Ann Coulter

Ann Hart Coulter (born December 8, 1961 in New York City) is a prominent American syndicated columnist, bestselling author, and television pundit. Her conservative commentary has earned her a reputation for strong criticism of social and political liberalism. Her speaking and writing style is provocative and aggressive, with heavy use of sarcasm and hyperbole.

Controversy

Paula Jones controversy

Ann Coulter debuted as a figure on the public scene shortly before becoming an unpaid legal advisor working for the attorneys representing Paula Jones in her sexual harassment suit against President Bill Clinton. Coulter wrote a column about the Paula Jones case for the magazine Human Events. Coulter's friend George Conway had been asked to assist Jones' attorneys, and shortly afterward Coulter was also asked to help; she began writing legal briefs for the case.

Related Topics:
Paula Jones - Sexual harassment - President - Bill Clinton - Human Events

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Coulter later stated that she would come to mistrust the motives of Paula Jones' head lawyer, Joseph Cammaratta, who told Jones that she didn't have a case and should take a settlement. (Daley, 1999) From the onset of the lawsuit, Jones had sought an apology from Clinton at least as eagerly as she sought a settlement (Barak, 1998), and in an interview Coulter said regarding herself that she had believed that Jones' case was solid, that Jones was telling the truth, that Clinton should be held publicly accountable for his misconduct, and that a settlement would give the impression that Jones was merely interested in extorting money from the President. (Daley, 1999)

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David Daley who wrote the interview piece for the Hartford Courant recounted what followed:

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Coulter played one particularly key role in keeping the Jones case alive. In Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff's new book Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter's Story, Coulter is unmasked as the one who leaked word of Clinton's "distinguishing characteristic" -- his reportedly bent penis that Jones said she could recognize and describe -- to the news media. Her hope was to foster mistrust between the Clinton and Jones camps and forestall a settlement...

Related Topics:
Newsweek - Michael Isikoff

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I thought if I leaked the distinguishing characteristic it would show bad faith in negotiations. Bob Bennett would think Jones had leaked it. Cammaratta would know he himself hadn't leaked it and would get mad at Bennett. It might stall negotiations enough for me to get through to Susan Carpenter-McMillan to tell her that I thought settling would hurt Paula, that this would ruin her reputation, and that there were other lawyers working for her. Then 36 hours later, she returned my phone call.

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I just wanted to help Paula. I really think Paula Jones is a hero. I don't think I could have taken the abuse she came under. She's this poor little country girl and she has the most powerful man she's ever met hitting on her sexually, then denying it and smearing her as president. And she never did anything tacky. It's not like she was going on TV or trying to make a buck out of it. (1999)

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According to the Coulter Watch website, Coulter also told Isikoff, "We were terrified that Jones would settle. It was contrary to our purpose of bringing down the president." ("Oh, Paula", 2002, par. 5, 2)

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The case eventually was brought to court after Jones had broken with Coulter and the rest of her original legal team, and it was summarily dismissed because the judge found that Jones could not show that she had suffered any damages, even if her allegations proved true. Jones did gain a settlement, however, from Clinton in exchange for not appealing the decision, although at $850,000 it was only one-third of the amount she had been asking for and all but $151,000 went to pay her legal expenses. However, the Jones case eventually led to the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal and to the movement lobbying for Clinton's impeachment, as Coulter had wished. Coulter made appearances on MSNBC (a role which began before her legal involvement with Jones) in which she commented on the case, and went on to write a critical exposé of Clinton, boasting on Rivera Live that she "got a bestseller out of it" (High Crimes and Misdemeanors, which included a chapter on the lawsuit) and telling Hannity & Colmes in August 1999, "The reason we were doing it for Paula–well, was for Paula. She had been defamed and I think we can say we got her reputation back." ("Oh, Paula", 2002, par. 8)

Related Topics:
Monica Lewinsky sex scandal - Impeachment - MSNBC - Rivera Live - Hannity & Colmes - Defamed

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Jones (who had divorced her husband during the case, purchased a house after the settlement, and incurred a large tax bill) then posed nude for Penthouse, stating that she wished to use the money to pay the tax and fund her two grade-school-aged children's college education. Coulter publicly denounced her as "trailer park trash", saying, "I totally believed she was the good Christian girl she made herself out to be.... ow it turns out she's a fraud, at least to the extent of pretending to be an honorable and moral person" ("Oh, Paula", 2002, par. 12). Jones defended herself in an interview with Larry King in October 2000, saying, "I haven't been offered a book deal like everybody else in this huge thing has done. Ann Coulter's done books. I haven't seen her call me up and say: 'Paula, would you like for me to help you write a book, a really nice, decent book?' I haven't had any help from anybody whatsoever." ("Oh, Paula", 2002, par. 14)

Related Topics:
Penthouse - Trailer park trash - Larry King

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Canada and the Vietnam War

In January 2005, Coulter gave an interview to CBC's the fifth estate (video clip of this part of the interview) in which she argued that Canada's non-participation in the 2003 invasion of Iraq demonstrated that Canada's "loyal friendship" with the United States was weaker than in the past. She attempted to contrast the situation with the Vietnam War, stating, "Canada used to be one of our most loyal friends and vice-versa. I mean Canada sent troops to Vietnam - was Vietnam less containable and more of a threat than Saddam Hussein?" The interviewer Bob McKeown countered, "No, actually, Canada didn't send troops to Vietnam... Australia was there, not Canada."

Related Topics:
January - 2005 - CBC - The fifth estate - Canada - 2003 invasion of Iraq - United States - Vietnam War - Saddam Hussein - Bob McKeown - Australia

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Coulter asked if Canadian troops were sent to Indochina, and again McKeown disagreed. Discussion continued in this vein with neither party conceding the other's point.

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However, in a Time Magazine article dated April 25, 2005, columnist John Cloud defended Coulter, stating that "Canada did send noncombat troops to Indochina in the 1950s and again to Vietnam in 1972." (Canada sent officials to Vietnam in 1954 and 1973 as observers with the International Commission for Control and Supervision.) Media watchdog FAIR disputes this assertion, however, saying that Cloud was "making quite a stretch" to prove that Coulter wasn't inaccurate. They explain: "Canada was officially neutral during the Vietnam War, so if any noncombat troops were sent they would not have been sent to support U.S. forces there." FAIR also notes that Canadian troops are not mentioned "in a detailed 1975 U.S. Army history, Allied Participation in Vietnam." Military historians, including Gwynne Dyer, have asserted that Canada's official neutrality is belied by its pro-US behavior during the war.

Related Topics:
International Commission for Control and Supervision - FAIR - Neutral - Gwynne Dyer

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In a subsequent interview on C-SPAN, Coulter argued that, while Canada did not send combat troops to Vietnam, thousands of Canadians had volunteered for the US military:

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:Yes, 10,000 Canadian troops, at least. There is a War Memorial to them, at least for most of that. The Canadian Government didn't send troops at the beginning, didn't send troops at the end, but most of that was not under the Canadian flag; they came and fought with the Americans. So I was wrong. It turns out there were 10,000 Americans who happened to be born in Canada...

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:I talked to him for three hours and the topic was not Canada's war history. It was an incidental point that he challenged me on, and I didn't believe him because I had read about Canadian troops in Vietnam. I was right. People keep saying, "well he didn't tell you that they - 10,000 troops - ran across to sign up with the Americans" because I don't think he knew. He's just a bubble head, Ted Baxter. He just talks to people for four hours and then comes in and chops it up, which is how liberals like to edit TV shows, and I think it is curious fact worth nothing. http://www.cbcwatch.ca/?q=node/view/936

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