Isn't It Time to Stop Wasting Time on Ann Coulter?

I consider myself reasonably well-versed on American history and I've come to this conclusion: If the Founding Fathers had known about Ann Coulter there would have been an asterisk by the First Amendment.

Coulter, who turns out rightwing books the way a chicken lays eggs, has a long history of saying brainless things. To promote her previous book, she asserted that four widows of 9-11 enjoyed their husbands' deaths. She referred to former Sen. John Edwards with a gay slur. Once, on Fox News' "Hannity & Colmes," she said, "God gave us the earth. We have dominion over the plants, the animals, the trees. God said, 'Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It's yours.'"

The list of Coulter's offensive and stupid remarks could fill a book the size of a phone directory but, then, who would want to plow through all that garbage?

Her most recent verbal hand grenade, made on CNBC's "The Big Idea" and available for all to see on YouTube, is that the perfect America is one in which everyone is Christian.

How's that, asked "The Big Idea" host Donny Deutsch, who happens to be Jewish. You can't be serious, he said. Of course she's serious, she said. If Jews became Christians, they would be "perfected," she explained, echoing one of the most popular rationales of anti-Semites everywhere.

Now, just like Thomas Jefferson, I'm a great believer that free speech is essential for a marketplace of ideas. Coulter is absolutely entitled to her noxious views. She has every right to espouse them. She has every right to publish them.

But she does not have a right to a media platform for them and it's time that cable and network talk shows see her for what she is--a bigoted, insulting loudmouth--and withdraw the welcome mat.

I'm not talking about censorship. But just as a network would not bring a member of the Ku Klux Klan into the studio to opine about race relations or invite someone from the Flat Earth Society to comment on science, it simply makes no sense to have Coulter discuss politics or policy. She has proven time and again that she has nothing to contribute but pernicious bile. It's time to find someone--whether on the left, right or center--who has something  worthwhile to add to the discussion.

If it wasn't clear before, it is now. Any cable or broadcaster that books Coulter in the future is guilty of insulting its viewers and extending credibility to an extremist who is herself a discredit to American ideals of tolerance and civil discourse.

--Posted by Barry Garron

Comments

[OldOldLady Of The Hills]

Indeed, Indeed. Imus was fired. Why isn't Ann Coulter fired? Probably because she "sells soap". What a horrendously crass greedy seedy culture we have become. And to add insult to injury, a bigot like this is given a platform. This rude, stupid woman is handed an open mic to spew all the hatred she has in her heart.

I never had heard the term "perfected" used in such a strange and shocking context. Disgusting and unacceptable. Greed, be damned!

[Lenni]

Keith Olbermann has the perfect nickname for this bigoted, anti-semitic, evil shrew: "Coultergeist."

I love how Fox claims they're "fair and balanced," yet they do everything short of rolling out the red carpet and handing Coulter a sash and crown every time she shows up on one of their "news" programs. If it's a liberal author, Fox chews them up...yet Coulter get carte blanche to spew her venom on their network.

[cadavra]

As a Jew, I do feel she's helping me to become a Christian. In fact, every time I hear her speak, I go, "Jesus Christ!"

Thank you! I'm here all week!

[Cheryl]

Who?

Think about it. Whenever her name comes up, just say you have no idea who that is. Eventually her head will explode.

[Debra]

Ann Coulter is an entertainer. She is not a serious political commentator, nor does she strive to be. She strives to get attention. Unlike other right wing nutjobs like Michelle Malkin who desperately want to be taken seriously, Ann Coulter just wants attention. Don't give her what she wants.

[Mark]

Entertainer? Are you for real?! Only bigots/racists could get pleasure from her crazy rantings. The media needs to take the soapbox away from this attention-whore and we as the community need to move on. The media in itself does NOT CARE ABOUT INFORMING the people they CARE ABOUT RATINGS. When a Coulter or some one like her says the crap she says she should be ignored, not given loads of media time, but it gets a reaction in the ratings and that's why we never hear the end of it. I am not a christian (was raised as one) but I do know that a good christian should not judge others, in that way she fails big time.

[bored2tears]

The-woman-who-shall-go-unnamed has to be obscene to be believed.

Cheryl and Debra are right. We should treat her exactly as Lisa Simpson and Paul Anka advised Springfield to do the advertising mascots run amok: "just don't look."

Without the publicity that is her oxygen, the-woman-who-shall-go-unnamed will surely shrivel and die.

[Rod]

Ann is great! She can disassemble the liberal point-of-view with a clever mixture of fact, and cynicism.

Her mission is to upset the left with the ludicrousness of their own position. And from your comments, it is apparent that she has done a very effective job.

Enjoy.

[wymck]

Ann Coulter is *anti-Semitic* because she believes Jews need to accept Christ in order to go to Heaven?

How is that anti-Semitic? People who hate Jews think they are unequals... which Coulter does not.

People who hate Jews say they are evil... which Coulter does not.

People who hate Jews, *hate* Jews... which Coulter does not. Like everyone else, Jews need to be saved to go to Heaven.

It offends you that Ann Coulter actually believes her religion. Doesn't it? C'mon, admit it!

She's not anti-anything, unless it's anti-liberal. Or anti-stupid. Wait, I'm repeating myself.

Best wishes.

[Laughing High School Student]

Ann Coulter to me seems like an insult comic who isn't actually funny, people laugh at her not with her. As comic Jim Norton so eliquently put "Ann Coulter is a snotty tw*t of a human being". She needs to stop being given such attention thus depriving her of the power she has but unfortunately that's what people who write these articles end up doing. By Criticizing the stuck up psychopath and the further commenting on such articles she is given attention for her moronic antics.

[Sarah Hosa]

How dare you. Shame on you. As a servant of The KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS I say to you , Repent of your Sin, turn to the Lord, BEFORE it is to late!!!!! Ann Coulter prays us as a people, country and speaks TRUTH! Do not Harden your hearts against God.