Misplaced Pages

Ann Coulter

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 70.231.235.251 (talk) at 01:27, 19 April 2006 (→Criticism). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 01:27, 19 April 2006 by 70.231.235.251 (talk) (→Criticism)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
File:Treason.jpg
Ann Coulter on the cover of her book Treason

Ann Hart Coulter (born December 8, 1961) is a conservative American syndicated columnist, bestselling author, constitutional lawyer, and television pundit. Her commentary has earned her a reputation as a vehement critic of social and political liberalism. Her speaking and writing style is aggressive and often controversial.

She has written four political commentary books, all of which have been on the New York Times bestseller list.

Coulter is a legal correspondent for the magazine Human Events. Her syndicated column for Universal Press Syndicate is carried by or linked to by many conservative websites, including Frontpagemag.com and Townhall.com. Coulter was the subject of a TIME magazine cover story in April 2005, and has made frequent guest appearances on national television and syndicated radio programs. She has appeared on a large number of topical talk shows, including Hannity and Colmes, The O'Reilly Factor, American Morning, Crossfire, The Today Show, CBCs The Fifth Estate, Real Time and Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Coulter has also appeared in FahrenHYPE 9/11, a rebuttal of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11.

Personal background

Ann Coulter was born in New York City into a Catholic family that she has described as "upper middle class". She was born on December 8, 1961 according to the New Canaan voting registration office. Coulter has two older brothers. As a lawyer, her father, John V. Coulter, represented clients in opposition to labor unions; he later became a constable. Her mother, Nell M. Coulter, is a member of the New Canaan Republican Town Committee. (Cloud, 2005) Ann Coulter attributes her conservative opinions and acerbic rhetorical style to her upbringing in Connecticut and subsequent life in New York City living with her oldest brother, John, and his law school roommate, Bill Bendix, now a Brooklyn, NY Personal Injury Attorney.

As an undergraduate in Cornell University's College of Arts and Sciences, Coulter helped launch a conservative newspaper, The Cornell Review, with funding from Richard Mellon Scaife's Collegiate Network. She graduated cum laude from Cornell in 1984, and received her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where she achieved membership in the Order of the Coif and was an editor of The Michigan Law Review. While in Law School, Coulter was often seen wearing a fur coat to class, even in temperate weather. This was perceived by many fellow students as a political statement directed at her more liberal "PETA loving" classmates.

At law school, Coulter shared an apartment with human and civil rights advocate Cindy Cohn, who is now the Legal Director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. At Michigan, Coulter founded a local chapter of the Federalist Society and was trained at the National Journalism Center. Coulter practiced corporate law for four years, then became a congressional aide in Washington, D. C. in 1994, to Republican Senator Spencer Abraham, who served on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Asked if she is a fundamentalist Christian, Coulter told interviewer David Bowman, "I don't think I've described myself that way, but only because I'm from Connecticut. We just won't call ourselves that" (2003). Though she seldom argues from a religious point of view, Coulter has commented on leaders of the so-called "religious right," stating that Jerry Falwell's support was overrated and that Pat Robertson is ineffective and not conservative. (Slander, ch. 9) She commonly supports the positions of other Christian conservatives — although she argues that such a term often constitutes a "liberal slur."

In June 2005, Coulter purchased a $1.8 million home on Palm Beach Island in Florida.

Communication style

Coulter is well-known for her conservative criticism of liberal and Democratic Party members and policies. She quickly established a reputation as a controversial and colorful speaker, and relishes the role (Coulter, August 2002). As she told The Sunday Times in 2002, "I am a polemicist. I am perfectly frank about that. I like to stir up the pot. I don't pretend to be impartial or balanced, as broadcasters do."

Critics such as Michael Moore have taken issue with her "shoot-from-the-hip" style of commentary, arguing that it makes her reckless with facts.

Canada and Vietnam

In a January 2005 interview with the CBC's the fifth estate, Coulter stated, "Canada used to be one of our most loyal friends and vice-versa. I mean Canada sent troops to Vietnam - was Vietnam less containable and more of a threat than Saddam Hussein?" She was countered by host Bob McKeown who said, "No, actually, Canada didn't send troops to Vietnam... Australia was there, not Canada" (video of the interview). In a subsequent interview on C-SPAN, Coulter stated that while Canada did not send combat troops to Vietnam, thousands of Canadians had volunteered for the US military:

Yes, 10,000 Canadian troops, at least. There is a War Memorial to them, at least for most of that. The Canadian Government didn't send troops but they came and fought with the Americans. So I was wrong. It turns out there were 10,000 Americans who happened to be born in Canada... People keep saying: "well, he didn't tell you that they - 10,000 troops - ran across to sign up with the Americans" because I don't think he knew.

Despite Coulter's admission, columnist John Cloud stated in a Time Magazine article dated April 25, 2005, that, "Canada did send noncombat troops to Indochina in the 1950s and again to Vietnam in 1972". (Canada sent officials to Vietnam in 1954 and 1973, as observers with the International Commission for Control and Supervision). Media watchdog FAIR disputes this assertion, however, saying that Cloud was "making quite a stretch" to prove that Coulter wasn't inaccurate. They explain: "Canada was officially neutral during the Vietnam War, so if any noncombat troops were sent they would not have been sent to support U.S. forces there".

Books

In 1998, Coulter published High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton as the first of several conservative books targeting Clinton. As its title suggests, the book argued for the impeachment of then President Bill Clinton.

In 2002, Ann Coulter published Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right, a polemic that alleged institutional misconduct by liberals. Like Bernard Goldberg's Bias, published in 2001, Slander alleged media bias in the United States, and was number one on The New York Times bestseller list for seven weeks.

Slander lobs attacks on U.S. journalists, claiming that many have ties to the Democratic Party and that liberalism, which she condemns, biases their reporting. Coulter argues that George W. Bush faced a difficult and unfair battle for positive media coverage from the moment he announced the decision to run for president, and that a similar battle for fair coverage has been waged by every other Republican presidential candidate since Calvin Coolidge.

Her next book, Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism, claims that Democratic politicians and the media have undermined the foreign policy goals of the United States since the end of World War II. She accuses liberals of treason or idiocy, and in defense of the presidency of Richard M. Nixon she claims the Watergate scandal, instead of being an investigation of corruption in Nixon's presidency, was "...the left's ultimate revenge against him for telling the truth about Hiss." Among Coulter's other opinions: the United States side of the war in Vietnam was lost by Democrats; Reagan won the Cold War; and the Contras were anti-communist. Coulter even has an opinion about actors saying, for example, that "Actors are constantly engaging in conspicuous fighting to distract from the fact that they are sissy-boys who put on little-girls' plays." (249)

On June 6, 2006 (6/6/06, a play on the superstition of the number 666) Coulter will release her newest book, "Godless. The Church of Liberalism".

Media career and relations with media outlets

In 1996, the fledgling television network MSNBC hired Coulter as a legal correspondent and political pundit, launching her media career. Though she was allowed to make many partisan and controversial comments as a panelist, she was fired in 1997 after an exchange with Bobby Muller, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, in which she said, "No wonder you guys lost" (MSNBC's NewsChat, October 11, 1997).

Coulter was contributing editor and syndicated columnist at the National Review Online (NRO) when she was asked by the editors to make changes to a piece written in 2001 directly after the September 11 attacks in which her friend Barbara Olsen had been killed. Coulter went on the national television show Politically Incorrect accusing NRO of censorship and claiming her pay was only five dollars per article (accounts of Coulter and the website differ over which piece was in dispute. ). National Review Online then dropped her column and terminated her editorship. Despite media reports to the contrary, Jonah Goldberg, editor-at-large of NRO said, "We did not 'fire' Ann for what she wrote.... We ended the relationship because she behaved with a total lack of professionalism, friendship, and loyalty." (Goldberg, 2001)

Coulter was contracted by USA Today to cover the 2004 Democratic National Convention, but was replaced by Goldberg of NRO after a "disagreement over editing" (Memmot, 2004). Her one article from the convention began "Here at the Spawn of Satan convention in Boston", and referred to some (unspecified) female attendees as "corn-fed, no make-up, natural fiber, no-bra needing, sandal-wearing, hirsute, somewhat fragrant hippie chick pie wagons." The newspaper did not print the article, but Coulter published it on her website. (Coulter, July 2004)

On August 28, 2005, Coulter's syndicated column was dropped by the Tucson newspaper Arizona Daily Star. David Stoeffler, the publisher and editor of the Star said, "We've decided that syndicated columnist Ann Coulter has worn out her welcome. Many readers find her shrill, bombastic and mean-spirited. And those are the words used by readers who identified themselves as conservatives."

Coulter is represented by Premiere Speakers Bureau.

Paula Jones controversy

Coulter debuted as a figure on the public scene shortly before becoming an unpaid legal advisor working for the attorneys representing Paula Jones in her sexual harassment suit against President Bill Clinton. Coulter wrote a column about the Paula Jones case for the magazine Human Events. Coulter's friend George Conway had been asked to assist Jones' attorneys, and shortly afterward Coulter was also asked to help; she began writing legal briefs for the case.

Coulter later stated that she would come to mistrust the motives of Jones' head lawyer, Joseph Cammaratta, who told Jones that she didn't have a case and should take a settlement. (Daley, 1999) From the onset of the lawsuit, Jones had sought an apology from Clinton at least as eagerly as she sought a settlement (Barak, 1998), and in an interview Coulter said, regarding herself that she had believed that Jones' case was solid, that Jones was telling the truth, that Clinton should be held publicly accountable for his misconduct, and that a settlement would give the impression that Jones was merely interested in extorting money from the President. (Daley, 1999)

David Daley, who wrote the interview piece for the Hartford Courant recounted what followed:

Coulter played one particularly key role in keeping the Jones case alive. In Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff's new book Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter's Story, Coulter is unmasked as the one who leaked word of Clinton's "distinguishing characteristic" — his reportedly bent penis that Jones said she could recognize and describe — to the news media. Her hope was to foster mistrust between the Clinton and Jones camps and forestall a settlement...

I thought if I leaked the distinguishing characteristic it would show bad faith in negotiations. Bob Bennett would think Jones had leaked it. Cammaratta would know he himself hadn't leaked it and would get mad at Bennett. It might stall negotiations enough for me to get through to Susan Carpenter-McMillan to tell her that I thought settling would hurt Paula, that this would ruin her reputation, and that there were other lawyers working for her. Then 36 hours later, she returned my phone call.

I just wanted to help Paula. I really think Paula Jones is a hero. I don't think I could have taken the abuse she came under. She's this poor little country girl and she has the most powerful man she's ever met hitting on her sexually, then denying it and smearing her as president. And she never did anything tacky. It's not like she was going on TV or trying to make a buck out of it. (1999)

According to the Coulter Watch website, Coulter also told Isikoff, "We were terrified that Jones would settle. It was contrary to our purpose of bringing down the president." ("Oh, Paula", 2002, par. 5, 2)

The case eventually was brought to court after Jones had broken with Coulter and the rest of her original legal team, and it was summarily dismissed because the judge found that Jones could not show that she had suffered any damages, even if her allegations proved true. Jones did gain a settlement, however, from Clinton in exchange for not appealing the decision, although at $850,000 it was only one-third of the amount she had been asking for and all but $151,000 went to pay her legal expenses. However, the Jones case eventually led to the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal and to the movement lobbying for Clinton's impeachment, as Coulter had wished. Coulter made appearances on MSNBC (a role which began before her legal involvement with Jones) in which she commented on the case, and went on to write a critical exposé of Clinton, boasting on Rivera Live that she "got a bestseller out of it" (High Crimes and Misdemeanors, which included a chapter on the lawsuit) and telling Hannity & Colmes in August 1999, "The reason we were doing it for Paula–well, was for Paula. She had been defamed and I think we can say we got her reputation back." ("Oh, Paula", 2002, par. 8)

Jones (who had divorced her husband during the case, purchased a house after the settlement, and incurred a large tax bill) then posed nude for Penthouse, stating that she wished to use the money to pay the tax and fund her two grade-school-aged children's college education. Coulter publicly denounced her as "trailer park trash", saying, "I totally believed she was the good Christian girl she made herself out to be.... ow it turns out she's a fraud, at least to the extent of pretending to be an honorable and moral person" ("Oh, Paula", 2002, par. 12). Jones defended herself in an interview with Larry King in October 2000, saying, "I haven't been offered a book deal like everybody else in this huge thing has done. Ann Coulter's done books. I haven't seen her call me up and say: 'Paula, would you like for me to help you write a book, a really nice, decent book?' I haven't had any help from anybody whatsoever." ("Oh, Paula", 2002, par. 14)

Criticism

File:Ann coulter time magazine.jpg
Ann Coulter on the cover of Time Magazine. She claimed the photo was manipulated.

Ann Coulter has made a career of controversial arguments, inviting much criticism. This proves she is a bitch. Many claim that Coulter's polemical comments are extremely "nasty" and that they are intended to incite hysterical hatred toward liberals, people who object to the encroachment of religion into politics, and certain minorities (particularly Muslims). Her style is not universally admired among those who share her political philosophy. Arnold Beichman reviewed Treason in the conservative Washington Times, and wrote that he'd "tried to read Miss Coulter's book and failed. Life is too short to read pages and pages of rant." Many find her presentations, both published and spoken, to be both highly offensive and inflammatory. Critics have labeled her comments and opinions as blatantly racist.

Critics also accuse her of hypocrisy and double standards, and argue that, since she has such strong conservative bias in her comments and writing, she is willing to misrepresent sources and facts to support her case. This criticism mirrors the argument that she herself uses in her criticism of liberal politicians, interest groups and the news media, particularly The New York Times.

Coulter has been the subject of frequent protests, especially when speaking on college campuses. On one occasion, during an appearance at University of Arizona, a pie was thrown at her which missed. While speaking at the University of Connecticut, she was shouted off stage to the chant of "you suck" by protestors. In retaliation, she told the crowd of 2,600, "I love to engage in repartee with people who are stupider than I am" . The controversy at the University of Connecticut also concerned $16,000 in speaking fees paid out of student funds to Coulter by a bitterly divided Undergraduate Student Government.

At a February 23, 2006 appearance at Indiana University, Bloomington, in a speech entitled "Liberals Are Wrong About Everything", she told the extremely divided audience, "Liberals hate both God and America," and referred to a man with an effeminate voice who was asking questions as a "gay boy." Audience members supporting and opposing Coulter repeatedly broke out into altercations during the speech and had to be removed by ushers, whom she also mocked.

A minor controversy started when the Washington Post reported Coulter had a Washington D.C. driver's license with her birthdate listed as December 8, 1963, two years after her actual birthdate on her Connecticut license.

Controversial statements regarding the apartheid

According to a 2002 submission in the UCLA Daily Bruin, Coulter has suggested that she supported the apartheid in South Africa, calling the black people there "savages." The Bruin printed: "In response to a question on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Miss Coulter said she supported the government of Israel for the same reason she supported apartheid in South Africa, because they were surrounded by 'savages.'" See: Attention-getting Coulter distorts realities .

Controversial statements regarding religious cults, white separatists, and domestic terrorists

Coulter has frequently criticized the government's handling of radical separatists. She described members of the Branch Davidians at the Waco compound as "harmless American citizens" after the bulk of the group was immolated in the fire started during the FBI raid (the cause of the fire is in dispute). Likewise, she berates what she calls the "unprovoked government assault" and "murder" at Ruby Ridge .

In an interview with George Gurley, Coulter stated that: "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building." (Coulter, August 26, 2002) Melik Kayan of The Wall Street Journal described the statement and others she has made as "tongue-in-cheek agitprop". When later asked by John Hawkins if she regretted that statement, Coulter replied: "Of course I regret it. I should have added, 'after everyone had left the building except the editors and reporters'." However, Eric Alterman of The Nation and MSNBC.com, and many other critics were not amused. While acknowledging that "Coulter jokes about McVeigh blowing up the Times", Alterman still found the comment offensive, calling Coulter a "terrorist apologist" and "ideological comrade" of McVeigh due to their similar statements about the Waco and Ruby Ridge incidents.

Controversial statements regarding Arabs and Muslims

Coulter has also drawn criticism for several remarks regarding Arabs, Muslims, people of Middle Eastern descent, and other U.S. minorities. For instance, in an article published one day after the 9/11 attacks, she wrote "We know who the homicidal maniacs are. They are the ones cheering and dancing right now. We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." A minor controversy ensued after Coulter denounced Helen Thomas, calling her an "old Arab" . In other instances, she has referred to the Middle East as a "swamp" and advocated racial profiling on airliners. In an interview with a reporter from The Guardian, Coulter stated: "I think airlines ought to start advertising: 'We have the most civil rights lawsuits brought against us by Arabs.'" When asked by the reporter about what Muslims would then do for travel, she replied: "They could use flying carpets." On February 10, 2006, Coulter spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where she referred to Arabs as "ragheads". "I think our motto should be post-9-11, raghead talks tough, raghead faces consequences." The audience then applauded her.

Other expressions that Coulter uses to describe Muslims include "camel jockey", "jihad monkey" and "tent merchant". On her website, she has also commented that "The 'offense to Islam' ruse is merely an excuse for Muslims to revert to their default mode: rioting and setting things on fire." 15 February, 2006

Controversial statements about women

Coulter has stated that women are "not as bright" as men (Hannity and Colmes - 09/23/04), "have no capacity to understand how money is earned" (Politically Incorrect - 02/26/01), and "shouldn't be in the military" (Hannity and Colmes - 05/05/04).

On a few occasions Coulter has suggested that the constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote should be repealed. In a 14 February, 2000 National Review Online article she wrote, "If this ticket doesn't close the gender gap, it's time to repeal the 19th Amendment." On 26 February, 2001, she said, " all have to give up their vote" (Politically Incorrect). She also argues that banning women from voting would ensure Republican presidents would be elected - as historical voting patterns had shown men had voted in majorities for Republican candidates.

Controversial statements at Philander Smith College

Speaking at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas, on January 26, 2006, Coulter made several controversial remarks. In arguing that the current United States Supreme Court should become more conservative, she stated, "We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens' crème brûlée." She followed the statement by saying, "That's just a joke, for you in the media." In the same address, she commented that the crack cocaine problem in the United States has "pretty much gone away." These and other comments earned her boos from some members of the crowd.

Criticism of Treason and Slander

Treason, which contains many strident accusations against liberals, brought her under fire, even from many conservatives. Many felt her claim that Democrats such as Presidents Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy had worked against America's war on communism was unfounded.

Treason's defense of Joe McCarthy also came under criticism from both liberals and conservatives, who argued that Coulter had simply failed to accurately research the facts in her attempt to rehabilitate the controversial senator. In an interview with David Bowman, Coulter said that Joe McCarthy is the deceased person she admires the most. Coulter claims in Treason that McCarthy was simply misunderstood and unappreciated, and that the Venona cables have vindicated him, proving there indeed were Soviet spies in the State Department. In continuing efforts to rehabilitate McCarthy, she wrote some columns attacking George Clooney's movie Good Night, and Good Luck, about television journalist Edward R. Murrow and McCarthy. She claims McCarthyism was not the destructive force it was made out to be, and says that the only suicide caused by the Red Scare was Murrow's friend, Lawrence Duggan, now proven to be a Soviet spy.

For instance, President Dwight Eisenhower's chief of staff Sherman Adams wrote a memoir in 1961, "First Hand Report" that makes clear the hostility the Republican administration held against Sen. McCarthy. Further, two Republican Senators wrote memoirs excoriating McCarthy. Sen. Arthur Watkins of Utah chaired his censure committee and wrote "Enough Rope" in 1969, sparing no detail in his fury over McCarthy's conduct. Sen. Charles Potter of Michigan sat on the Army-McCarthy hearings and the censure committe. His 1965 memoir "Days of Shame" is equally harsh toward the Wisconsin Senator.

An article in the Columbia Journalism Review criticized Slander, claiming it contained numerous misstatements. In Slander, Coulter expounds the view that liberals are out of touch with America, and "have absolutely no contact with the society they decry from their Park Avenue redoubts". This echoed the sentiments of an August 2002 Newsday article, in which she argued that the media are biased to the left because Republicans don't have the wealth to start media outlets, while Democrats do. That Republicans are rich, she said, "is one of the stunning lies that Democrats have been able to palm off... Liberals really are the idle rich." Joe Conason, the author of Big Lies, accuses Coulter of double standards, arguing that she is a highly-educated, affluent woman with a high-profile media presence who does not similarly accuse herself, or other privileged Republicans, of being out of touch. Conason goes on to say that Coulter's criticism is blunted by what he calls her pre-assumed opinions, making many of the conclusions she draws irrelevant to the actual nature of her arguments.

In his book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, liberal commentator and conservative watchdog Al Franken pointed out some factual errors and what he believed were misleading statements in Coulter's books. Two of these outright errors had already been corrected in the paperback version of Slander, which was published in June 2003, preceding the publication of Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by two months (according to its copyright page, Franken's book was first printed in September 2003). The relative timing of the release dates for these two books indicates that others had identified these factual errors prior to the release of Franken's book and had already taken steps to correct some of them.

Voter registration form/allegations of voter fraud

Coulter is currently under investigation by elections officials for apparently filing an inaccurate voter registration form in June of 2005. Government documents indicate she provided her real estate agent's address in lieu of her own. If proven, this constitutes a felony under Florida law. On March 29, 2006 the Palm Beach Post reported that elections officials have given Coulter 30 days to explain the inaccuracy.

Quotations

The following quotes are examples of Coulter's flamboyant and often inflammatory polemical style. Some view these quotes as humorous examples of tongue-in-cheek hyperbole or satire, while others take them more seriously. Coulter herself once stated, "Liberals love to pretend they don't understand hyperbole." However, she has also stated, "I believe everything I say."

  • "We know who the homicidal maniacs are. They are the ones cheering and dancing right now. We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war." - on the 9/11/01 attacks, in which her friend Barbara Olson was killed, from her syndicated column September 13, 2001
  • "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: Go forth, be fruitful, multiply, and rape the planet—it's yours. That's our job: drilling, mining and stripping. Sweaters are the anti-Biblical view. Big gas-guzzling cars with phones and CD players and wet bars—that's the Biblical view."
  • "I have to say I'm all for public flogging. One type of criminal that a public humiliation might work particularly well with are the juvenile delinquents, a lot of whom consider it a badge of honor to be sent to juvenile detention. And it might not be such a cool thing in the 'hood to be flogged publicly."—MSNBC March 22, 1997
  • "It would be a much better country 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."— May 17, 2003
  • "Liberals hate America, they hate flag-wavers, they hate abortion opponents, they hate all religions except Islam, post 9/11. Even Islamic terrorists don't hate America like liberals do. They don't have the energy. If they had that much energy, they'd have indoor plumbing by now."—(from Slander, pp. 5-6; published June 2002)
  • "The Times was rushing to assure its readers that 'prominent Islamic scholars and theologians in the West say unequivocally that nothing in Islam countenances the Sept. 11 actions.' (That's if you set aside Muhammad's many specific instructions to kill nonbelievers whenever possible)"—How to Talk to a Liberal, 2004.
  • "In the history of the nation, there has never been a political party so ridiculous as today's Democrats. It's as if all the brain-damaged people in America got together and formed a voting bloc." - Jan 12, 2006
  • "We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens' crème brûlée. That's just a joke, for you in the media." - January 26, 2006
  • "One showed Muhammad turning away suicide bombers from the gates of heaven, saying "Stop, stop -- we ran out of virgins!" -- which I believe was a commentary on Muslims' predilection for violence. Another was a cartoon of Muhammad with horns, which I believe was a commentary on Muslims' predilection for violence. The third showed Muhammad with a turban in the shape of a bomb, which I believe was an expression of post-industrial ennui in a secular -- oops, no, wait: It was more of a commentary on Muslims' predilection for violence...Muslims are the only people who make feminists seem laid-back." - February 8, 2006
  • "Perhaps we could put aside our national, ongoing, post-9/11 Muslim butt-kissing contest and get on with the business at hand: Bombing Syria back to the stone age and then permanently disarming Iran. - February 15, 2006
  • "You don't want the Republicans in power, does that mean you want a dictatorship, gay boy?" - February 24, 2006

Trivia

  • Coulter is a fan of the rock band Grateful Dead, and even appeared on the pop culture channel VH1's now-defunct series My Coolest Years, about high school experiences, to discuss her years as a Deadhead. Oddly enough, liberal Al Franken is also a fan, and uses Grateful Dead songs for his radio show's theme, even though Coulter and Franken disagree on nearly everything.
  • Coulter is a fan of Chris Rock and defended his controversial comments on abortion as being taken out of context.
  • A documentary about Coulter, Is It True What They Say About Ann?, was made in 2004 by filmmakers Patrick Wright and Elinor Burkett, which was shown at various conservative film festivals and is available online and at select media distributors. The DVD includes the forty-minute documentary as well as about two hours of additional interviews and speeches, and a photo album.
  • Coulter was a member of Delta Gamma, a national women's fraternity, while at Cornell.
  • Coulter is very fond of wearing short skirts. She has been satirized for her supposed vanity about her legs by Time Magazine, Jay Leno, and South Park.
  • According to one source, Coulter is a supporter of Indiana Representative Mike Pence for President of the United States in the 2008 election.
  • Coulter has said she likes to read anything written by humorist Dave Barry.
  • The punk rock band NOFX refers to Coulter in their song "You're Wrong" on the Never Trust a Hippy EP and their 7" of the Month Club. .

References

Ann Coulter bibliography

Ann Coulter's filmography

External links

Articles
Biography and quotes
Book reviews
  • "Limerick, Dr. Rush" (September 9, 2002). Liberally lying about liberals. Rev. of Slander. slannder.homestead.com. Looks at chapter 2.
  • Buckley, William F. (Winter 2003). Tailgunner Ann. Rev. of Treason. Claremont Review of Books . by biographer of Joseph McCarthy.
  • Horowitz, David (July 8, 2003). The trouble with Treason. Rev. of Treason. Frontpagemag.com. Article by a conservative both critical and praising.
  • Nyhan, Brendan (June 30, 2003). Screed. Rev. of Treason. spinsanity. Media analyst protests "complicated set of rhetorical tricks."
Criticism
Current events (fan sites and watch sites)
Interviews
  • Slander (June 26, 2002) Interview with Katie Couric. NBC. Today. Reprinted at Drudge Report Archive.
  • Slander (August 11, 2002) Interview with Brian Lamb. C-Span. Booknotes. Reprinted at Booknotes.org.
  • Treason (June 30, 2003) Interview with Chris Matthews. MSNBC. Hardball with Chris Matthews. Reprinted at the Rational Radical.
  • the fifth estate: sticks and stones Interview with Bob McKeown. CBC.
News features
Categories: