Yowser,
“Coulter has become increasingly mainstream–positioning herself very successfully as voice of the Right.”
Nosense. She was fired from the National Review - perhaps the leading journal of conservative opinion. If you’re going to claim she is ‘positioning’ herself as the voice of the Right, you’re gonna have to prove it - elected Republicans don’t cite her as a hero.
“In fact, not only is the line between Coulter and Rice becoming blurred, but no intellectuals on the Right have the balls to do anything about it.”
The line between Rice and Coulter? What line? The fact that they both made it on to some calendar for sale on the web? You’re spewing nonsense here.
“Try this: change Arabs to Jews in Coulter’s quote and then try it out. Just pushing buttons? Just entertainment? Just harmless fun? Change it to Africans. Keep going.”
I never suggested that Coulter’s comments were acceptable. But you miss the obvious point - she’s trying to get folks riled up using the exact language you’re talking about. She doesn’t cloak her commentary - she shoots from the hip. It’s controversial, it sells books. Is she offensive? Certainly. So is Moore and Al Franken.
Next question.
“Coulter is an example of how too many on the Right in America reward hate speech. That’s right: hate speech. Pure and simple. But you won’t face that. What are you really ashamed of or afraid of? Tell me.”
Take a Ritalin. You’re losing focus. Coulter’s speech is hateful - I never endorsed what she said. As far as being ‘ashamed’ or ‘afraid’ - this is just jibberish concocted to take my eye off the ball.
My original point was that polemicists on both sides of the aisle blather all sorts of hateful things. And don’t be a fool - some of the epithets slung at Bush prior to the election were embarassing - but the authors are just trying to be the Howard Sterns of politics to make money.
“His Bowling for Columbine was taken seriously.”
By his sycophants and Hollywood - independents fisked his factual and contextual errors.
“F-911 established him as a grandiose goof who doesn’t know his own BS from reality. His pre-election Slacker tour: a total bust. So where are these worshippers and admirers?”
How about Terry McAuliffe, former DNC chairman, sitting through the premier of F-9/11 only to state afterwards “I think anyone who goes to see this movie will come out en masse and vote for John Kerry…clearly the movie makes it clear that George Bush is not fit to be president of this country.” Moreover, just look at the amount of money this mythodrama grossed. Trust me, independent undecided voters were not buying tickets - it was a partisan affair.
Then, of course, Moore gets to sit next to Jimmy Carter at the Democratic National Convention. When they showed him on the big screen, the folks on the floor applauded.
Anything else?
“Coulter consistently writes checks to be cashed on behalf of the USA against what she imagines are the enimies of conservatism.”
Coulter can say ‘we’ or ‘us’ till she pukes - she is a writer. She is not an agent of the government, nor any official serving in any department. She is not an elected servant, nor a representative of her country in any official capacity. She is a private citizen, the same as Noam Chomsky or Maureen Dowd, who invoke ‘we’ in listing what ‘crimes’ ‘we’ have committed across the globe.
So, thanks to the First Amendment privilege of free speech, she can whatever the hell she likes. But you’ll notice, Coulter has no power, no influence, no box seats next to George H. W. Bush.
Coulter isn’t writing ‘checks’ - she doesn’t have access to the ‘checkbook’.
“Moore is not the same–he’s always offering *his viewpoint, flawed as it obviously is. No imperial “we” and “our” in Moore.”
Such a flimsy apology.
“Face it: Coulter is political porn for conservatives but porn is now mainsteam.”
I’m sure she is somebody’s guilty pleasure - she sells a bunch of books - but I don’t read anything she writes, nor do I care.
“Don’t Peewee Herman it: owe up to your guilty pleasures. After all, when you’ve been whacking off in public for all to see, no point in blaming it on a non-existent liberal media.”
Although I do enjoy folks talking big behind the perceived invincibility of internet anonymity, it’s clear you brought a knife to a gunfight.
Coulter is part and parcel of the pop culture phenomenon, the same wall of noise we get from Hollywood, MTV, and bad literature. In fact, Coulter makes for good reading for kids who want to rebel against their parents - I know a lot of youngsters who have the natural urge to thumb their nose at their parents, and since their parents are liberal Lefties from the 60’s, their version of rock and roll is liking Reagan.
As is, your silly commentary notwithstanding, the original point remains intact - Coulter belongs to that class of political Howard Sterns who sell trash to the half-educated. The main difference is that Coulter remains at arm’s length on the fringe and does not impact national politics.