. She's just a grifter and grifters got to grift.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, I want to believe she's nothing but a Poe.
ReplyDeleteANN COULTER ID not a grifter or a loon. And she's correct about Joe McCarthy. Communists HAD infiltrated the government at different levels.And they were all over Hollywood. The whole seems quaint and silly today. Coulter is also correct that liberals largely detest Christianity and the bible and clergy of all stripes...unless ofcourse it's a black church no matter how goofy i.e. Jeremiah Wright and Jim Jones...No one seemed seriously troubled by Wrights racist tirades, because racism is quite all right when it's black on white. The lefties in cali were smitten with Jim Jones and turned a blind eye to his particular insanity, because he had a very mixed congregation and was a bigger communist then legitimate Jesus jumper. Dont get me started on Islam. The left resents the hell out of Chistianity which seems to be keeping up with the times. Islam seems to be 1200 years out of date yet liberals will deny and thereby defend to the death that religions violent and backward behavior. Coulter is also correct when she calls Liberalism a religion unto itself. Many on the right have found their morality outside of politics...lets say the church....but for leftists politics is their morality. I'm a good person because I voted for....fill in the blank....Im a good person because I believe in global warming and therefore voted against....fill in the blank.....I used to hate Ann Coulter too. Her television appearances gave me the heebies. Then I read one of her books. I would never have her read stuff as liberal. BUT I took a hard right turn 5 years ago and now she seems life a prophet, a true feminist icon and the bravest woman in America. COULTER has a PhD in sarcasm and a knack for shocking book titles...Shes right and most of the time she's also RIGHT....wheres your Enyclopedia of Liberal Loons? GET CRACKING! The internet is only so big.
ReplyDeleteThis article is full of baloney and crazy collectivist claptrap. It's also extremely shallow.
ReplyDelete