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 Random account 47 (talk | contribs) at 20:15, 26 June 2005 (→Canada and the Vietnam War). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 20:15, 26 June 2005 by Random account 47 (talk | contribs) (→Canada and the Vietnam War)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (Learn how and when to remove this message)
File:Ann coulter time magazine.jpg
Ann Coulter on the cover of TIME in April 2005.

Ann Hart Coulter (born in New Canaan, Connecticut, December 8, 1961) is a controversial bestselling conservative American author and constitutional attorney.

She is a commentator with a reputation for strong criticism of social and political liberalism. Her comments and writing tend to be provocative and attract much controversy.

Coulter is the author of four political commentary books, all of which have been on the New York Times bestseller list:

Coulter is also a legal correspondent for the magazine Human Events. She writes a syndicated column for Universal Press Syndicate which is carried by or linked to by many influential conservative websites, including Frontpagemag.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 with Paula Zahn, Crossfire, The Today Show, Real Time with Bill Maher (who is a friend of hers) and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. She is also a public speaker who draws as much as $25,000 per appearance.

Personal background

Ann Coulter was born into a family that she has described as "upper middle class". She claims to have developed both her conservative opinions and her acerbic rhetorical style growing up in Connecticut. She has two elder brothers. Her father, John V. Coulter, was a lawyer, known for his legal work in cases against labor unions; he later became a constable. Her mother, Nell M. Coulter, is a member of the New Canaan Republican Town Committee. (Cloud, 2005)

As an undergraduate in Cornell University's College of Arts and Sciences, Ann Coulter helped to launch a conservative newspaper, The Cornell Review, with funding provided by the Institute for Educational Affairs' Collegiate Network. She graduated cum laude from Cornell in 1984, and went on to receive her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where she was an editor of The Michigan Law Review. At Michigan, she founded a local chapter of the Federalist Society. She also received training at the National Journalism Center. After practicing corporate law for four years, she became a congressional aide in Washington, D. C. in 1994, working as a staffer to Republican Senator Spencer Abraham, who served on the Senate Judiciary Committee before working for a public interest law firm.

In 1996, the fledgling television network MSNBC hired Coulter as a legal correspondent and political pundit, which launched 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).

When 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" the New York Times has labeled the "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.

Coulter has also been protested against and even, on one occasion, assaulted .

Books

In 1998, Coulter published High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton as the first of several conservative books targeting the left. As its title suggests, the book made a case for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Written before the impeachment, Coulter criticizes the GOP-led Congress for not impeaching Clinton, which they then proceeded to do shortly thereafter.

In 2002, Ann Coulter published Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right, a forthright critique of the alleged misconduct of liberals in American institutions. Like Bernard Goldberg's Bias, which came out the year before, Slander addressed media bias in the United States, and went on to become a best-seller.

Slander claimed that many American journalists have ties to the Democratic Party, which influences their reporting. Coulter argues that George W. Bush has faced a difficult and unfair battle for positive coverage in the media ever since he decided to run for president, and that a similar battle for fair coverage has been waged by practically every Republican presidential candidate since Calvin Coolidge.

Her next book, Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism, claimed that Democratic politicians and the media have severely undermined much of America's foreign policy goals since the end of World War II, and that this is tantamount to conspiracy and treason. Summarizing recent history, she accused Democratic presidents, including John F. Kennedy and Harry Truman, of having sometimes worked against American interests in the Cold War, and charges some Democratic members of Congress with similarly undermining the efforts of Republican presidents. In the final chapters, she argues that a similar process is undermining the present War on Terror.

Paula Jones controversy

Ann Coulter had 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 afterwards Coulter was also asked to help, and began writing legal briefs for the case.

Coulter later stated that she would come to mistrust the motives of Paula 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 Coulter believed that Jones' case was solid, that she 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)

According to Daley, a journalist on The Hartford Courant:

Ann 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).

When the case did get to court, after Jones had broken with Coulter and the rest of her original legal team, it was summarily dismissed because the judge found that Jones could not show that she had actually suffered any damages, even if her allegations proved true. Jones did eventually gain a settlement 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 now-considerable 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)

Ann Coulter's communication style

Coulter gained prominence in the field of conservative commentators with her brand of outspoken criticism of many liberal and Democratic Party figures and policies over the past half-century. She quickly established a reputation as a controversial and colorful speaker, and indeed has relished this 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."

Coulter has said she likes to read anything written by humorist Dave Barry (Coulter, January 2004), and she often employs comic techniques similar in style to his writings. On the other hand, columnist and blogger Andrew Sullivan has created a parody Michelle Malkin Award for writing which he considers to be cliché-ridden, insulting, and in concordance with the reader's beliefs. Sullivan has declared that "Ann Coulter cannot be considered" for the award on the grounds that "No one else would stand a chance."

Ann Coulter is an especially frequent guest on the Fox News Channel. Her appearances on the Bill O'Reilly program often make for interesting viewing, because she is one of the few regular guests (if not the only one) who seems to cow the notoriously aggressive O'Reilly.

Relations with media outlets

When the editors of the National Review Online, the website of a well-known conservative magazine that carried Coulter's syndicated column and to which she was a contributing editor, said they would like to discuss making changes to a piece written in 2001 directly after the September 11 attacks in which her friend Barbara Olsen had been killed (Coulter, July 2002, "Donahue"), Coulter went on the national television show Politically Incorrect and accused them of censorship, claiming her pay was only five dollars per article. National Review Online then dropped her column and terminated her editorship (Goldberg, 2001). See Quotations: On the 9/11 attacks, bullet 2 for part of the piece in question.

Ann Coulter was contracted by USA Today to cover the 2004 Democratic National Convention, but was replaced by Jonah Goldberg after a "disagreement over editing" (Memmot, 2004). The article began "Here at the Spawn of Satan convention in Boston", and referred to an indefinite number of 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)

Criticism

Critics of Coulter frequently accuse her of hypocrisy and double standards, and argue that she demonstrates a strong conservative bias in her comments and writing, and that she generally misrepresents sources and facts to support her case.

One way in which supporters counter the charge of misrepresentation is by pointing out that Slander contains 780 endnotes. The New York Times review of Slander praised Coulter's extensive citations, stating "A great deal of research supports Ms. Coulter's wisecracks." As a result, some of these footnotes have been closely scrutinized by various websites . After liberal bloggers and journalists cited numerous examples of what they regard as intentional misrepresentatations in Slander , an article in the Columbia Journalism Review denounced the book for its numerous "falsehoods" .

Critics also regularly attack Coulter for what they consider to be her unreliability in live interviews, alleging in particular that she frequently misstates facts rather than admitting error or unfamiliarity with the topic being discussed. Such charges are dismissed by Coulter and her supporters.

Al Franken

In Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, Al Franken argues that Coulter deliberately fabricates material and misrepresents the sources she cites. Two chapters of Franken's book are devoted to attacking Coulter and her book Slander.

Amongst other assertions, Franken claims that Coulter treats any comments found in The New York Times as reflecting the official opinion of the newspaper. He claims that if a book review in the Times asks people on both sides of an issue to give their opinions, Coulter will attribute any quotation she finds offensive as the editorial position of the newspaper.

Coulter counters by arguing that Franken's chapters contain false accusations, and that liberal newspapers are prone to make errors of omission that can be much more serious. (Coulter, 2003)

In his book, Franken mentions a comment in Slander which states "Bush had won any count" of the 2000 Florida recount, and cites a Washington Post article with the contrary headline, "Study Finds Gore Might Have Won Statewide Tally of All Uncounted Ballots". Although it could be argued that this is a misrepresentation, it could also be argued that by "any count", Coulter meant any count that had been legally pursued by the Democrats rather than hypothetical cases (See U.S. Presidential Election, 2000: The Florida Ballot Project recounts).

Criticism of Treason

Treason, which contains many bold accusations against all Democrats, brought her under fire, even from many conservatives, such as Rush Limbaugh. 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 argues 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.

Racism

Coulter has also drawn criticism for frequently making what many perceive to be racist remarks, particularly against people of Middle Eastern descent. For instance, following the 9/11 attacks she argued that "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.

"Democrats are more wealthy than Republicans"

In Slander, Ann 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."

In an August 2002 Newsday article, she argued that the media is 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."

Her critics, including Joe Conason, the author of Big Lies, accuse 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.

Canada and the Vietnam War

In January 2005, Coulter gave an interview to CBC's The Fifth Estate (video clip of this part of the interview). At one point, she argued that Canada's uninvolvement in the 2003 invasion of Iraq demonstrated that Canada's "loyal friendship" with the United States had weakened. She contrasted the Canadian government's decision to not participate in the Iraq War with Canada's role in the Vietnam War.

"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?"

However, the comparison breaks down as, contrary to Coulter's statement, Canadian troops were not involved in the American campaign. Though the Canadian government had expressed support for the United States, and sent peacekeeping forces and noncombat assisstance later in the war, Canada was officially a non-participant (See Canada and the Vietnam War). Interviewer Bob McKeown corrected Coulter, noting that "Canada didn't send troops to Vietnam," but Coulter insisted Canada had. After a short "he said, she said" dispute, She finally concluded "Well, I'll get back to you on that." Coulter did not get back in touch with the show.

In a subsequent interview on C-SPAN, Coulter was asked about her statement: "...you said the Canadians had troops in Vietnam and he said no they didn't, what is, did you find out of the real answer?"

"Yes. 10,000 Canadian troops--at least. There is a war memorial to them--at least for most..." this time referring to Canadian citizens who joined the American army. "The Canadian Government didn't send troops at the beginning, didn't send troops at the end--but most of that was not under the Canadian flag. They came and fought with the Americans. So I was wrong." In jest, she added "It turns out there were 10,000 Americans who happened to be born in Canada."

Later in the interview, when asked about the taping of the CBC show, she added:

"I talked to him for three hours and the topic was not Canada's war history. It was an incidental point that he challenged me on and I didn't believe him because I had read about Canadian troops in Vietnam. I was right. 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." ibid

Further detail about Canada's involvement in the Vietnam war can be found in the CBC's "Canada's Secret War: Vietnam".

Quotations

The following quotes are examples of Ann Coulter's flamboyant and often inflammatory polemical style, for which she is well-known. They cover a wide variety of topics, but each demonstrates Coulter's unwillingness to compromise her strong views for political correctness or media palatability. Many view these quotes as examples of a tongue-in-cheek use of 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."

On the 9/11 attacks

"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." - From her syndicated column We should invade their countries September 13, 2001
  • A week later, she detailed a five-point plan guided by an "all-new standard for airline safety procedures:...procedures that make the airplane safer" of which point 3 proposed requiring "passports to fly domestically". "Passports can be forged", she continued, "but they can also be checked with the home country in case of any suspicious-looking swarthy males". Point 4 observed, "All 19 hijackers in last week's attack appear to have been aliens.... Congress could pass a law tomorrow requiring that all aliens from Arabic countries leave." From her syndicated column, Where's Janet Reno when we need her? September 20, 2001

On the environment

  • "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." - from her column "Oil Good; Democrats bad" October 12 2000

On law and order

  • "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.
  • "I think we had enough laws about the turn-of-the-century. We don't need any more." Asked how far back in time would she go to repeal laws, she replied, "Well, before the New Deal.... That would be a good start." - Politically Incorrect May 7, 1997.
  • "If those kids had been carrying guns they would have gunned down this one gunman." The gunman was a teenager who had opened fire on a prayer meeting, killing three other teens. She later added, "Don't pray. Learn to use guns." - Politically Incorrect, December 18, 1997.

On government

  • "My libertarian friends are probably getting a little upset now but I think that's because they never appreciate the benefits of local fascism." - MSNBC February 8, 1997.

On public "safety nets"

  • "Then there are the 22 million Americans on food stamps. And of course there are the 39 million greedy geezers collecting Social Security. The greatest generation rewarded itself with a pretty big meal." - WorldNetDaily, December 2, 2003.

On women

  • "Conservatives have a problem with women. For that matter, all men do." – Cornell Review, 1984, reported in Time, April 2005.
  • "I think should be armed but should not vote ... women have no capacity to understand how money is earned. They have a lot of ideas on how to spend it ... it's always more money on education, more money on child care, more money on day care." - Politically Incorrect, February 26, 2001.
  • "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.
  • "Like the Democrats, Playboy just wants to liberate women to behave like pigs, have sex without consequences, prance about naked, and abort children." - How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must), 2004
  • "How many people have to die before the country stops humoring feminists? Last week, a defendant in a rape case, Brian Nichols, wrested a gun from a female deputy in an Atlanta courthouse and went on a murderous rampage. Liberals have proffered every possible explanation for this breakdown in security except the giant elephant in the room -- who undoubtedly has an eating disorder and would appreciate a little support vis-a-vis her negative body image." - "Freeze! I Just Had my Nails Done!" WorldNetDaily March 16, 2005.

On the media

  • "Of course I regret . I should have added 'after everyone had left the building except the editors and the reporters.'" - in a rightwingnews.com interview June 26, 2003.
  • "The only standard journalists respect is: Will this story promote the left-wing agenda?" How to Talk to a Liberal, 2004.

On liberalism

  • "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).

On Bill Clinton

  • "If you don't hate Clinton and the people who labored to keep him in office, you don't love your country." - George, July, 1999.
  • "We're now at the point that it's beyond whether or not this guy is a horny hick. I really think it's a question of his mental stability. He really could be a lunatic. I think it is a rational question for Americans to ask whether their president is insane."---Equal Time.
  • "Clinton is in love with the erect penis."---This Evening with Judith Regan, Fox News Channel, June 2, 2000.

On religion

  • "The Episcopals don't demand much in the way of actual religious belief. They have girl priests, gay priests, gay bishops, gay marriages -- it's much like The New York Times editorial board. They acknowledge the Ten Commandments -- or "Moses' talking points" -- but hasten to add that they're not exactly "carved in stone." - from column "The Jesus Thing" January 7, 2004.
  • "Being nice to people is, in fact, one of the incidental tenets of Christianity (as opposed to other religions whose tenets are more along the lines of 'kill everyone who doesn't smell bad and doesn't answer to the name Mohammed')." - from her column (at townhall.com)March 4, 2004.
  • "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.

References

Books by Ann Coulter

External links

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.

News features

Categories: