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Jews, Jesus and Republicans: Playing Ann Coulter's Game
To read Jon Wiener's most recent post, "[Expletive] the Jews. They didn't vote for us anyway": Republicans and Israel, click here.
The following piece was produced by the Huffington Post's OffTheBus.
When Ann Coulter remarked on CNBC that Jews should become Christians, it wasn't "a faux pas," and she wasn't being "an idiot," as many commentators suggested. Instead she was playing her game -- provoking her critics to get her into the media spotlight that helps sell her books. That raises the question: should the Republican candidates be asked whether they agree with Ann Coulter that America would be a better place if we were all Christians? Or is that simply playing Ann Coulter's game?
Many people are playing her game this time around: Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, denounced Coulter for speaking in "the classic language of anti-Semites throughout the millennia." The National Jewish Democratic Council asked broadcast news organizations not to give Coulter airtime. Then right wing talk radio got to yell at liberals for trying to deny Ann Coulter her right to free speech.
So it's happened again: Ann Coulter is controversial. Ann Coulter is important. We all need to take a stand for or against Ann Coulter's right to express her views, no matter how repugnant they may be.
But what if we ignored her latest publicity ploy? What if we didn't play Ann Coulter's game - again?
That would be a mistake, Tim Rutten argued recently in the LA Times. We need to press the issue on the candidates, and others, this time -- because, Rutten writes, "the implications of these latest remarks simply are too threatening to be allowed to stand."
Yes, it's worked for her many times before, propelling her books to the top of the best-seller list. Her readers buy her books precisely because they love the way she provokes liberals to screaming outrage. That's why in the past, when asked about our enemies in the Middle East, she said "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity"; that's why she insulted the 9-11widows.
But this time, Rutten argues, it's different. That's because Coulter's argument - that Christianity "perfects" Judaism, and that Jews need "perfecting" -- is the major theological underpinning of anti-Semitism (along with the notion to that the Jews killed Jesus). The Catholic church, and most Protestant denominations, have explicitly broken with that claim. The Republican candidates ought to do the same thing.
"It's a scandal that in this pluralist nation it falls to the voices of organized Jewry to make this case," Rutten writes, "because it is a case whose outcome is of the greatest consequence to us all. For too long we've pretended that the brutal political rhetoric that now characterizes our partisan politics can be quarantined, that it won't inevitably leach over into every other aspect of our lives."
So it would be good to ask Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and their rivals: Ann Coulter is a best-selling Republican pundit; do you agree with her that the ideal America is a Christian America?
Read more OffTheBus coverage here.
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Coultergist has perfected the art of making absurd comments, then avoiding direct questions regarding her judgement and then smearing the questioner.
ANN COULTER FOR THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE!!!!!
First, for those of you who say"Just ignore her," and then she will go away, I remind you that that is what they said about Hitler!
Second, it is not that all Christians believe Jews, or anyone else need to be "perfected," it's FUNDAMENTALIST Christians! It's the FUNDAMENTALISTS in any group, whether it be a fundamentalist religious group(of any religion), a fundamentalist political group (like the neo-cons), or any fundamentalists that are the problem, but that should be no surprise. Look at the word itself, fundaMENTAList. Fundamentalism is nothing, but a MENTAL illness these people have. Anyone who thinks they have the exclusive knowledge of what is wrong, or right, who is good, or bad, or that they, and they only have the knowledge of the "Truth," or that god speaks to them personally,etc...they need many years of mental health therapy, and/or they need to get back on their meds!
The corporate media will NEVER ask the Republican candidates to disavow Coultergist.
We should NOT censor Ann. Let her speak. We should be wise enough and intelligent enough to give her reasoned response. If she states something absurd, and she does, it is fair game to ask her where in HER SCRIPTURES that is written. And if it is, WHO supposedly said that? Is she stating as Jesus' words that which Paul has reported to have said, or is in Paul's writings? And WHO was Paul? Then, in HER Bible, in the Old Testament, describing the coming of the Messiah, are TWO mentioned, one who rides in on a donkey and another who was *afflicted*? Was Paul not an emissary of the Roman Empire? But, after all that, are we not living in 2007, and are we not educated, and do we not know the consequences of our words? Does Jesus not have a few choice words about idle speech, about l'shon hara (slander), etc. and what about current Torah (Old Testament) study. Has nothing been written about *speech* and its consequences? See, websites, such as Torah.org, etc. What, as a lawyer, does she not know about speech, when to speak and when to keep quiet, and the consequences of speech?
when did coulter start coming the christian all a-sudden? before her book "Godless" i had never seen her wearing the little crucifix she now flashes at every opportunity. i'd seen her in that black leather dominatrix outfit from the "How To Talk To Liberals" book but somehow missed the lil Roman Capital Punishment Token...
To Ann Coulter the ideal would NOT be a Christian America. Her ideal is the 2004 Republican Convention. Or, did I hear that incorrectly? But if it were, yes, of course it would be, to her, ideal. And to me, as a jew, it would be ideal to live my life as I see fit, to believe what I believe, and to repsect others' beliefs, learn from those beliefs and see WHAT WE HAVE IN COMMON. I am by no means the only person with this attitude. I have met Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims who love to exchange ideas, and to tell me what their faith is about, and to know what my faith is about, and WHAT WE HAVE IN COMMON. I am interested in what I can learn from the teachings of Jesus, as well as the teachings of Buddhists, Sikhs and Hindus, because an added insight, adapted to my own faith, can serve to increase my understanding of the concepts of my own faith with another dimension to the same truth. Judaism is not about a person, let alone a human person. It is about SPIRIT, nefesh. And Jesus does teach that. Buddhism does the same thing. Sikh, apparently, do not believe in one personal god, in the form of a human being either. If Jesus speaks about God in me, and I in you, is he speaking about one body into another body, or about spirit? Ideal would be, to me, that we finally understand what faith and spirituality is all about. To achieve that goal, I have much studying to do, more and more to learn. What Ann does serves no purpose at all. If we see God as the Creator, we would strive to create, understanding, life, happiness, community, and as a woman, especially. Ann has missed her goal and opportunity. Condemnation brings nothing, creates nothing, builds nothing, is nothing.
Ann Coulter was simply saying out loud and in public what Christians are saying privately and to persons of any other faith in person. As a jew I have heard what she said personally more than I can remember in the South. I have also been forcibly *baptized*. It is amazing that a person who was on law review, as Ann Coulter was, is apparently unable to read or reason. Her bible does NOT STATE that Jesus became a Christian. Christianity came AFTER Jesus' death. Jesus was born a jew of a jewish mother, had a bris, was Bar Mitzvah, was a Rabbi, died a jew, etc. If he was/is who christians say/think he was/is, it was his choice to be a jew, and that is good enough for me. Why should I second guess that? Jesus also NEVER SAID anything remotely like *christians have a Federal Express* route to heaven. Rather, he said, FORGIVE OTHERS, let me repeat that OTHERS. He never said, *go right ahead, I will forigve you*. I am sorry, Jesus did not advocate LAWLESSNESS. Rather, he said, *not a jot or tittle of the law shall pass until all is fulfilled*, and *you may say, god, god, and I will say, I never knew you*. Jesus also had a few choice words about slander. Jews are not the only persons focussed on. A Sikh doctor I know gets similar treatment. Ann Coulter needs to read. Jesus said, paraphrased "why are you concentrating on the splinter in others' eyes, and are you not seeing the big pole in your own eyes?" (spiritual blindness). She is speaking about *THE LAW*, and she is a LAWYER, as a *spiritual* person, and does not understand either.
Jesus was a MAN who spoke TRUTH TO POWER. So POWER, the priests and the government, got rid of him.
THE REST IS COMMENTARY!
Ann Coulter a Christian.
Surely you jest....
However fanciful-and tedious—a person's notion of converting you might be, if it isn't at the point of a gun it isn't antisemitic ( a word that is itself being overused to the point of tedium).
Is it really better to consider others less than human, and hence unworthy of conversion? If you think so, take some Kaballah courses with Madonna.
I agree with everyone who has said "ignore her." At best, Coulter is nothing more than a two-bit gadfly, and she remains a quasi-significant media celebrity only to the extent that we respond to her deliberate provocations. I think we would marginalize her significantly if we just stopped playing into her hand.
You are right but she knows which buttons to press and does so with the skills of a capable manipulator. She doesn't have to appeal to everyone, just to one particular group and she gets show time on TV. Her success in book sales give others some reason to showcase her and give her a podium.
Bill O'Reilly's recent condescending treatment was a mockery to humanity.
The only one who can send her to obscurity is herself by making more controversial remarks which will confine her to a smaller and smaller corner. Eventually that one additional controversial comment in the future will force others proclaim enough is enough. Case in point, Jerry Falwell. After his 9/11 remark he lost credibility, appeal and popularity in the MSM. The same will also happen to her.
When will people realize that Ann Coulter is just another shock jock with a law degree? She LOVES to incite. She LIVES to incite. Anyone who takes her seriously is falling for a brilliant ruse. This woman makes a career out of saying offensive, explosive things -- period. Then the political pundits pick up her sticky, dirty, tacky balls and run with them. Why? I don't get it.
I could never understand why being Christian and hoping others would become Christian to save their souls would make you hate them. What does anti-semitic mean? Must you wish Jews ill or actively desire calamity upon them to be anti-semitic or does it simply mean you have tonot given them in your own heart the same equal rights to Heaven as you have? I don't know, but to me to hate someone because of their religion is the most foolish activity anyone can participate in. It hurts both the receiver of the hate and the giver.
The line here that I find interesting is "Her readers buy her books precisely because they love the way she provokes liberals to screaming outrage". How often do the liberals really scream outrage. No, that is from the right every single day. If a Dem steps off the curb & leads with their left foot instead of right they'll be talking about it from Rush right through Hannity. Part of me says we need to ignore these morons & part says we need to use them the way they use Move On, etc. against the left. "Mr. Gulianni how do you respond to what Ann Coulter said, to Bill O's resteraunt reviews, to Rush calling our soldiers phony, etc...". Where will these people come down on these issues? It seems to not matter. Unfortunately the left just isn't as good at using these dopes words against them as they are at battling us. They manage to get Dems to denounce an organization like Move On. How do they do that? Not only can we not seem to get that to work in reverse but no one seems to give a rats behind about it. So when the right makes John Kerry look like a weasly commie lover we can't seem to pin their lies on them, we can't seem to get anyone outraged but ourselves. Yet there stand our leaders, codemning Move On for asking a General to tell the truth.
Actually I just noticed Coulter's book went down in the charts, not even hitting #1. Maybe people are realising she's not worthy of anyone's time?
So who did kill Jesus? The Roman governor "washed" his hands and supposedly said "Do with him [Jesus] as you will." There weren't any Irish in the neighborhood so you can't put the blame on them. The PLO was centuries from being formed and so likewise the Palestinians are blameless. Guess it must have been those wily Russsians and their Iranian allys who did the dirty deed.
the same people killed him who later took up his name and used the very instrument of torture-murder to become the symbol of Institutionalized Christianity. Rome still rules the world, only it's "christian" now.
By the way, those of you who say to silence her by not letting her speak --- you're as bad as those who would limit the First Amendment. If they can silence HER they can surely silence US. If the government or some commercial entities in cahoots with the ruling class limit the flow of information to the public on which we ultimately base our decisions, then we are lost. Partial information makes for bad choices and signals the end of democracy. The nazi propagandists knew this. Noam Chomsky understands this. Read him.
who's saying not to let her speak? did i miss that batch of comments or something?
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