Ann Coulter's Past Fake Media Firestorms Remembered

You know, it's not for nothing that I say things like, "Let's face it, she's been dining out for years now on the same set of grievances," when I talk about Ann Coulter. The only thing separating the act she takes on the road and that of Arrested Development's Gob Bluth is that you rarely get to hear Europe's "The Final Countdown" played. And some of this microwaved material isn't even her own! Here's a snip from her sit-down with Today's Matt Lauer, today:

MATT LAUER: [In the book] you also say that the liberal media and Democrats are out to accomplish the same thing: they want to destroy America. So, I mean, go ahead: why do liberals and the media want to destroy America?

ANN COULTER: Why? Their motives? Well, I'd have to be their confessor or psychologist to understand that. I'm describing the results. And a beautiful example of this--my Chapter Two of the book--is the exaltation of single-motherhood. It's promoted in the New York Times and in glossy women's magazines and in Hollywood movies. And we now know after 30 years of promoting single-motherhood, of the courts destroying the institution of marriage, that children raised without fathers are filling up the prisons. 70% of the teenage runaways, of teenage pregnancies, of rapists --

Griping about single mothers? Jiminy crickets, y'all! That claptrap was way more trenchant back when Dan Quayle was calling out Murphy Brown on teevee, to the delight of Americans who traveled by zeppelin!

But that's what Coulter is all about, a tireless champion of warmed-over shtick. Why, all of this jujitsu with the Today show is just another example of the tiresome tactics she's used in her quest for self-promotion. At the risk of being the last guy on the internet to quote the Washington Independent's Dave Weigel on the matter, here's the Washington Independent's Dave Weigel on his days as a professional Coulter-wrangler for USA Today:

Coulter handed in her first column closer to the deadline then we'd expected. She also came in short. And she came in ... well, what's the opposite of readable? The column that began "Here at the spawn of Satan convention" was a phoned-in collection of anonymous anecdotes and lazy writing. No problem, we thought: We're editors. My bosses immediately suggested fixes to the column -- some of them asking whether Coulter could touch up her jokes, some correcting bad writing, and some asking for more content.

Coulter flipped. She refused to answer all of the edits. The next thing we knew, she had left Boston. The next thing we knew after that was that Matt Drudge and other conservative news site editors had learned that we had "fired" Coulter. She was in New York hours later to bash us on Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes."

This is all a way of saying I don't believe that NBC News "banned Coulter for life" for one second. She doesn't really worry about taking advantage of news organizations' standards and confidentiality to paint herself as a victim.

Precisely. And this week's Grievance Tango is just another example of this: a tired act that would have really played swell back in the days of vaudeville. But vaudeville's dead, dead as disco, dead as doormice.

Comments

[Nishnabe]

Folks, I used to get in such a blather about her and Hannity and Limbaugh (used to have to listen to them since I had an old car with only AM on the radio for daily commute). Take a lesson from Obama; don't respond to entertainer's jokes about you. She is an entertainer who poses as a political pundit. Not a very good actor, but then she is not playing sophisticated humor. Most of her audience are people who were jocks and cut-ups in class. Consider one other thing. Her comments about not wanting women to vote? Has to do with her frustration over her gender. She purposely goes over the top to simply make more money. Like throwing a tantrum as a child to get the extra cookie. Ignore the tantrums and she wil finally grow up and get a real job.

[zoozey]

I know. I agree. I get so disolusioned sometimes at the thought of people out there who buy into her unfunny, schoolyard bully whining, and just spouting off irrelevant things--just a litany of the same things she has memorized over the years.

But then I remember: there are people who think Scott Peterson and the HIllside Strangler was o.k., even women who are writing them on death row and wanting to marry them--(guess they are afraid of being single Moms). There are people who follow cult leaders when you would think ANYONE could be able to tell that the leader is a maniacal sociopath. There are people who are followers and will do anything to be popular by doing the bidding of a perverse, mean soul

I have to just remember that there are some people who just can't be helped or taught reason or ethics.

[Grunty1]

I almost feel sorry for Daniboy. Being assigned to spam about Ann must be devastating to one's self-esteem.

[dandypuddin]

I think Dani is actually Annie.

[greymom]

Where does she get that the left exhalts single parenthood? Most single parenthood comes not by plan but by lack of it. Not many would choose to bring up a kid alone, an extra pair of hands is a good thing, and an extra set of nerves when the kid gets on the last one you have. It is just that sometimes the guy isn't in it for the long haul and many women have been bad judges of character. To assume that single parenthood is a liberal cause is ridiculous.

Aside from the teenager who gets pregnant for attention or because she has nothing else to do I don't see it as a Liberal vs Conservative thing. Don't get me wrong, I think that most kids do best in a two parent home and it is sad not to have either parent but it is not a Liberal cause. Obama himself is dismayed by the children without fathers, like he was.

Granted, several aging actresses who feel the biological clock ticking are opting to have a child without a man, but it is rarely by choice and they have the resources to support it. Are all of these actresses liberal? I know of one, the really pretty actress from Northern Exposure and she is a single parent by choice and is an avowed conservative.

[bigbingtheory]

If we don't cast them out we must be encouraging single motherhood. This is the psycho mentality of conservatives. If you respect a woman's right to choose, you must love the idea of killing babies. These are simpletons.

[zoozey]

I agree with your sentiment. But the value of the two parent family is really based on finances. It was just generally accepted that there is a better chance of one of the parents being able to stay at home with the youngster if there are two. That's it. that is the main reason it is assumed to be "better." That is the reason that no one is so bent when Janine Turner wants to raise a kid herself.

But for the right wing to make sweeping statements that it is for any other reason than economic is hooey.

My son was raised by me, a single Mom. We had such a nice quiet, gentle time. He was (grown up now) just the light of my life. And that is something I hear over and over from other single Moms. Many of the married Moms I worked with would grouse about their kids all the time.

It doesn't matter. Trust me: One GOOD parent is better than TWO bad ones, OR even better than one bad/one good--because the good one is always living in the shadow of the bad one and not able to function properly as a parent.

[Daniboy]

If only Coulter would show love like Oberman.

[Jess27]

Check your spelling before posting your ignorance. But then again, I doubt you are able to think critically about anything.

[Daniboy]

What's wrong with my spelling?

[bigbingtheory]

If only a conservative could stick to the topic. You can't defend the indefensible, no matter how hard you try. Coulter is nothing more than white trash with a good agent.

[Daniboy]

High percentage of blacks in prison. Ann says they are not in prison because they are black-they are in prison because they came from single parent homes-something to think about? Would this maybe explain their high crime rate---or maybe you Libs can believe it's just because they are black-called racism!

[SugarMan]

It's called racism. Do the research and get back to us.

[bigbingtheory]

She may have a point about single motherhood in the black community. Unfortunately she offers nothing in the way of a solution. She just condemns.

[SugarMan]

Bigy, dont make it out to be a black thing. White teens get pregnant too .....and have abortions.
Glowing media portrayals of celebrity pregnancies don’t help, either. They make it out to be very glamorous. Alaska officials say teen births were up 6 percent in that state in 2006.
******Wink

[bigbingtheory]

And incidentally perhaps you should stop considering Ann Coulter when you use the same idiotic and inaccurate stereotypes. Ann's solution to the problem is to simply remove people from the country she perceives to be a threat instead of offering constructive criticism. She really is the worst kind of person. Completely soulless, clueless and a heart that's as black as coal.

[ndnndpendent]

There is a general concensus that the criminal justice system is broken in this country, especially by practitioners in the system, social workers, counselors and the like. It is helpful to know that this country strengthened the prison industrial complex economy greatly during and after the Reagan years. The Republican War on Drugs has to have an enemy; the contemporary experience of black men does not mirror the Barack Obama story. Rather, they would rather ride a bike in an urban area and forego driving cars just to avoid being profiled.

[dandypuddin]

"Ann says they aren't in prison because they are black."

I didn't know being black was illegal.

[BruceHNV]

If you had to go by statistics based on severity of punishment for the same crime, it must be. Why else would a white kid get probation and a black kid five years for the exact same first time offense?

[zendem1]

If they wire her arse shut, she'll be mute.

[dandypuddin]

lol!

[zoozey]

except for a little bubbly sound when she is in the tub. I love your solution to make her mute, though.

[foomonkey]

i posted this comment before... but i want to repeat, since i want to know why we are all still giving this woman any press!!
------
I personally believe that the reason she is still around making millions off of her hateful rants is because of 2 things:

1. She has an audience of like minded people. Plenty of people feel what she spews. And they eat it up.

2. She has an audience of people that think she is nuts, but give her attention. This post, and the 3000+ comments, gives her something: Attention. If we keep giving her attention, she will stick around and rake in the $$ with her garbage. Just like Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and the other talentless hacks around the world

She contributes nothing positive to this world, ranting on with hate and derision while offering no real solutions of her own. And we let her, giving her our attention with these posts and comments. I am guilty of this too.

So, I say that Huffington should make this the last post EVER about her and no one else comments on anything she says. Let's give her no more of our attention and maybe she will go away. We all have better things to do with our time and energy, right?

[feyangel]

Also-- why do we help people like this get rich??!?!?!

[foomonkey]

yeah, her... o'reilly, limbaugh, hannity, glen beck... bunch of hateful monkeys. lets simply not give them any attention. period.

dammit... i just did by writing this

[feyangel]

I am thinking that Coulter is VERY off-track. I was single mom TWICE-- cos the men in my life were FLAKES . . . starting at the beginning with my Dad. What I get from magazines and etc. is not that they glorify single-motherhood-- but rather that they try to help women in the throes of it to deal with it more effectively. . . and not to feel so dead-ended and sad about the challenging position they are in. Trust me-- if I would have realized that the men I was having babies with were simply saying what they needed to say to get in my pants and then have ME take care of them AND our kids-- I would have chosen "abstinence"-- mostly cos I got pregnant even on birth-control! If single moms are a national problem and plague-- then opposing abortion and even birth-control makes NO SENSE-- and we should be focusing on growing up our men more.

[SteveDenver]

Coulter's idea of "glorifying" means offering aid and assistance. If single mothers are offered food stamps, that's "glorifyin­g."

[dandypuddin]

There is nothing wrong with being a single mom. It's just hard, not wrong.

[zoozey]

It's not as hard as being with someone you have grown to dislike and trying to pretend that you love him, or as hard as taking care of the kids AND Daddy, like feyangel pointed out.

See, that is the problem: People like Ann coulter and the religious right make women think that they would never be able to survive on their own and raise their kids in a quiet, non-argumentive household. They make them think that they HAVE to find a daddy for Junior, or Jr. will end up in prison. Their preacher says so, Ann Coulter says so, he$$, even Sarah Palin says so. Then we have to wonder why Mom marries over and over again, thinking she is doing right--only to find that new daddy is a crumb to your kids!

but the fact is--one good parent is better than two bad one or even one good/one bad (such as feyangel pointed out) because the good one is always trying to maintain composure peace, etc.

[MountainPenelope]

Wish just ONE of these so-called interviewers would ask her to explain why the HIGHEST number and percentage of "single moms" come from the undereducated, poverty ridden, red-state Bible belt, while the lowest are from more educated and liberal states. This is a PROVEN fact. I know of what I write. I'm from South Carolina, where the age-old anthem "Thank G.O.D for Mississippi!" still rings from churches and schools and city, county and state government.

She should be REQUIRED to live for one year in S.C. or Mississippi or Louisiana on the average wage of a bunch of hard-working people still enchained by paternalistic land and industrial barons.

But seriously folks, it seems she is jealous of the single moms who have been able to get and keep a man long enough to produce a child...

[Daniboy]

Are you saying single motherhood at 16 is good? I think any child coming from a 2 parent home would have a slightly better chance. Don't you?

[Jess27]

No one says single motherhood at 16 is good, but there is no way you can blame "single motherhood" on the prison population. Blame who you really want to blame because it sure isn't the single mothers.

[Daniboy]

Fact-Over 60% of people in prison had single mothers.

[Jess27]

I think you could have benefited from having a single mother. Clearly your parents did nothing to teach you about common sense.

[chiara12]

Ok, I'll take the same kind of leap you did. Do you think Ann Coulter is good?

[JinChicago]

like ms palin?

heres the thing, not all single moms are 16 yr olds. or black. or whatever other stereo type you can think up in your small little head.

lots of single parents, like my mom, had a male who decided hecouldnt hack it. please, explain to me how that kind of thing can be averted by government?

what about people who come from 2 parent homes who start giant wars that cost billions and kill millions? if we take them into account, im sure its a draw

[zoozey]

O.K. knu.ckle.h­ead. I'll take the bait. It depends on the TWO parents or the one parent. It's just that simple, nin.com.poop. I will take the way my son was raised as a single Mom any old day over some of the two parent ones, esp. the ones whose mothers remarried and remarried, thinking they were doing the right thing for their kids (because they had bought into that old, tired conservative "two parents are better than one" claptrap)

---only to find out that dear old Daddy was fid.dling with the daughter while Mommy was at work. Yes, he had seemed like SUCH a great FATHER FIGURE and people like Ann Coulter had made Mommie think she couldn't handle it herself. She really NEEDED that man!

[Daniboy]

Has anybody here read any of her books? She does have some very interesting points. She uses satire and humour very well.

[dandypuddin]

I always turn over all copies of her books in bookstores so no one has to see her face. Or I put a bunch of other books on top of hers.

[Daniboy]

This sounds like very positive work for a Lib. Something to be very proud of.

[MountainPenelope]

I do the same thing! Especially in Wal-Mart!

[PAposter]

Good work dandy, and good idea.

[Jess27]

Only to neocons is she funny.

[foomonkey]

her points would be better served if they were not wrapped in hate and bile. if she made a point, rather than foaming at the mouth and making personal attacks, i think more people would listen.

it applies to either side, the extreme left or extreme right. be constructive and people might listen. spew hate and bash people and no one listens... except for the extremists.

[Grunty1]

I couldn't stand to vomit that much.

[bigbingtheory]

I have and have always been appalled at how so one can be so successful but be so consistently wrong as she demonizes and lies about any political opponent further dividing the country. She's profiting while the country suffers. If she has a valid point it's lost in all the garbage she spouts. I honestly feel sorry for her.

[bygollymissmolly]

I am really disappointing that Matt Lauer didn't ask her for her opinion of Bristol Palen after that single motherhood rant. I always find Lauer disappointing. There's no substance to him.

[dandypuddin]

Since her pals paraded Bristol around all during the campaign to pump up the pro-life donations, this would have been a no brainer question for Lauer.

[greymom]

Maybe Lauer had enough class not to put that kid out there anymore than her mother did. On the other hand, she pimped her kid's pictures for a cool 300K.

[julianna]

THANK YOU! If that wasn't a little celebration of single motherhood, I don't know what was. And I like to know how someone who isn't a mother can pass judgement on ANY mother, you barren purveyor of hate. Lauer could have also pressed her on stats on the ills of all single mothers have wrought upon this country. Having raised a successful son as a single mother, I would have liked to at least know where I went right...

These tards should know better than to "debate" her, her MO is to just keep talking, act like they won't let her talk - and spew ridiculous lies and conspiracy theories. They looked like idiots, and she looked like she just snorted a snootful and was loaded for bear. She is laughing all the way to the bank.

The only person I have ever seen do her justice was David Sirota (love you David):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuG2Fe3xAqg

[Grunty1]

The real question: is Lauer really any worse than the vast majority of the media?

[PAposter]

I agree, I was thinking the same thing. I felt his whole line of questioning and follow-up, was weak at best.

[bygollymissmolly]

It's a tired act but the MSM continues to play the game her way. As long as she wins these little battles she sets up, she will be around to spout her ugly rhetoric. The day the MSM ignores her and makes her irrelevant will be a very good day for this country.

[TheNoBullExpress]

She makes herself irrelevant by these morning TV interviews. She won no battles the last two mornings; she came off as an outright kook

[dandypuddin]

YOu are so right. She is like Pig Pen creating her own little dust storms whereever she goes. There is no there there. Her circus is her own creation and very shallow.

[Daniboy]

Many moderates agree with her. Libs probly would not. Don't worry-Obama will bring us all together.

[KillgoreTrout43]

Really? "Many moderates?"

[Jess27]

He is just pretending to be a moderate. Do not try to have a rational conversation with him, he can't handle it.

[dandypuddin]

Do you mean people of moderate intelligence? I don't think so. I think you have to be pretty dim or thrive on bigotry to agree with Coulter.

[Grunty1]

Thanks for reminding me that you should be flagged on sight for having Dubya's sense of truth.

[zoozey]

Au contrare. Most Republicans that are moderate and even slightly conservative think she is mean and vindictive. Stop acting like she is just so innocent and funny. You know she isn't.

[bigbingtheory]

You really believe that don't you? Poor thing. Now I'm feeling sorry for you too. Many moderates agree with liberals, she's nothing but trash.