Or, as the case may be, harp endlessly on a complete and utter lie, like the Earnhardt thing.
Ann Coulter reminds me of Emerson’s description of a house guest he had. “The more he talked of his honor, the faster we counted the spoons.”
Is this right? If so, and if Ann’s reaction was calculated on Al’s part, this was indeed a tasty gotcha. She took the bait–hook, line and sinker. Whichever camp ya call home, ya can’t deny it, point made.
I haven’t seen too much of Franken when he’s trying to be a political analyst, but Coulter’s typical M.O. is to make some type of wild claim then dodge the questions to back it up with facts. I remember one interview with her that when something like this:
Q: So, name one Democrat who has commited treason.
Coulter: [Names someone who died 50 yrs ago]
Q: No, no, no. Someone alive today.
Coulter: Oh, there are so many I don’t know where to begin.
Q: Name one.
Coulter: I just said, there are so many.
Q: Name just one.
Coutler: Well I would if you’d stop talking and let me say something.
[Interview ends]
Not true. Check the endnotes.
Wow: he really whooshed her, didn’t he?
I remember that too - I think it was on Chris Matthew’s show. She did the same thing yesterday on Joe Scarborough’s show, talking about Rush Limbaugh’s drug addiction. When asked (3 times) if she thought Rush should go to jail, since she’s said all drug users belong in jail, she pulled the “let me talk!” stunt, and then (finally) said it was a “stupid” question, because it “didn’t apply to people she knew or admired” (duh!!!).
Is she for real? I’m not bothered by partisan pundits who are able to respond coherently (even if I disagree), but I can’t understand her appeal to true conservatives. Isn’t she an embarrassment? Why do they tolerate her?
Her column still makes her look foolish in saying that liberals and liberals alone retort to childish insults, all the while she calls someone ‘head-injury boy’.
By the way, his ‘whoosing’ of Billy O’Reilly was even more humorous, considering he got Bill to publicly throw a temper tantrum. 
Now that would be a contest… I’ve often compared the two as being essentially opposite sides of the same coin. Though their views are polar opposites, their tactics are largely the same. I might say Moore is more talented than Coulter, and so covers his lies a bit better than she does… but as to who is more dishonest between the two of them, I’d be hard-pressed to choose one definitively.
Give Michael Moore some credit for restraint; AFAIK, he hasn’t accused the members of the Republican Party as “traitors.” :rolleyes:
Actually, I think you’ve been whooshed by Ann (I know that seems horrible, but what can you do?)
“Head injury boy” is a reference to one of Franken’s SNL characters “Massive head wound Harry.”
Posted by Scylla:
I could be wrong, but I seem to remember that Massive Headwound Harry was played by Dana Carvey, not Al Franken. Franken might have invented the character, though.
From Coulter’s response:
Franken’s source:
And here is the Observer story:
So who’s lying? Either Ann Coulter or the Observer, but not Franken.
I think you’re right. I remember clearly now it was Dana in the one where the dog was eating his brains, and it was a real dog and it got kind of carried away.
Anyway, that was funny.
Whoops, that should be August 26, 2002.
If Franken did this, then it was very clever, and not at all intellectually dishonest, and I withdraw my critcism on that point.
This thread completely reaffirms my habit of avoiding all these loudmouths in general. I can’t listen to Rush more than 15 minutes without getting so annoyed that I switch programs, and I’m one of those people who will probably die without voting Democrat. He’s a blowhard who won’t try to see others’ points.
I’m scared to even read Coulter’s stuff, from what I hear.
If you’ll read my post, you’ll see I was just reporting Coulter’s response to Franken’s book. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet (waiting to borrow it from a co-worker).
Yeah, Franken uses only a single endnote in his book and he does it precisely to make a point about Coulter’s practice of hiding crucial information in endnote. I loaned my copy out so i don’t remember the exact wording but once you locate the endnote that explains that Evan Thomas is the grandson of Norman Thomas, it’s followed by a quip about how hard it was to find the endnote. Coulter apparently got whooshed by her own pet tactic.
Did anyone see the Hardball sketch on SNL last night. Rachel Dratch did a great job of parodying Ann Coulter as a shrill, childish nutjob (“Why don’t you have some taitor-aid, traitor?”) while the guy who plays Chris Matthews (I don’t remenber his name) got in some great shots at her (“I can smell your soul rotting from here.”)