Posted by Damozel | Do you get the
feeling that Ann Coulter's days of media relevance are drawing to a
close? I do, and it makes me (an acknowledged Democrat) a little sad.
I adore her, ridiculous as she is, because it is increasingly clear
that she, like the mean girl in sixth grade, will say or do anything---anything---to make liberals pay attention to her, from insulting the 911 widows, to mocking the grief of parents who have lost a child, to saying
that women are too stupid to be allowed vote. To clarify, I love her because she is so ridiculous and because I
know that my liberal love is like kryptonite to Coulter. She must know
her shelf life is running out, and that our tolerance for/indifference
to anything she says or does is increasing, because latterly her
remarks certainly risk upsetting not only her "hated" liberals but also
those conservatives (if any; see John Cole at Balloon Juice and the recent consternated note in The Wall Street Journal on the GOP's loss of its business "base") who are (1) still Republicans; and (2) sane.
To a sane person, recent polls might suggest that the immoderate, liberal-baiting sort of media Republican may be a contributing factor in the ongoing alienation and desertion of much of the former "base." But does Coulter realize this? Does she even care about the party's base at this point? As everyone knows, Coulter's raison d'etre is to attract attention to herself and---especially---to get people to buy her books, most particularly her new one (look it up on Amazon if you want it; she doesn't need my help in marketing it). To make money and get job satisfaction from doing so, she must rattle your cage/be invited onto Fox/see her big face---and it is a big, though very, very glamorous--face plastered all over the internet. Won't some caring soul stage an intervention behind the scenes when the cameras are switched off (assuming Ann even exists when the cameras are switched off)? She's turning the wheel too hard. Soon she won't be able to make anyone take her seriously enough to care what she says.
I don't know whether she still takes herself seriously anymore, but when I see her, I just smile sadly and shake my head.
Here are some choice quotes from the infamous recent interview in The New Observer. You be the judge: are these the words of someone who expects to be taken seriously, let alone to persuade?
First, the one that's got Media Matters and other liberal publications in a swivet.
If we took away women's right to vote, we'd never have to worry about another Democrat president. It's kind of a pipe dream, it's a personal fantasy of mine, but I don't think it's going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women.
It also makes the point, it is kind of embarrassing, the Democratic Party ought to be hanging its head in shame, that it has so much difficulty getting men to vote for it. I mean, you do see it’s the party of women and 'We’ll pay for health care and tuition and day care -- and here, what else can we give you, soccer moms?
To me, the most interesting aspect of this quote isn't the revelation that Coulter fantasizes about a world where women can't vote but the revelation that she thinks the Democratic party should (that is, if it were true) feel ashamed of not being able to get any men to vote for it as opposed to those second-class and negligible types, the womenfolk. Real men, I expect she means: the manly sort of man built in the mould of Bill O'Reilly and the shrill (yet resonant!) Sean Hannity.
Ann on global warming:
Because we can't prove them wrong for a thousand years, and I think the other thing about it is, it goes back to Chesterton’s statement: that when people stop believing in God, the problem isn't that they believe in nothing, it's that they'll believe anything. And that's what you constantly see with people who don't believe in God: They're always imitating the most ridiculous, primitive religions. And it is like a primitive religion, thinking if we just change these lightbulbs, we can change the temperature of the ocean. It's the craziest thing! Even primitive people wouldn't believe something that silly.
I can never get my head around Ann Coulter claiming to be a Christian. Really? What church does she attend, I wonder? I'd totally go there, just to see her bend her knee before something other than her own graven image. But I'm not judging her because, as I said, I love her. What other media icon do you know of (okay, Rush; okay, O'Reilly; okay...okay, other than those on Fox or Clear Channel) who is so willing to make a fool of herself in public just to ensure that people will keep listening to her make a fool of herself in public.
And I don't expect my fellow liberals to understand this, but the quote set out above is a perfect example of why I love these conservative media "ideologues." It's so ingenuous, so riddled with fallacy, so totally irrational that you know it can't possibly be what she actually believes herself (that is, if she's really as intelligent as represented). No, this is one of the many transparently geared-to-the-intellect of her readers that she is constantly throwing out....because---it seems to me---she truly believes that her audience consists of (1) very, very dim conservatives; and (2) gullible liberals who will be too outraged by her statements to dissect them.
Note that she didn't say that global warming isn't true. She said that "they"---the few remaining people who affect not to believe that global warming is (a) occurring; and (b) exacerbated by environmental damage under human control---will never be able to prove it wrong "in a thousand years." Quite a concession, Miss Coulter. Second, she said that the claim that switching lightbulbs will change the temperature of the ocean is something that "even primitive people wouldn't believe." True, that, since primitive people are presumably those who can only process cause and effect if they see them occur right in front of their faces. They would be people who don't understand the effect of individual actions on complex systems. True also because "change the lightbulbs to change the temperature of the ocean" isn't the argument (or the recommendation) in any case. ("How many Coulters does it take to change a light bulb?" "None because Ann Coulter never changes anything.")
Clearly, Ann Coulter thinks her own "base"---the people she wishes to buy her new book---are too stupid to see through any of this.
Finally, I love the way she slips in the reference to religion: the true religion of people who know that if you believe in the Judeo-Christian God, you can't be tempted to believe in irrational notions such as, say, evolution or climate change or science generally. That's such an ingenious stroke it takes my breath away: first, the unspoken/implied assumption that religion is itself rational and not the province of primitive people (and I say this as an authentic God-botherer); second the implication that "belief" in "the religion" of global warming is intrinsically less rational than belief in God. Nice one, Ann Coulter, and one that's sure to get your target audience nodding "sagely" along with you.
What if all liberals, instead of becoming more and more wearily
outraged, actually wearied of the outrage? What if we all laughed at,
and applauded, her contortions of logic and common sense? What if we didn't mention the title of her new book when we post about her latest offenses against common sense and common decency? She'd come
apart like the Wicked Witch after Dorothy doused her with water or like
Superman confronted with kryptonite. No, forget I said anything so
dreadful. I love Ann Coulter and think the internet would be a poorer place without the bursts of adrenaline and cortisol her crazier
comments provide to liberal bloggers.
I think Coulter's personal star is waning along with the neoconservative reformulation of the Republican party and that the time when she will be of interest to persons other than those who buy her books is coming to an end. A few more excesses and she'll be unable to garner more than a smirk and a weary wave of the hand. The only thing left for her to do at that point that could possibly make anyone pay attention to her will be to recant her previous views and cross over to the dark side. She definitely could squeeze out at least a couple of bestsellers and a few more years of "relevance" by writing the story of her personal "journey" from howling neocon banshee to shrill liberal icon. But these are idle daydreams, born out of my personal affection for this mean girl manquee.
Jon Swift on Ann Coulter (satire)
Elizabeth Edwards Viciously Attacks Ann Coulter
CPAC is Shocked--Shocked!--by Ann Coulter's Remarks
Ann Coulter Tackles the Menace of Widows and Grieving Mothers
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LINKED
The Republican Decline (Balloon Juice)
Coulter Culture (New York Observer)
Coulter: "If we took away women's right to vote, we'd never have to worry about another Democrat president" (Media Matters)
SEE ALSO
Tea with Miss Coulter, New York Observer
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