Letters to the Editor
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Um, no -- this won't be the end.
Dear Ann survives on the pure oxygen of BEING TALKED ABOUT BY OTHER PEOPLE. As Oscar Wilde pointed, the only thing worse than being talked about, is NOT being talked about. She's the living incarnation of that witticism (if she can be described as "living" -- I'm not so sure.)
You would think that she'd eventually go over the top, given how ever-more outrageous her statements are becoming, but the silence from her constituency is deafening. We'd be far better off ignoring her, as impossible as that seems to do.
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Enough of Ann Coulter already.
Of course this isn't the end of Ann Coulter, and I've got to say that I'm a little sick of reading about her in War Room. You get, don't you?, that by talking about her, you're playing right into her hands. The fact that she gets book deals and spots on TV shows is part of what truly frightens me about our country. She's beyond the definition of nutcase and adds no substantive content to our national dialogue. Let's all ignore her.
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Ann-thrax Coulter's latest venom-spewing ad hominem attack
You cannot hope to bribe or twist
Ann Coulter, so-called columnist
But, considering what the bitch will do
Unbribed, there's no occasion to.
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Republican spokesmodel?
Hoping she will make a too-outrageous claim is as ineffective a strategy for handling her as ignoring her. There is no such animal as a "too-outrageous claim" unless someone says "enough." And that someone has to be a Republican.
The way to handle Ann Coulter is for reporters to ask Republicans, especially moderate ones, their opinion of her statements. Preferably in public press conferences. On the record.
"Ann Coulter has said that the widows of 9/11 victims are opportunists. Does the President [Vice President, Senator, Congresswomman, or Congressman] agree?"
"Ann Coulter has said that the appropriate response to Jack Murtha's position on Iraq is fragging--essentially, murder. Does the President [Vice President, Senator, Congresswoman, or Congressman] agree?"
"Ann Coulter has said that [insert hateful message here]. Does the President [Vice President, Senator, Congresswoman, or Congressman] agree?"
Make the questions specific about Ann's specific statements and follow up. Make the questions rain down on those for whom Ann claims she speaks. Get her statements out of the studio, away from the talking heads and "pundits," and into the realm of policymakers, Deciders, and leaders. Ask those people, the ones we elect and those who write legislation, where they agree and where they disagree with her.
The best part is that we don't have to wait for an Edward R. Murrow or Woodward/Bernstein to do this. Any reporter can participate: bloggers, local newspaper reporters, and even Matt Lauer can call or email the office of an elected representative. If an official doesn't want to go on record about Ann Coulter, well, that's a story, too: why not?
Once the Republican machine recognizes that she needs to be shut down, she'll disappear. But until all Republicans are held accountable for her public, hateful statements, she will thrive like crabgrass.
P.S. This strategy would also work with Rove.
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I agree with yama
Let's all agree to stop talking about this anorexic nutcase. If progressives stop giving her air, it will become clear that her only role is as a sick, neo-con shill.
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a thought
From a two birds with one stone perspective, I'd propose that Ann Coulter and Jason Leopold be exiled to some remote land of disgraced "journalists" and forced to co-exist alone together (or not) until death do they part. Sterilization of one or both might be wise, though. You never know and THAT might be too great a risk to take.
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Over-exposure would be a far better tactic
Don't ignore Ann Coulter. Make her the spokes-model for the right wing of the GOP and Bush's base, many of whom really do love her.
You have only to read the comment threads of the posts of conservative bloggers who have dared to criticize her to see that this is true. Her defenders outnumber her critics nearly every time.
We couldn't shut her down anyway; so make her own people either continue to defend her or else shut her down themselves. That's how it really should be done... at both ends of the political spectrum: police your own.
And if anyone has an inside track to Bill Maher, ask him if he had it to do all over again, would he still have given her so much air time on Politically Incorrect? That's where she got a lot of exposure to some of her current fan base.
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Serious Notebook is right
Ann's words need to be thrown in the face of every Republican out there. Let's see how far they will back her. And if they don't, how will Ann's fans react?
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She's wrong, BTW
Supposedly fragging was carried out in Vietnam as a response to officers who insisted on putting their soldiers at unnecessary risk in a war that everyone understood was already lost.
I say supposedly because as far as I know, fragging was more rumour than fact.
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No Way
This is hardly the end of Ann Coulter. Au contraire, she'll sell even more books. She is truly the dark, nasty id of the Republican party, and therefore deserves as much airtime as possible.
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Bush spokeswoman?
Ann Coulter should replace the Fox snowman in the White House. What better guarantee can anyone get that the neocon disaster gets buried once and for all. She is an insult to everyone else. If she wants to insult veterans, she should hurry up and become one. Women are allowed in the Armed Forces. Go ahead Ann, enlist, put your money where your mouth is!
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Lots of Reasons NOT to Ignore Ann Coulter
For one, I want all Republicans to be forced to a) become an “Ann apologist” or to b) outright denounce her. The only way to do this is for her to get as much attentin as possible. There can be no fence sitting when it comes to Ann Coulter. I’ve read enough right-wing bloggers who wish she would go away, too. It’s not just liberals who want her to disappear.
The fact that her views are held by millions of people is reason enough not to ignore her. She’s already got all the validation she’ll ever need. She didn’t create her audience--it was there already. Just because a lot of us liberals have successfully insulated ourselves from people like her doesn’t mean they’ll just go away or wither and die. Arguing that we should ignore Ann Coulter is like saying you should ignore a sinus infection. Antibiotics exist for a reason!
Like it or not, ingoring folks who espouse her ideology equals acquiecence in this case. Liberals are failing electorally because so many of us choose to ignore that which we find uncomfortable and/or painful. It’s sickmaking and disheartening to read what she has to say. I can’t even stand the sight of her to be perfectly honest. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to ignore her.
Liberals everywhere should stand up to the Ann Coulters of the world. Show some backbone and fight for a change! Ignoring a bully is childish and stupid.