I’m pissed. I never thought that I would be writing in defense of Ann Coulter. Actually, I’m not so much defending Ann Coulter as I am bitching about only half of a story being told.
Coulter’s words have been taken out of context and twisted and that pisses me off. When that happens to ANYONE it pisses me off.
I haven’t read any of Miss Coulter’s books and before today, I had never actually read any of her articles. Truth be told, her blatant “hate speech” had turned me off to her completely. I would rather stick myself in the eyes with mechanical pencils than listen to her for longer than the time it takes me to change the channel.
All that being said, I watched her appearance on Chris Matthews. Tucker and I watched it for the simple reason that Chris Matthews tends to be rather liberal in his views and we were expecting a nice, bloody fight. Instead of watching Matthews ask “tough” questions and really call her to the mat, we watched Elizabeth Edwards call in and try to shame someone who cannot be shamed.
So now because of the media firestorm, Coulter is selling more books and the Edwards camp is raking in the campaign contributions.
In Elizabeth Edward’s Today show appearance this morning, she said, “We’re asking people to make a choice about what kind of political dialog they want…”. Hold on, here.
Political: of, pertaining to, or concerned with politics
Dialogue: an exchange of ideas or opinions on a particular issue, esp. a political or religious issue, with a view to reaching an amicable agreement or settlement.
Edwards got the “political” part right, but dialogue isn’t at all what is going on here. The Edwards camp and Coulter will NEVER come to “an amicable agreement”. It’s not going to happen. For that matter, it’s not supposed to happen.
Coulter is a “shock jock” in written form. She says inflammatory things to shock and generate revenue. Coulter isn’t a political candidate and therefore isn’t subject to the same “rules”. I know, I know. I just said that Coulter doesn’t have to play by the same rules as a political candidate. But, as much as you may not like it, what I said is true. There’s NO WAY IN HELL that McCain or Clinton or [insert random candidate here] could write/say the things that Coulter has said and be elected. As my friend Nathan said, “Coulter is the South Park of the right wing…sometimes funny, but you really can’t believe she just said that in public”.
The thing that is really chapping my ass is not the “raising the political dialogue” shit or honestly, even what Coulter said or the money that both parties have made off of the whole incident.
What prompted me to write this rambling rant is that I cannot stand it when people are “kind of” quoted. I KNOW it happens all of the time. Really, I know that. But, I don’t think that I’ve ever seen as blatant of an example of it until this week.
Do you want to know what prompted Coulter’s comments? Probably not, but I’m going to tell you anyway. Here’s a transcript of Bill Maher’s show “Real Time with Bill Maher” on HBO. You want episode #503, page 19, second line.
MAHER: [overlapping] But I have zero doubt that if Dick Cheney was not in power,
people wouldn’t be dying needlessly tomorrow. [applause]
Here’s the video of Coulter’s GMA appearance on 6.25.07. You only have to watch to one minute twenty seconds if you don’t want to watch the whole deal. (I don’t blame ya)
And, while I’m on the topic of misrepresented quotes, here’s what Coulter said pertaining to Edward’s son and the whole “bumper sticker” comment.
“John Edwards injects his son’s fatal car accident into his campaign by demanding that everyone notice how he refuses to inject his son’s fatal car accident into his campaign.
Edwards has talked about his son’s death in a 1996 car accident on “Good Morning America,” in dozens of profiles and in his new book. (“It was and is the most important fact of my life.”) His 1998 Senate campaign ads featured film footage of Edwards at a learning lab he founded in honor of his son, titled “The Wade Edwards Learning Lab.” He wears his son’s Outward Bound pin on his suit lapel. He was going to wear it on his sleeve, until someone suggested that might be a little too “on the nose.”
If you want points for not using your son’s death politically, don’t you have to take down all those “Ask me about my son’s death in a horrific car accident” bumper stickers? Edwards is like a politician who keeps announcing that he will not use his opponent’s criminal record for partisan political advantage. (I absolutely refuse to mention the name of my dearly beloved and recently departed son killed horribly in a car accident, which affected me deeply, to score cheap political points.”
She said some shitty things in that quote, BUT, she was making a point about her feelings that Edwards was using his son’s death for political gain. Actually, to get down to the brass tacks of it, she sited several politicians who were doing the same thing…it wasn’t an attack just on Edwards.
I’m not sure that makes it any better, but the only way that I’ve seen it represented was a blatant attack on just Edwards.
It makes me really angry that the majority of America just accepts what they see on TV. They (I know it’s a broad generalization) don’t ever think that there might be MORE to a story than the ten second sound bite and they base passionate opinions upon VERY SHAKY GROUND!
I may not like Ann Coulter’s political views (hell, I’m a card carrying Democrat…really, that’s what my voter registration card says) and I sure as hell don’t agree with almost everything she says. BUT, Coulter (and everyone else) has a right to be justly quoted and quoted in context.
