Is Ann Coulter Now Running McCain's Campaign?

The GOP smear du jour of Barack Obama is that he is 'anti-American.'  In a video circulating the Internet, House Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is shown repeatedly branding Obama and all liberals with the nasty, McCarthyite epithet in an interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews.  But...wait a second -- haven't we heard that right-wing smear of liberals recently? Ah, yes!  Americans favorite hate-filled pundit: Ann Coulter.

Pretty awful stuff, there.  But not to worry, America: within hours of branding liberals 'anti-American' on national TV, Rep. Bachmann gave a press conference denying that she called liberals 'anti-American.'  Alrighty, then -- I guess we're all set with today's portion of GOP truthiness. 

When I hear Rep. Bachmann maligning Obama as 'anti-American,' it sends me back to a book I published recently about the current bunch of right-wing pundits who use their media platforms day after day to convince viewers that liberals pose a danger to the survival of  America.  There are so many examples of right-wing pundits calling liberals 'anti-American' from the likes of Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity, that it was just a matter of time before John McCain gave into the temptation to jump on the bandwagon. Or has McCain given his campaign over completely to these right-wing pundits?  Has McCain's campaign become the first in history to be run -- lock, stock, and barrel -- by Ann Coulter?  The evidence begs the question.

On Hannity and Colmes from March 8, 2002, Ann Coulter made a statement about 'anti-American' Democrats that must have been the inspiration for Rep. Bachmann's remarks.  Here is Coulter talking to Alan Colmes about then Majority Lader Tom Daschle's (D-SD) concern over President Bush's carte blanche Iraq war resolution (emphasis mine):

COLMES: Now he wants a joint resolution supporting the war. That's not good enough for you. What's the problem with that?

COULTER: Right. So you do have him in record rooting for America back in December, but...

COLMES: Oh, no. We...

(CROSSTALK)

COULTER: ... anti-Americanism could not be...

COLMES: Wait a minute. How dare you call someone anti-American because you don't agree with them. How dare you do that.

COULTER: It's very easy. Would you like to see me do it again? And, in fact, he did -- I mean, his recent attack on the war has -- "Well, we have to raise questions. We don't know how it's going to be in the future," but he never actually articulates a question. It's just this general harping and...

COLMES: What did he say that was anti-American?

COULTER: ... complaining about...

COLMES: Tell me exactly what he did that was anti-American.

(CROSSTALK)

COULTER: ... and I do strongly -- well, that's the point. He said, "We're going to -- we're raising questions." He's carping, carping, carping...

COLMES: That's anti-American? That's anti-American?

COULTER: ... but he actually has no questions. He has no point.

COLMES: Well, what's anti-American?

COULTER: It's this general attack on...

COLMES: Answer me.

COULTER: ... Bush and the war and what's going on and -- which is why, I think, it's a great idea, and I think there should be a resolution...

COLMES: You're not answering me.

COULTER: ... once a week for Democrats to reaffirm their loyalty to the United States.

Ahh...Ann Coulter. I am sure she is a lovely person, once you get to know her.  But in this case she is accusing half the country of disloyalty, if not treason.   And the last time I checked, loyalty oaths were the hallmark of anti-Democratic societies.

The 2002 Coulter interview is probably the closest match to Bachmann's call for Democrats to prove they're not anti-American, but if we keep digging through TV transcripts we find the nasty stink of 'anti-American' accusations throughout the last 8 years of FOX News broadcasting.

For example, I found this festering example of disloyalty dissing in a January 22, 2003 segment called
'Some Say Anti-War Protesters are Anti-American,' hosted by Laura Ingraham:

COLMES: It's horrible, it's horrible. I learn from the best.

Every time a liberal or a group or somebody speaks out against the president -- and they should speak out against policy, not make it personal, I agree with you on that -- you get into this anti-American tirade and start calling the group or the person anti-American.

INGRAHAM: Actually, no.

COLMES: I think you're hurting yourself when you do that.

INGRAHAM: Well, I think, actually, most of the, you know, those people in those silly little flyover states in the South actually kind of agree with what I'm saying, so I take issue with that.

COLMES: How do you define anti-Americanism? Let's discuss it.

INGRAHAM: It is a public self-loathing, and it is a public castigation of basic American values.

I'm not talking about criticizing Bush on Iraq. That's fine. A lot of conservatives don't want to go into Iraq. That's fine.

Ted Kennedy isn't an anti-American, I'm telling you. But the Hollywood elite, and there is a Hollywood elite with -- it's an echo chamber that they live in, they all go to the same parties, they all talk to each other. Barbra Streisand gets her briefings from Scott Ritter on Iraq.

COLMES: They're not all saying the things that Ed Harris said. They're not all calling him -- you know, questioning his manhood or saying that, you know -- let's not lump everybody together who says certain things.

INGRAHAM: Alan, again -- Again, when -- on issue after issue, so many of especially the Hollywood elite are more aligned with a lot of the anti- American crowd across the pond in Europe than they are with Americans...

Everyone see how the argument works? Liberals are not just 'anti-American' -- they are aligned with the worst anti-Americans 'across the pond.' The only thing worse than a foreigner is an American who likes a foreigner.  Thanks, Laura!  And while you're up, could you pick me up an order of 'freedom' fries?

The following is one of my favorite examples of a right-wing pundit whipping out the 'anti-American' label in rapid-fire succession -- like a six-shooter at gunfight.  In an April 9, 2003 interview with Bill O'Reilly -- on the crucial subject of how much foreigners love to hate Americans -- Newt Gingrich used the phrase 'anti-American' faster than Wyatt Erp on the draw:

GINGRICH: Now, look, the BBC has been for years totally owned by left-wingers who are viscerally anti-American. The BBC American channel may be the most anti-American channel, at least as anti-American as Al Jazeera.

It's an ideological bias of the British left. They hated Margaret Thatcher. They hated Ronald Reagan. They cheerfully hate George W. Bush. I'm talking now about the BBC's left-wing board of directors and the BBC's left-wing reporters. That's just reality.

"The New York Times" worried desperately about Afghanistan. When we won in Afghanistan, they warned us that Iraq would be harder than Afghanistan and not to mistake it. I am confident that whatever we do positive next, "The New York Times" will worry about. That's the nature of "The New York Times."

It's become a discouragingly left-wing and isolationist newspaper that wants a timid, weak America that will somehow be so pathetic that even the French will love us. That ain't going to happen. So I start from a different vantage point.

Kapow! Kapow! Kapow! Lightening fast.  But did you catch what Gingrich did with those rapid-fire accusations of 'anti-Americanism'?  He shot them all at 'left-winger's and The New York Times.  Those New York Times people, I tellya.  They're so anti-American, the only thing that matters to them is being loved by the foreign left-winger anti-Americans who are worse than Al Jazeera.  Is it even possible to hate America that much? 

Meanwhile, back in the tranquil comity of the 2008 Presidential election, accusations of 'anti-Americanism' have been hurled with aplomb by right-wing pundits at Barack Obama.

On March 18, 2008, Bill O'Reilly wasted an entire segment talking about whether or not it was immoral for Barack  Obama to have exposed his children to the so-called 'anti-Americanism' in his family church:

O'REILLY: ...Are you telling me Wright's anti-American sentiments are OK for a 9-year-old and a 6-year-old girl to hear? Are you telling me that?

O'Reilly's argument is a familiar one in right-wing media:  Barack Obama may be anti-American not because he himself has said or done something anti-American, but because he has not repudiated strongly enough the anti-Americanism of other anti-American Americans.

Talking to Sean Hannity on April 8, 2008, Newt "I-Can-Say-'Anti-American'-Faster-Than-You" Gingrich restated this general case against Barack Obama in its clearest and most anti-Americanist version to date:

GINGRICH: Well, I think it's part of a general pattern in which Senator Obama is very comfortable with the hard left and the people who are, in many ways, fundamentally anti-America and certainly anti-American government. And I think that question of who is the real Senator Obama and to what degree could we expect him to have the values and the attitudes and potentially appoint the allies of people who are this consistently anti- American government and anti-American I think is a legitimate question.

Thus, we see how Obama's problem achieved a new, sinister dimension via Gingrich's faster-than-fast rhetoric. The problem is not just that Barack Obama is anti-American, but that he might be a covert anti-American canddiate -- someone who denies his own anti-Americanism in public in order to seize power and enact an evil plan full of -- (wait for it...) -- anti-Americanism.

For some reason, in the period roughly from mid-July 2008 to last week, the right-wing cries of anti-Americanism seemed to have quieted down a bit.  There is no telling why for certain, but the reason for the temporary hiatus probably stems from the final showdown in the Democratic primary battle, and then the slow and sleepy season of party conventions.  In that period, the right-wing pundits took a short vacation from branding the Democrats 'anti-American' while Democrats beat each other to a pulp, and the conventions that gave each party a 'bounce,' also gave the right-wing media a rest from hanging the scarlet letter of anti-Americanism -- again and again -- around the necks of Democrats.  Thanks to Gov. Palin, and Rep. Bachmann, that hiatus devoid of right-wing cries of 'anti-Americanism' is safely behind us. 

Only one question remains:  Is Ann Coulter -- or Bill O'Reilly, or Sean Hannity -- now running John McCain's campaign or the entire GOP for that matter?  Has the entire political wing of Republicanism officially collapsed into cries of 'anti-Americanism' like some endless robocall recording of O'Reilly-Coulter-Hannity-Gingrich's greatest hits?

Kapow! It certainly seems that way. 

Crossposted from Frameshop.

Follow Jeffrey Feldman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JeffreyFeldman

Comments

[Nomccain]

This NOT necessary and would do more harm than good. What is needed is simple! First, publish each Senator and Representative's vote on all issues, particularly critical issues, in a large National Newspaper and hold each candidate responsible for his or her vote. This should be done on a Regular, dependable basis. Then, the PEOPLE should react accordingly and fire these scumbags at the end of their term and based on their records. That's the way the system is supposed to work. Problem is American apathy and you can't blame the scumbags in Washington for that. The McCarthy era was nothing but a witchhunt and did much damage to many innocent people.

[MinasTirith]

You mean a simple 'Report Card'?

While that would on the surface, work... the spin machines would be working overtime to ensure that every vote was explained. And due to the nuances in the way bills are structured (Who is greasing who's palms, how is money bundled together, what else is the bill doing besides its intended, primary goal that may cause some to vote against or for) it would be difficult to use such a report card to make accurate determinations.

If bills were simplified though to contain only their intended purpose and nothing more, then you could have a reasonable correlation of votes for/against as true indicators of alignment with the beliefs and ethics of those reviewing the report cards, and therefore a useful means of firing da bums if they weren't performing up to par.

Good idea in theory though. :)

[stardot]

The Constitution of the United States of America is an awesome document. We''ll gladly give a copy of it to any of those right-wing hate spreaders, but it looks like they will not "get it."

The Flag of my country represents the lives of countless great Americans, and yes, we'll even let the hate whackos have a copy to wave. Do they get it? Nope. Apparently not.

We let them live here, work here, feed them in the Wall Street pig trough and for what?

It's one flag. With liberty and justice for all. like, "indivisble". So why do all these people keep trying to divide us?

[yellow72]

so repubs are the real patriots?

what is anti-american? they don't seem to have a good answer. if they call us anti-american, can we call them fascists?

why don't we play their game. why don't we call THEM anti-american. like their thought, if you say it enough, people will believe it.

they are so strange.

[timberdoodle]

The problem stems from the U.S. not having definitive and enforceable guidelines on what programs do when they are claiming to be a news reporting outlet. FOX news is paying millions of dollars to political hacks and calling themselves a news station. In order to be a news station that program should be required to give reporting on equal and unbiased platform and if they don't and just spout political rhetoric favouring one particular party then they should be deemed an infomercial.

[chriss0114]

The problem is not "balanced" coverage but that OBJECTIVE coverage is what right wingers hate.

[BBDisk]

"The problem stems from the U.S. not having definitive and enforceable guidelines on what programs do when they are claiming to be a news reporting outlet."

Errr ... um ... you've got big ones bringing THAT subject up on Huffington Post.

[Rickabee]

When is someone going to start calling Republicans "Communists" since they seemingly believe in the one party (Republican) system?
I used to be a moderate Republican but these extremists have pushed me into being a temporary(?) Democrat. I hope like hell that they get their collective "behinds" kicked in this election just to hear FOX news whine for the next four years!

[BBDisk]

Because Communism is not defined that way. Rather it is defined by taking from the working class in order to give to the non working class. Taking from the productive in order to give to the non productive. Robin Hood economics.

And no matter what you may think of that fairy tale, the fact remains: Robin Hood was a criminal and a thug.

[motorfive]

Your point is ?

[MossyOak]

Unless you were on the receiving end of his courage and largess.

[rcpmac]

Matthews deserves a lot of credit for this. He took a a lot of time with Bachmann and asked her a simple question repeatedly until she revealed what she shouldn't have. Now it's likely this encounter will lose her that seat in congress. Her democratic opponent raised over $600,000 the following day and her republican primary opponent has reentered the race.

[Glenn1441]

My project for 2009? Find the best, if not leading, individual or team currently investigating the far right, ultra-conservative mind. I NEED to understand how an individual like Ann Coulter was shaped. Paranoia, fear and such are merely symptoms of something much deeper, so neither of those terms provides the answers I am looking for.

I need to understand every possible element that contributes to the development of such a limited, convoluted way of thinking.

For instance, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann once attempted to ban her district's movie theaters from featuring Disney's 'Aladdin,' considering the movie 'dangerously' suggestive of witchcraft and paganism. How does an individual go from the choice-oriented decision of 'I will not allow MY children to see THAT film!' to 'I will NOT permit ANYONE in my district to see that FILM!' I NEED to understand the switch mechanism. I need to understanding the basis of her fears.

Seriously.

[BBDisk]

Study the writings of Irving Krystol if you want to understand how Anne Coulters are made.

She's not a real conservative ... she's a NeoCon. There's a huge difference.

[mommamia526]

I think it lies in the connection - a strong one - between christianity and paganism. These same people also have a great fear of Halloween. They see something of the occult in this. They fear it, because to them it is NOT a story, or an old custom. They actually feel the paganist pull of it, and THAT is what makes them so afraid. It is real to them. And who is to say that is not the case? The power that drives life is ENERGY, and that includes spiritual energy, as well as intellectual energy. Our thoughts drive us, and our feelings, but we create them. Our minds go incessantly and create images. These images sometimes take on real-life form. Jesus demonstrates that when he speaks of *this or that person has a devil*, and this or that devil will come out easily or only after praying and fasting. Praying and fasting set our minds and spirits on a certain path. They also connect love of country with religion. More than a few are of the opinion that the U.S. is the new Israel, and therefore, not being loyal, as they see loyalty, to this country, the U.S., equates to non-goldliness, anti-god, or evil.

[Logic15]

"It is the first responsibility or every citizen to question authority." --Benjamin Franklin.

Seems to me questioning is the most patriotic, pro-America action you can take.

[pithy]

I feel about America as I do about my daughter - I will love her no matter what, but when she's wrong, it's my responsibility to guide her to a different choice. If she lies, steals, gossips cruelly, whatever - as a parent, I am doing my duty to point out the error of her ways and correct her.

By the Rethuglican standards, that kind of thinking about America - and being a good citizen - apparently makes me anti-American.

I should say "yes" without question every time my country decides or demands something?

That's about as anti-American as you can get. That's fascism, comrades!

But then again, that's the republican­/conservat­ive mind - up is down, black is white.

I can't wait - simply can't wait - until they go away.

[CarolinaDem]

Right after 9/11 we were all set straight: any inquiry into anything American policy, corporations and/or power had done that might have helped to cause the kind of hate that drove the attacks was rejected as 'rewarding' the terrorists. That set the frame: being critical of America was tantamount to weakening her in a time of war, to aiding and abetting her enemies. That is what these Wingnuts mean when they complain of 'anti-American' opinion.

After the disastrous occupation of iraq by the College Republican Citizen Army, the same argument served all the more importantly to preclude investigation of error, criminality and incompetence.

To this day they fear such inquiry, and accuse us of being the enemies of our nation for wanting to carry them out.

[courageunderfire]

The mentality of a spoiled rotten child who says every nasty thing she can think of just because she can. There is no honor, no intellect, no rational. Just plain old nasty.
You can not engage with this person because she marks you with her venomn and watches you while you bleed. This kind of politics should be an outrage. Intelligent people, intelligent conservatives are now coming out for Obama, and it must be making people like Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity crawling in their own skin. It is about time that we see some intelligence from the right.
Now if you could just make Ms. Coulter disappear, I would be so forever grateful.

[SimonNZ]

This election is a true reflection of the soul of America. If Obama doesn't become President after all this, it doesn't have one anymore.

[differenteye]

I'm still reeling from the early 90's when Newt thought that all the children of single mothers' should be put in orphanages.

[obamadeus]

Ingraham is horrible. Last week, she got into a fight with Bill O'Reilly because O'Reilly was saying he thinks Barack is honest and he's already put the Ayers issue to rest, but he doesn't like the policies he's proposing. Ingraham literally yelled at O'Reilly, trying to convince him that Obama is a horrible, scary person who hates America.

[Quaoar]

You mean she hasn't been all along?