In this post, Maud’Dib asks why liberals are so bothered by Ann Coulter.
So I figured I’d answer him, despite the fact that that thread was a total disaster.
It’s a combination of two reasons:
(1) She doesn’t just disagree with me, she says horribly, false, and insulting things about me. At least, it sounds like they’re about me. She doesn’t just say “liberals are well meaning but wrong”. She says “liberals hate American and are treasonous traitors and are stupid”. And she doesn’t say “SOME liberals…” I may be exaggerating. But I don’t think I am.
By contrast, nothing I’ve ever read from Michael Moore and Al Franken attacks your average Republican man on the street as, say, a rapist, which is one of few crimes as loathsome as treason. For instance, The I Hate Republicans Reader, a collection of leftist writings, has a preface that goes out of its way to point out that it’s talking not about the average member of the republican party, who is probably a nice, caring, generous, decent fellow, but the republican leadership and the Bush administration.
(2) Yet somehow, she’s frequently held up as the precise equivalent of Michael Moore or Al Franken. If I had a penny for every time I’ve seen someone on the SDMB say something like “sure, we have Ann Coulter, but you have Michael Moore and Al Franken” or something like that, I’d probably have 20 or 30 cents. Which just drives me BATTY it’s so idiotic. Go to amazon.com and read the first few pages of Treason by her, and then go read the first few pages of Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them by Al Franken and come back here and tell me if they’re even in the same UNIVERSE of unreasoning hateful political bile. Even Michael Moore, who’s definitely a notch past Al Franken on both the fringe-o-meter and the lets-his-opinions-come-before-the-facts-o-meter, is like a fucking saint of accuracy and love compared to her.
(Note: there are, from time to time, conservative dopers who manage to condemn Ann without throwing in a sly “oh, but you liberals have people just as bad” disclaimer. And I respect them.)
Which is why there have been a grand total of three threads about her here in the last two months. Hell, you and milroyj probably get pitted nearly as often as she does.
Ann Coulter bothers me, too. Her depecration of liberals goes beyond that apporpriate for opponents, and reminds me of the way a Klansman might talk about Jews or Black people. You sense she really does beleive that they are inherently defective.
I’ve had family members who are true bigots, so I know how the rap goes, and I know the thinking. It is dangerous and foolish and demeaning of oneself to indulge in that kind of thinking no matter what group it’s directed at it. Especially so, if you’re convinced of the righteousness of your stance.
If anything, Michael Moore is the left’s Rush Limbaugh. I personally cannot THINK of anyone as hateful as Coulter. MAYBE Ward Churchill, but just barely, and he ain’t that popular.
Thanks, Scylla! I think a lot of us appreciate that comment.
Max speaks for me in every particular. Krauthammer, for example, has some ideas that irk me immensely. But he doesn’t play Coulter’s game.
I have actually cut off relationships and quit things I was involved with because people who were supposed to be my colleagues were saying, “I agree wholeheartedly with Coulter, with specific reference to Treason.” Look, if you are saying, “Okay, this woman is calling you a traitor, and I agree with her wholeheartedly, but let’s get on with the work we’re supposed to be doing together,” you are a blithering idiot. “Here’s a deadly insult, but don’t take it personally.”
“Brutus, as [Liberal pundit] says, you are a despicable fool who is trying to destroy everything that America has stood for, and should be locked in Leavenworth for the rest of your natural life as the worst sort of criminal. But don’t take it personally; let’s discuss this rationally.” :rolleyes: See how offensive it is?
Scylla I often vehemently disagree with you about politics, and not like you care at all about my oppinion, but I have to say I really respect what you just wrote here. It makes me have hope there is a future for this country. I was begining to believe we were going to have to just find a way to split it and be done.
The fact that this loathsome person is so popular with the rightwingers of the Republican Party says more about them than about her. These people are the true sickos for supporting such a scumbag.
He thinks she’s as much of a bitch as Satan intended her to be.
She’s going to claim “moral superiority” over a POTUS that she stumps for? Dumbfuck.
Even conservatives will concede that she’s a soulless bitch straight outta Satan’s asshole. She’s a great shit-talker, however, that’s not really a good thing. I’d be impressed if she offered some positive ideas, but she revels in the negative.
I’m sure she’ll surprise a lot of conservatives when they see her as Satan’s right-hand bitch in hell.
I dunno about the Ward Churchill thing. He spoke on my campus a month or so ago, and while he was pretty passionate about what he was speaking about, he wasn’t nearly as malicious as Ann Coulter comes off. He struck me as more of a loopy professor than . . . whatever it is that Coulter is. I’m not aware that he’s established a pattern of behavior like Coulter’s either. If anyone can tell me he has, I’d love to know.
That’s why (semantic quibbling aside) I was thrilled to see her sputtering around on our very own CBC. If anyone can reduce her to openmouthed speechlessness and bemusement, I’m all for it; having it be the Mother Corp. is just a special treat.
