BlogHer - Ann Coulter: "Giving strong women everywhere a bad name" - Comments

To the point!

nelle2nelle — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 23:18:23 -0500

It really is interesting how appearance becomes an issue in such discussions. I've seen it run both ways, comments suggesting she is worth watching simply because she is 'hot.'

nelle

yes but sadly too many fruit loops DO listen to her

Crunchy Carpets — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:58:26 -0500

and her slimey ilk like Bill O'reilly. They seem to be the voice of the ultra conservatives and their tactics are encouraged instead of muzzled.

Look for me at http://crunchycarpets.com or check out the ladies at www.wetcoastwomen.com

Good point

Suzanne Reisman — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:50:39 -0500

Thanks Fringe! I think you have an excellent point, although I also think that any woman with an opinion is still frightening to the right unless the opinion serves their purpose. (And on the left, I can't say that leaders necessarily respect women who disagree with them much more. So many social movements have relegated women to the back that it is depressing. I am thinking specifically of all those women who tried to make socialism a reality, and then were shocked when men gave them no roles outside of traditional ones in the "new" model. Or the civil rights movement, sparked by so many women, and yet often told to be quiet for the greater cause.)

Suzanne, BlogHer Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants

Typo or Freudian slip?

Suzanne Reisman — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:47:29 -0500

I didn't notice your misspelling either, but now that you pointed it out, I cannot stop laughing.

Suzanne, BlogHer Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants

I agree...

Catherine Morgan — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 17:48:32 -0500

I agree with you 100%. I especially love...

Moreover, she uses this "cute" breach in solid argument that she believes is permissible because of her brilliant radiance (made apparent by her presumed superior appearance) to bolster this absurd neo-con ideal of the strong, attractive conservative warrior woman who can, supposedly, trade blows with the best of 'em when in actuality, she is a presumptuous blabbering moron.

I have to take responsibility for the quote about strong women. It's from a post on my political site, that is quoted here. I think what I meant to say is being misinterpreted by some...so let me try to clear it up a bit.

If AC was spouting off all her hateful blabbering and it was only getting covered on comedy and late night shows, it would be a lot easier to ignore her. But the problem is...Her "hate-speak" is being acknowledged by the main-stream media as if she is a "big-deal" political pundit. She is referred to on these major news programs as a graduate of law school, a "journalist", a political pundit... and (this one makes me feel like scraping my nails across a chalk board) a "writer".

Sorry to get off the subject...but I often wonder if she isn't the equivalent of Milli-Vanilli to the writing world.

*She always needs so much clarification of her own words (stating she just likes to hear her words read back to her) before she is able to comment on what she actually meant by something in her own book. What's that about? Could she really just be a "front person" for the actual writer of her books? She has many things memorized so she can repeat and scream them over and over...but stray away from her repeated rhetoric and she becomes confused (about her own book).

Note: Chris Matthews revealed that Anne was made aware that Elizabeth Edwards would be calling into the show. So, her "appeared" surprise was not genuine. I guess that last part isn't much of a revelation.

OK, back to the explanation...I most certainly do NOT believe for one minute that AC is a "strong woman", unfortunately all those people buying her books do. And we all know that is a pretty high number. Just look at the crowd of college aged men and women standing behind her applauding every time she opened her (disrespectful) mouth.

I believe that was the point Elizabeth Edwards was trying to make...AC is becoming a role model of hate, for many young men and women. And, as much as WE hate to acknowledge it...THEY see her as a "strong woman". In other words, any time she is being held up as a "strong woman" by the media (as she has been)...she is giving the "real" strong women of our country (such as Elizabeth Edwards), a bad name. Does that make sense???

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at Women 4 Hope and CatherineBlogs.com

Inaccurate perception of "strong woman" by a male

hellslinger — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:11:37 -0500

I don't like the title of this article although it is a good article and cites good information. The reason is that even attaching the name "strong woman" to anything Coulter does, I feel, misrepresents people's true perspective of her. Being opinionated does not immediately invoke feelings of respect or admiration in an audience - and it certainly does not intimidate any "strong" people, although that is all that it takes to intimidate meek people. Intimidation may work for the lout to feel powerful, but it does not reflect strength.

It doesn't take long to see Ann Coulter for who she really is; she is a hack pundit who thinks that she has sex appeal and uses that in her rhetoric through a condescending and self-flattering manner. (calling other women chubby and unattractive) Moreover, she uses this "cute" breach in solid argument that she believes is permissible because of her brilliant radiance (made apparent by her presumed superior appearance) to bolster this absurd neo-con ideal of the strong, attractive conservative warrior woman who can, supposedly, trade blows with the best of 'em when in actuality, she is a presumptuous blabbering moron.

A weakness to flattery, presumed sex appeal, and obnoxious verbosity are the ingredients for quick and easy exploitation and ultimately, loneliness.

fringethemagazine

Vleeptron Dude — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 14:41:32 -0500

fringethemagazine wrote:

Surely she has made opinionated women less frightening to the right -- and that's a good thing.

=========

i know a substance -- perfectly legal for adults to ingest -- which has a well known powerful effect of making women and men much less shy and much less quiet. apparently another class of powerful substances had a lot to do with making Rush Limbaugh the outrageous darling of the right.

farbeit from me to give advice to women on how to become strong and opinionated, at any point on the political spectrum. but Ann Coulter isn't anybody's model of a strong woman. she far more reflects someone with deep psychological problems who needs professional help. If she were an adolescent of either gender acting out this way, she'd have long ago been sent for professional help.

BTW...

Catherine Morgan — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:20:15 -0500

BTW...Sorry for the typos in AC's name. I had myself so worked up when I wrote that post, after just seeing the Hardball interview. When I went back to it last night I saw that I actually misspelled Coulter as Couter at least a half a dozen times.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at Women 4 Hope and CatherineBlogs.com

The one thing that most

Dana J. Tuszke — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:19:04 -0500

The one thing that most frustrates me about Ann Coulter (and Rush Limbaugh) is that she brings up valid arguments and points to be discussed, but then completely undermines her position with insults.

I understand she wants the "right wing" to stand up and not take any guff from the extremists on the left, but I don't think there is any reason to make hateful comments about sexual orientation or tragic losses (the Edwards' son).

Elizabeth Edwards was right, this does leave a bad taste in the mouths of the newest generation of voters, and I hope she would do the same if Michael Moore were attacking a presidential candidate.

Sorry I'm late to the party.

Catherine Morgan — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:04:39 -0500

Sorry I'm late to the party...my computer has been loading very slowly. But, I wanted to thank Suzanne for doing this post and for linking to my site.

I don't know if any of you have heard yet. But I just read this when I logged on...

We were also able to confirm that Mrs. Edwards will be attending BlogHer '07 as part of our Closing Keynote on Saturday July 28th. -- read more

This is such great news.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at Women 4 Hope and CatherineBlogs.com

On the upside?

fringethemagazine — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 12:00:30 -0500

I dislike Ann Coulter as much as the other commenters, but in the spirit of trying get past politics of hate, I'm going to try to say something nice.

You know, she has made it in the male dominated field of punditry, and she is evidence that women pundits are able to be as close-minded and argumentative as male pundits. (Ah! Equality!) Also, perhaps her mere existence on the scene will help lady-pundits of the future? Surely she has made opinionated women less frightening to the right -- and that's a good thing.

Ann Coulter

The Divine Democrat — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 10:26:50 -0500

Hello! Thank you for linking to my site and the Ann Coulter post.

I'm always at a loss when I see the media giving Ann Coulter the venue she needs to spread her hateful statement. I as disappointed (but not surprised) that Chris Matthews was bowled over by her and didn't step in to correct Ann's false statements and exaggerations. He just sat like a lump and muttered and stumbled. He should have been more prepared for Coulter's attack methods.

So true, who?

fungb — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 09:45:32 -0500

As a full time working mom raising two children, who has time to watch TV? Until this hit the internet news sites, I had not even heard of this person! Why do we even care what this one individual thinks? Inciting controversy is exactly her intention. As all parents know, the more attention she receives for her behavior, the more it will be reinforced. Negative publicity is still publicity. Ann Coulter? Who?

Elizabeth Edwards is a national hero

Morra Aarons Mele — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 09:43:08 -0500

http://johnedwards.com/rightwing/

Awesome stuff.

who?

Vleeptron Dude — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 08:12:56 -0500

look, i am hardly the National Poster Child for Zen Buddhism, but really, Suzanne et alia, you all need to find a Path to completely remove Ann Coulter from your Universe.

Do you watch the hour-long "Girls Gone Wild" infommercials at 4 am on the cable? You don't? Well, see how easy it was to remove "Girls Gone Wild" from your Universe? So there's one piece of perverse, greed-driven community-destroying psycho krapola on the cable that will never bother you again.

Why can't you do the same with Ann Coulter?

Ann Coulter isn't a conservative political commenter. She's a mentally ill person whose sole raison d'etre is to say krap like the krap she said about Edwards to try to give YOU a stroke.

For your health and for hers, stop watching, stop listening, stop reading, stop caring.

After Coulter's "faggot" meltdown, a lot of US newspapers cancelled her syndicated column -- including many in the Bible Belt and other regions we tend to write off as hopelessly conservative. The editorials they wrote about why they they were evicting Coulter from the pages of their decent newspapers are worth researching.

Do what these editors and publishers did: Marginalize this mentally disturbed person. When you buy tickets to scream and hiss and boo at her carnival freak show act, you don't just make American politics worse, you make her a bigger star, and create profit-making opportunities for even sicker individuals to put on even worse kinds of freak shows.

Okay, here's a Zen exercise: Visualize a moment in the Future when you mention Ann Coulter to a teenager, and the teenager replies: Who?

Throughout the presidential campaign, DO NOTHING TO POSTPONE OR DELAY THAT MOMENT. Do everything to hasten that moment.

It's an intervention. Help the addled woman get the treatment she so desperately needs. Send her to the oblivion from whence she came.

Bob
Massachusetts USA
and Planet Vleeptron

http://VleeptronZ.blogspot.com/

Ann Coulter: "Giving strong women everywhere a bad name"

Suzanne Reisman — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:04:29 -0500

Well, well, well. My buddy Ann Coulter sure found herself on the hot (literally and figuratively) seat yesterday. The quick recap: Coulter was on Hardball doing an outdoor interview on a day that CapitalWeather.com described as â€œhot and humid with afternoon high temperatures in the low 90s.â€ Perhaps that explains why she was wearing sunglasses the entire time. (It is weird watching people wearing sunglasses as they are interviewed, as it is hard to gauge their full expression.) I was at the gym when the show came on and counted my lucky stars that the flat panel TV it was on had no sound and no teletype. Just seeing Ann in her sunglasses raised my heart rate enough; I didnâ€™t really want to hear what she had to say. But by continuing to listen to Madonna (â€œRay of Light,â€ her best album ever in my humble opinion) on my iPod, I missed it when Elizabeth Edwards called in to very politely and calmly ask Coulter to stop her onslaught of personal attacks. Fortunately, other women bloggers were more alert and astute. Hereâ€™s what they had to say:

Melissa McEwan at Shakespeareâ€™s Sister wrote:

The game that Coulter is playing is completely typical of the defenders of hate speech, as well (and that goes for defenders of hate speech on either side of the aisle). Any suggestion that hate speech masks real issues that need our attention, or that there's nothing gained by being deliberately hurtful to individuals or whole groups forged by shared identity, is translated into "Censorship!" Coulter immediately takes Edwards' request that she not utilize hate speech and turns it into "The wife of a presidential candidate is asking me to stop speaking." Pathetic.

Catherine Morgan at Informed Voter (also a contributing editor here at BlogHer!), noted:

It seems the only thing Ann Couter cares about is selling books (and she has stated that many times herself). Itâ€™s really a sad commentary on the people who would actually buy this book, do they really think God condones this kind of hateful behavior? I wish some of these commentators that only gently point out her disrespect would speak up, and call her on it. It seems she scares these interviewers into letting her spout off things that no other person could ever get away with. I wish just one time someone, somewhere, would put her in her place. Iâ€™m all for strong women, but she is really giving strong women everywhere a bad name.

In her take on how the media allows attention seekers to revel in the spotlight, Brigette L. Nacos wrote at The Reflective Pundit:

Take Chris Matthews of â€œHardballâ€ who provided Coulter once again with a stage on his show and obviously arranged for Elizabeth Edwards to call in to confront Coulter and her put-downs of presidential candidate John Edwards. The polite Elizabeth Edwards was no match for the aggressive big mouth Coulter. But Matthews got what he and his kind strive for: confrontation, conflict, attacks, insultsâ€”not the civilized public discourse that Mrs. Edwards pleaded for.

Conservatives like Coulter love, love, love to talk about how people need to take responsibility for their actions, but when push comes to shove, they always beg off their own behavior. Hereâ€™s the deal, Ann: you can only expect people to eat the steaming hot crock of shit you routinely concoct for so long before someone finally throws it back in your face.

The Coulter hooha is also covered at:
Tennessee Guerilla Women
The Divine Democrat
The Left Coaster

Since Iâ€™m all about democracy and fairness, I would love to present what Coulterâ€™s supporters are saying. Thus far, however, I havenâ€™t found any blogs that support my sunglass wearing friend, so if you know of any that are noteworthy, please post links in the comments.

And on a related note, while I dislike Coulter and reserve the right to complain about her, I echo the language on Shakespeare's Sister that is not cool, acceptable, or decent to complain that Coulter is an idiot hate monger and then go on to malign her appearance, refer to her as a man, or call her a "tranny" because you don't like her. Not sure why being a transvestite is an insult, but it seems that some people think it is. And that's as lame as Coulter.

Suzanne also blogs at Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants and has a long history of disliking Coulter