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.

Criticism

Ann Coulter has made a career of controversial arguments, many of which infuriate those on the opposite side of the political spectrum, inviting much criticism. Coulter's supporters often suggest that many of her comments are taken out of context, that Coulter is only joking, or that she is engaging in hyperbole, though Coulter refuses to apologize or back down when responding to the controversies about them, apparently enjoying the consternation they cause to her opponents. Supporters also argue that she uses satire to illustrate her points and for intentional, if controversial, comic effect. Critics also accuse her of hypocrisy and double standards, and argue that since she has such strong conservative bias in her comments and writing she is willing to misrepresent sources and facts to support her case. This criticism mirrors the argument that she herself uses in her criticism of liberal left wing politicians, interest groups and the news media, particularly The New York Times.

Related Topics:
Controversial - Hyperbole - Hypocrisy - Double standard - Conservative - The New York Times

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Coulter has appeared several times on Bill Maher's program "Politically Incorrect". While on the show (Real Time with Bill Maher) she compared actor Richard Belzer to Osama Bin Laden and once joked the constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote should be repealed in order to ensure Republican presidents would be elected (as historical voting patterns had shown males had voted in majorities for Republican candidates).

Related Topics:
Bill Maher - Politically Incorrect - Real Time with Bill Maher - Richard Belzer - Osama Bin Laden - Constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote

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Coulter has been the subject of frequent protests, especially when speaking on college campuses. On one occasion, a pie was thrown at her. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1022042coulter1.html

Related Topics:
College - Campus

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A minor controversy started when the Washington Post reported Coulter had a Washington D.C. driver's license with her birthdate listed as December 8, 1963, two years after her actual birthdate.

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Criticism of statements regarding terrorists and radical separatists

Coulter has frequently criticized the government's handling of radical separatists and expressed what some consider to be support for them. She was willing to characterize members of the Branch Davidians at the Waco compound as "harmless American citizens" http://www.uexpress.com/anncoulter/?uc_full_date=20020313 even after the survivors of the raid and subsequent immolation of the group by their leader were convicted. Likewise, she berates what she calls the "unprovoked government assault" and "murder" at Ruby Ridge http://www.uexpress.com/anncoulter/?uc_full_date=20020529. Years earlier, Timothy McVeigh made similar criticism as partial justification for his bombing, though the government's handling of both incidents has been widely criticized. http://www.cnn.com/US/9909/25/wacos.dark.questions/ http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/08/30/fbi.waco/

Related Topics:
Branch Davidians - Waco - Ruby Ridge - Timothy McVeigh

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Shortly after the publication of Slander, Coulter made the statement, "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building." to interviewer George Gurley. (Coulter, August 26, 2002) John Cloud, a staff writer for Time magazine later wrote, "She said at the time that it was a joke".http://www.cjrdaily.org/archives/001458.asp The published version of the article does not include Coulter specifically saying it was a "joke", although at the time she had ridiculed the Times in a statement just previously in the interview, and had also habitually done so on past occasions including earlier in the month. (Coulter, August 11, 2002) Melik Kayan of The Wall Street Journal described the statement and others she has made as "tongue-in-cheek agitprop". http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110002204

Related Topics:
Time magazine - The Wall Street Journal - Agitprop

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Still, many critics, such as Eric Alterman of The Nation and MSNBC.com, were not amused. Alterman called her a "terrorist apologist", though also saying, "Coulter jokes about McVeigh blowing up the Times". http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020923/alterman Alterman also calls Coulter an "ideological comrade" of McVeigh, referring to Coulter's strong criticism of the government's handling of the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents. Alterman further wrote that "Coulter may routinely call for the murder of liberals, of Arabs, of journalists, of the President, among many others." But in attempting to make a point accusing The Wall Street Journal of hypocrisy, Alterman wrote something similar. He writes "My only regret with Osama bin Laden is that he did not manage to kill every member of the Wall Street Journal editorial staff", before quickly pointing out that he did not mean it. Alterman explained that he was rewriting some of Coulter's statements, replacing liberal subjects with conservative ones to show that there was no 'liberal hate speech' equivalent to Coulter's alleged calls for the murder of liberals. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020923/alterman Cloud in the aforementioned article remarked "Eric Alterman and Ann Coulter engage in the same kind of debate", although he didn't elaborate further.

Related Topics:
Eric Alterman - The Nation - MSNBC.com - Apologist - Ruby Ridge

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Allegations of racism

Coulter has also drawn criticism for several remarks regarding Arabs, Muslims, people of Middle Eastern descent, and other minorities. For instance, in an article published one day after the 9/11 attacks, she wrote "We know who the homicidal maniacs are. They are the ones cheering and dancing right now. We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity". http://www.anncoulter.org/columns/2001/091301.htm

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A minor controversy ensued after Coulter denounced Helen Thomas, calling her an "old Arab" http://anncoulter.com/cgi-local/article.cgi?article=43. In other instances, she has referred to the Middle East as a "swamp" and advocated racial profiling on airliners. http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/coulter022802.asp http://islamonline.net/English/News/2005-03/04/article05.shtml. Finally, during a 05/07/1997 episode of Politically Incorrect she responded to a question, "You're talking about the Emancipation Proclamation?", with "That would be a good start."

Related Topics:
Helen Thomas - Middle East - Racial profiling

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Allegations of Anti-Feminist Views

Coulter' has stated that women are "not as bright" as men (Hannity and Colmes - 09/23/04), "should ... all have to give up their vote" (Politically Incorrect - 02/26/01), "have no capacity to understand how money is earned" (ibid. Politically Incorrect), and "shouldn't be in the military" (Hannity and Colmes - 05/05/04). Obviously, these views are opposed by the League of Women Voters, the National Organization for Women, and other feminist organizations.

Related Topics:
Hannity and Colmes - Politically Incorrect - League of Women Voters - National Organization for Women - Feminist

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Al Franken

In his book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, Al Franken claims that Coulter deliberately fabricates material and misrepresents the sources she cites. Two chapters of the book are devoted to criticizing Coulter and her book Slander where he accuses her of deliberately distorting facts.{{ref|Franken}} One way supporters counter the charge of misrepresentation is by pointing out that Slander contains 780 endnotes. The New York Times review of Slander praised Coulter's extensive citations, stating "A great deal of research supports Ms. Coulter's wisecracks."

Related Topics:
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them - Al Franken

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Franken states that Coulter treats any comments found in The New York Times as reflecting the official opinion of the newspaper, although many of the comments Coulter cites are from opinion pieces. Franken calls Coulter's statement in her book Slander "If liberals were prevented from ever again calling Republicans dumb, they would be robbed of half their arguments... They call everything stupid." hypocritical because in the same book she describes others in a similar derogatory fashion.

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Ann Coulter counters by arguing that Franken's chapters contain false accusations, and suggesting that liberal newspapers are prone to make errors of omission that can be much more serious. (Coulter, 2003)

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As one example of Franken's criticism, he mentions a comment in Slander which states "Bush had won any count" of the 2000 Florida recount, and cites a Washington Post article with the contrary headline, "Study Finds Gore Might Have Won Statewide Tally of All Uncounted Ballots". It could be argued that this is a misrepresentation, but it could also be argued that by "any count", Coulter meant any count that had been actually legally pursued by the Democrats rather than hypothetical cases (See ).

Related Topics:
2000 - Florida - Washington Post

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Criticism of Treason and Slander

', which contains many strident accusations against all Liberals, brought her under fire, even from many conservatives (Rush Limbaugh, for example). Many felt her claim was unfounded that Democrats such as Presidents Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy had worked against America's war on communism. Treasons defense of Joe McCarthy also came under criticism from both liberals and conservatives, who argued that Coulter had simply failed to accurately research the facts in her attempt to rehabilitate the controversial senator. In an interview with David Bowman, Coulter said that Joe McCarthy is the deceased person she admires the most. Coulter claims in Treason that McCarthy was simply misunderstood and unappreciated and that the Venona cables have vindicated him, proving there indeed were Soviet spies in the State Department.

Related Topics:
Rush Limbaugh - Harry Truman - John F. Kennedy - Communism - Joe McCarthy - Venona cables - State Department

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An article in the Columbia Journalism Review criticised ', claiming it contained numerous misstatements. http://cjr.org/issues/2002/6/slander-scherer.asp In Slander, Ann Coulter expounds the view that liberals are out of touch with America, and "have absolutely no contact with the society they decry from their Park Avenue redoubts." This echoed the sentiments of an August 2002 Newsday article, in which Ann Coulter argued that the media are biased to the left because Republicans don't have the wealth to start media outlets, while Democrats do. That Republicans are rich, she said, "is one of the stunning lies that Democrats have been able to palm off... Liberals really are the idle rich." http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/newsday/152424541.html?did=152424541&FMT=ABS&FMTS=FT&date=Aug+20%2C+2002&author=Aileen+Jacobson.+STAFF+WRITER&desc=BAIT+%26+TWITCH+%2F+Ann+Coulter+says+she%27s+baiting+liberals+to+read+her+book

Related Topics:
Park Avenue - August - 2002 - Newsday

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Joe Conason, the author of Big Lies, accuses Coulter of double standards, arguing that she is a highly-educated, affluent woman with a high-profile media presence who does not similarly accuse herself, or other privileged Republicans, of being out of touch. Conason goes on to point out that Coulter's critical nature is blunted by her pre-assumed opinions, making many of the conclusions she draws irrelevant to the actual nature of her arguments.

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