Call her hateful, racist, a right wing extremist or just way over the top, Conservative activist and top selling author Ann Coulter currently the center of a media flurry is laughing all of the way to the bank and doesn't give a damn!
The release of her latest controversial book Guilty: Liberal "Victims" and Their Assault on America have the Limbaugh/Hannity Right praising Coulter for what heavy metal rock group AC/DC once bellowed, "THE BIGGEST BALLS OF THEM ALL." The Left is seething at what they would call her insanity and lack of real credibility for the hyperbolic statements she makes. CBS's Harry Smith told her to take a deep breath and chill out, and NBC's Matt Lauer said she "fans the flames." Whatever she does or does not do, says or does not say, the bottom line is, Coulter loud mouthed both Smith and Lauer showing who controlled the interviews and it worked for her. She is getting what she wants -- book sales! Coulter is top Bitchocrat; continuing to raise bitchocracy to a whole new level!
Several years ago Coulter came to speak at the University of Connecticut. After fifteen minutes of talking, on one of the few occasions perhaps in her life, she decided not to compete with the jeering audience. There were sporadic protests from groups such as Students Against Hate and the Puerto Rican/Latin American Cultural Center. She chose to do a Q&A from a college audience she said was more "stupider" than she. One of the young women who worked back stage with her had the opportunity to speak with her one-on-one as she was helping her to get ready for her talk. Coulter at the time had what was described as a big black man of a body guard protecting her. A shock, since Coulter is viewed as extremely racist and would seemingly be afraid to put her life in the hands of an African American male who, God forbid, might have been raised by a single mother. However, this man was to make sure no liberal got too close to go up one side of her head and then down again on the other.
She chatted with this assistant about her work and admitted she knows what she says is quite controversial, but she also said that was part of the job and laughed it off. The assistant (a woman of color), recalled it was a big joke. The assistant reluctantly admitted that Coulter was a nice person. That was quite a shock to hear.
For Coulter -- not withstanding her hardcore convictions -- the more outrageous she appears to be, the more relevant she remains. If anyone disagrees, look at how many national television and radio stations she has attracted in the last week. And no matter how irrelevant one might argue that she is, Coulter the major irrelevancy currently competes with national media coverage of the biggest economic disaster in American history and a very bloody and gut wrenching war in the Middle East. Her disrespectful and provocatively vicious attacks on President Elect Obama and his wife Michelle are meant to make people mad wishing karma would just smack her down. She wants you to wish bad things happen to her. What she means to do is what she always says, "stir the pot."
Whether you love her or hate her, Coulter is clever. She does not engage in any teleological reasoning. Additionally, in as much as people who read this piece might be critical of someone even taking the time to write about her might be right, the fact is Ann Coulter speaks for a significant number of persons in America who would love to publicly echo her exact sentiments, but won't. They are not just from small town America, but also the corporation, the local church ministry and many parts of America. These people live vicariously through her fury, purchasing her books feeling vindicated that someone thinks just like them and have the guts to say it.
Saying that Coulter is very sad and lonely, or attempting to analyze her psychosis or even delving into her personal life wondering about her egoism and why she could not close the deal on a couple of her relationships is not even important. Realizing what motivates her is opposition and name calling, perhaps trying a different approach like ignoring her might neutralize her. But that won't happen either. She is smart enough to turn that into something that will work for her too -- sell more books, leverage more interviews and piss more people off! You go Bitch!
Ann Coulter is right in saying that Palin could be our next "Reagan", but she forgot to specify "Reagan in his later years, after the full blown Alzheimer’s had set in."
You got it.
She knows how to attract attention.
They were talking about the GOP party.... what they stand for etc. She said
"She may be the only MAN in the GOP Party"
Never a truer statement.... from Her own Dirty Mouth.
Hence my point of Coulter having the "Biggest Balls of them All." Thank you for sharing.
Yvonne R. Davis HuffPost Blogger
Once you see its all just an act, the white version Omarosa, her bark really becomes bigger than her bite, and you can enjoy her act for what it really is, a comedic routine.
Excellent job, Yvonne, of being completely off-base with your analysis.
But the fact is, you paint her more benign than she deserves. Yes, she gives voice to people who don't get to, or wouldn't dare, say the things she does. But that's probably because they shouldn't. I'm not talking about core beliefs they may have (which I might find very wrong but know they're free to have them) but her expression on their behalf of those beliefs is vile. If the beliefs were really that important to her, she'd do it better. And if they were important to her fans, they'd stop being her fans til she did.
Nice to hear from you again and Happy New Year. You received my point exactly how I meant it. I believe a lot of the things she spews are big jokes to her and she actually thinks it is a game to be so mean spirited and say the way over the top things and then sort of dares the interviewer or just plain overtalks them.
I find her to be amusing in one sense. However, watching how she has been doing these interviews of late, I am figuring at some point someone will really get in her face about these things, but they just can/t for whatever reason.
I think that's absolutely the right word for what Ann does. She plays a game. The only problem, and I think she's not aware of it yet, is that being competitive in a game you've played over and over with the same opponents is dependent on keeping your moves fresh. Ann always does basically the same thing, she talks the same points and writes the same book over and over, but somewhere I think a few people have gotten a hold of her "playbook" and they're calling her on it here and there. Matt Lauer did it recently and it was covered by other press that the lifetime ban from NBC echoed the alleged firing from USA Today. Kind of tripped her up. Defeat in her game can be one interview away.
And you know, it can be amusing waiting for Annie to get her comeuppance. I think, considering the above, that the knockout hasn't happened because the managing editors and station heads probably instruct the reporters and interviewers to never put her to the ropes because there's money to be made off of controversy. Which she delivers. It doesn't speak well of the state of journalism, but it's become theater as much as news so......
She's put on news shows where she makes factually inaccurate statements, nasty personal attacks and stupid arguments.
She gets covered for by the media, apologized for by network executives, withdrawn when the smell gets too bad--and then trotted out again.
She would have gotten nowhere without massive pressure by very powerful people.
If it's outrageousness that's box office, where's Medea Benjamin on the talk shows?
It's Republcan outrageousness that 's boxoffice--in the way that Susan Alexander was box office.
It's outrageous talk in defense of the billionaires who own the media.
That's what works.
I believe the way she speaks about the issue is so mean spirited, even if she were completely accurate, she becomes the focus and her information gets rejected. It kind of goes back to the, it's not what you say, but how you say it and sometimes when.
You mean we need Ann Coulter to inform us about the issue of single motherhood? Are you serious? Who's conducting all the academic studies?
Seriously, though, I guess what you say has a certain truth to it -- if all that's important is one's own short-term self-interest, even if it comes at the cost of civil discourse and the health of the nation. Which is probably true for a lot of folks, but sad.