Ann Coulter is in trouble again.
The most unpredictable mouth in America has once again proved that idiocy is not a mental state confined to the left wing in American politics. Calling Arabs “ragheads” while joking about her “ethical dilemma” regarding whether or not to kill Bill Clinton when she had the chance is simply the latest in a very long line of over the top – some would say out of control – thoughts that have spewed forth from her brilliant, eccentric mind.
In the end, this is Coulter’s dilemma. And the great trap she has set for herself as she has climbed the ladder of success to achieve fame and fortune. In this celebrity, media soaked age where the ravenous appetites of the news nets, “lifestyle” shows, and political talk radio are constantly demanding more and more controversy, more and more outrageous personalities to fill the time and attract more audience, the danger for any one personality like Coulter is that yesterday’s jaw droppers and head shakers can’t be repeated. She must come up with entirely new derogatory sobriquets to call her political opponents and ever more outrageous metaphors to describe her political pet peeves. By definition, she must go “over the top” on nearly a daily basis.
This way lies madness. Once people like Coulter start down this road it can only end in one way; you become a caricature of yourself. The barbs that once zinged your opponents with razor sharp wit causing even your political enemies to chuckle will lose their edge and end up as simple, hurtful, name calling more akin to playground epithets and hardly worthy of approbation except by your most rabid fans.
Hence, jokes about Bill Clinton’s sexual escapades morph into daydreaming about assassinating a President. And spot on, uproariously funny critiques of racialsm and the stupidity of identity politics segues easily into ethnic slurs. She has little choice if she wishes to remain atop the rickety pyramid of notorious celebrity she has carved out for herself. To do less would disappoint her numerous acolytes whose immaturity allows for giving her standing ovations when she casually refers to Arabs in a politically incorrect way.
The left, of course, is already all over the “raghead” comment, calling it “racist.” I constantly marvel at such ignorance (even though we should all be used to it by now). To say that Arabs make up a separate “race” is imbecilic. The racial origins of Arabs, Persians, Afghans, and people in Northern India are, in fact, Caucasoid (um…that means “white” my lefty brethren). They are more closely related to the Swedes than any of the Negroid sub-groups in southern Africa. But since the left never lets the facts stand in the way of their constant drive to twist the English language into doing its political bidding, I guess it really doesn’t matter. In a similar way, we’ve seen media savvy Muslims these past couple of weeks charge that the Cartoon Intifada is actually western “racism” directed against the “Religion of Peace.”
I guess you can’t accuse the fanatical jihadists rampaging through the streets, burning and murdering, of not having read the media Bible as written by the hard western left. After all, they seem to have more in common than either probably realizes.
Coulter’s speech at the CPAC Conference, while well received by the audience, laid an egg with righty bloggers. A sampling of reaction:
The problem is: she’s indicative of the rapid decline of issue-based political discourse in this country. Political opponents are described as evil enemies versus competitors with different ideas and approaches. It’s anti-PC that sells exceedingly well on radio and cable talk shows and on college campuses in particular — but people roaring in laughter at the undercurrent of zingers that jokingly suggest assassination is what’s troubling (and particularly because these same folks would be up in arms if someone such as Michael Moore suggested the same thing about people on their side).
Okay…sorry Joe. You’re not a “righty” per se but I liked your analysis, although disagreeing with your thoughts that Coulter has contributed to the “rapid decline” in sane, political discourse. The existence of Ann Coulter was not necessary for that to happen, not since the left announced that “the personal is political” back in the 1980’s.
Jeff Harrell: (CPAC attendee)
We all think you’re really funny, okay? We all think you’re hilarious. You’re witty and funny and all that.
But seriously, standing up in front of a microphone and calling people “ragheads†isn’t helping anybody. Ever.
You wanna say that stuff, do it in private. And don’t let anybody hear you. And don’t let anybody quote you. Ever.
Sincerely,
Reasonable people everywhere
Why stop at “reasonable people?” Even “unreasonable people” like me are upset.
Sean Hackbarth: (also blogging CPAC)
With Ann Coulter you should only expect a bad stand-up comedian with a conservative shtick. That’s what CPAC attendees got today. My expectations were low, yet she proceeded to go below them.
Sad, isn’t it? That those talking in sensible tones will be forgotten for the loudmouths with braggadocio. What happened to the impassioned and dedicated work of smart and talented men and women on behalf of the duty of a grateful nation? Is it lost upon the masses in favor of the reptilian revenge driven brain? The five second soundbyte generation?
I think I’m going to go be ill.
You answered your own question, Tom. Those “loudmouths” suck all the media oxygen out of the tent with precious little left for the rest of us.
Wasn’t it James Joyner who coined the moniker “our Michael Moore”? I’ll never buy one of her books.
Great observation. Which brings me to my final point.
A cursory Technorati search a little more than 12 hours after Coulter’s remarks reveal dozens of lefty bloggers pillorying her for her remarks. This is to be expected. But the sample above from righty blogs (which I fully expect to grow massively as the day goes on) points up an enormous difference between right and left “partisans.” From Trent Lott, to Rick Santorum (and others who use the term “Nazi” to describe Democrats), to Pat Robertson, the right is pretty good at policing itself when its adherents go beyond the pale in political discourse and decorum.
Would that the Democrats had half that kind of sensibility.
Most recently, the funeral of Coretta Scott King, which turned into a political rally with partisan attacks on President Bush who had come representing the American people, was actually cheered by the left as entirely appropriate. And the casual, constant references to their political foes as fascists, Nazis, Klansmen, and the like has become so pervasive that there is not a writer on the left who can say anything about conservatives without using one of those disgusting epithets.
Until the left can police its rabble, they will not be taken seriously by the rest of the country. The day that Michael Moore is dethroned as an icon of the left due to the words and actions of liberals is the day that conservatives will accept criticism of Coulter and her ilk with more than a grain of salt.
UPDATE
Forgive me for not including James Joyner’s excellent analysis:
CPAC is attended mostly by the people who man the booths and by wild-eyed college kids hoping to see some famous conservatives in person. I understand wanting to have as much red meat as possible for this crowd. But Coulter is an embarrassment and her words continue to get quoted as representing what “conservatives really think.” The CPAC organizers should be ashamed for inviting her back year after year and giving her such a prominent stage.
On a side note, the commenters on Sager’s site are mostly siding with Coulter. Sad.
I’ll try and update this post every once and a while as the reaction pours in from the right.
Eric over at the excellent site Classical Values has a hip, literate, and spot on post about Coulter. He has an interesting take that may just surprise you:
For some reason, burka belittling is considered fair game, but making fun of male Arab headgear, well, that’s just not cricket!
And “raghead.” While I don’t think it’s racist (because turbans and keffiyeh scarves are by no means limited by race), “rag” has a certain implication that the people wearing them might not be able to afford anything better. Howard Stern used to say “towelheads.” Maybe that’s more fair and neutral. Nah, that’s insensitive too, as it implies kids playing dress-up games in the bathroom or something.
UPDATE 2/13
I must say I’m not surprised by the comments. Many on the right want me to lay off Ann and those on the left are typically stuck on me taking them to task for mis-using the term “racist” as it applies to the ethnic group made up of Arabs. Both responses are expected but still disappointing.
If you want the classy response of someone directly affected by the pejorative “raghead” please go here and read Aladdin’s take.
8:10 am
2/4/2006
CRAZED ISLAMISTS (you’re headline Rick) Ann Coulter’s “raghead.” There is a difference?
8:15 am
Um…yeah. And if you can’t see it, pity upon you.
Ragheads is a perjorative for an entire ethnic block. Crazed Islamists refers to a subset of that block that accurately describes their state of mind.
9:55 am
Conservative debate: when passion turns to poison
There are a lot of conservatives who have been long-time defenders of conservative columnist/author Ann Coulter. Yours truly stopped defending Ann about three years ago, when a fellow conservative helped me to realize that I couldn’t defend An…
10:20 am
I agree with your basic premise, but I see Ann as a product of the 80’s. It was cool and intellectual to attack Reagan, and only stoopid people supported him. Ann was the first to get back at the rabid left with their own tactics. Today, when conservative discourse is easier to find, she is clearly over the top.
P.S. Do I have to become a cool blogger to get emails from Siter Toldjah? Damn, I knew I was doing something wrong!
11:39 am
More Words Of Political Healing From Ann Coulter
This time she delivers some cla…
11:43 am
This may be good example of what feelings can do to anyone who gives them free rein. Feelings and emotions are like the current cartoon fizzle created by the loonies, they’ll end as soon as they began and after all, they’re feelings, all things have a place and time.
1:30 pm
Coming Soon: Ann Coulter’s “Sex”?
It may be a blog called Rightwing Nuthouse, but it makes a great point about Ann Coulter: The most unpredictable mouth in America has once again proved that idiocy is not a mental state confined to the left wing in…
2:57 pm
“Many cultural anthropologists now consider race to be more a social or mental construct than an objective biological fact”—which brings into question your definition of race. If we are to accept your definition of race as correct, then you must admit that “Caucasian” does not mean “white folks”, as you state, but in fact many groups of people with different skin colour.
Apart from that, Michael Moore didn’t make the comments so let’s not blame him.
3:33 pm
Why so sensitive? If someone wears a turban (essentially a rag) on his head, why is “raghead” not an apt description? Come on, now, whining about another person insulting yet another person is the mark of a busybody, unless you have something constructive to add. And you don’t.
Gosh, you must have nothing at all important to do.
4:28 pm
What on earth do you think “pillaring her” means?
If you’re going to use $10 words, pay the full freight.
It’s “pillorying”...
5:16 pm
Why I Don’t Like Ann Coulter
Just as there are wackos on the left who hurt their cause, there are also wackos on the right who hurt ours.
Ann Coulter just happens to be one of the right-wing wackos. Her choice remarks at CPAC 2006 were poisonous.
Commentaries in-depth from Joe Ga…
5:37 pm
Ann, as we come closer to the beginning of the end the so called conservatives want to show somebody they are above the fight. Do they really think the other side cares. Don’t make me laugh. The rumble is on GO ANN
5:42 pm
hidy ho boys! hify ho!
5:44 pm
Cato:
A simple correction without the implied disapprobation would have been in order, thank you.
And it’s hardly a $10 word. That there is a full blooded, gold plated, $25 Saturday Night Special of a word.
And wasn’t Cato tied to a pillar and pilloried? Or is it the othe way around?
6:09 pm
Biff:
I did not seek to define race. What I said was it is scientifically ignorant to delineate Arabs as a separate, distinct race, something that no cultural anthropologist in their right mind would do.
8:08 pm
“spewed forth from her brilliant, eccentric mind”
I’m sorry…I’ve read Coulter…and seen her speeches…PLEASE share some of that “brilliance” with me…I can say this without hesitation…I don’t agree with Franken, but he makes me laugh…Coulter just makes me…ashamed…that her hateful rhetoric is defended by the very same people who shake their self-righteous finger when Jon Stewart says things that ARE insightful AND funny…I had a friend who once told me that he’d rather discuss things with an intelligent liberal than be agreed with by a stupid conservative…
9:53 pm
Coulter has been brilliant in the past—her Treason is bold and brave—who the hell else would stand up for McCarthy, recast his mythology with enough counter-examples to give one pause regarding the McCarthyism stereotype? And she was brilliant after 9/11.
Lately, though, I’ve just stopped reading her. I believe it correlated with her bashing Roberts before his hearings. The raghead stuff I can live with, but indeed her venom does get rather old.
10:04 pm
It’s BECAUSE you can live with the raghead stuff that we have problems. Bible thumper…jesus freak…wingnut…moron (that would be relating to Bush)...you’re comfortable with those? AND let’s just hear Bill Maher, Al Franken or Jon Stewart say that they wish they had killed Bush…
Still comfy?
Still…must be nice to have such low standards for “brilliance” when it comes to conservatism…”who the hell else would stand up for McCarthy” is a compliment? Hell…Hitler got the trains running on time…the electriciy was on more often and gas was 4 cents a gallon under Saddam! William Buckley MIGHT be insulted by such “bold and brave”, er…ahem…”thinking”.
12:25 am
I see there is really little difference in an idiot (those worried about a political pundits remarks), the left wing, and the rabid idiots that call themselves followers of Islam. All of you are ate up with the dumb asses (aka P.C.) which puts you in the same class as the idiots that are destroying their own people’s propery and lives to protest a cartoon. Reminds me of some so called Americans that burned down their own neighborhood in L.A. (their excuse was police mistreatment) so they could loot and rob everything from their own neighborhood. Same type of people that looted everything in N.O. instead of helping their neighbors. Do any of these fools or you idiots on here deserve any help from anyone. No, the only thing most of them deserve is a 39 cent bullet between the eyes, and while we’re at it drop a few nuc’s on Iran and see how brave the rest of the Islamic world is. It will happen soon, so why wait and let them kill more people.
2:03 am
[...] You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your ownsite. [...]
3:12 am
Raghead isn’t racist? Ha. HA! You’re merely arguing over semantics when you say the term “ragheads” isn’t racist.
Please run that as the 2006 Republican Slogan.
“Calling them Ragheads doesn’t make us racist”
9:35 am
While I agree that assassination is over the top, I believe you’re being a bit too critical of our “goddess.” It’s difficult in this day of political hyperbole to get your point across by using reasoned language. The left has had a forum for years with the MSM and our new found outlet through the I’net finally gives us the opportunity to express our total disgust with the way dissemination of information has been handled for years. In a race for the bottom of political discourse, the left is way out front and we won’t catch them in our life time. Give Ann A break.
11:34 am
Sunday Funnies
image courtesy of faithmouse
image courtesy of Cox and Forkum
The Nose on Your Face gives us Top 9 Signs Your Religion Is Not Peaceful.
Point Five shows us how a Moderate Muslim Demonstration Turns Violent
Blogs for Bush has a laugh at first photo…
1:12 pm
I agree. Conservatives have messages vital to the future of America and civilization. Let’s not diminish the power of those messages by outrageous statements. To diminish our messages to statements of irrationality and hate puts us in a position that makes us no better than the Party of Dean, Hillary, Kerry, ad nausea. Let’s base our arguments on statements of fact not statements of emotion.
1:15 pm
Coulter can’t be a racist because Arabs are of the Caucasoid race and thus closer to Swedes than to those Negroid sub-groups of southern Africa? So Nazis can’t be racist because Jews aren’t a race? But the term racism comes from both proponents and opponents of “racialist” policies. So liberals, and its really only liberals who would call Nazis racists, are once again wrong!
Your critical faculties are impressive. If an animated fart could type, it would display comparable abilities.
Actually, I eagerly await your wingernut critique of the term nigger since it’s really only a reference to brown skin color of black people. You might follow it up by lecturing blacks on their inability to accurately label their own skin color! They’re more brown than black, don’t you know.
And, of course, the only really foul thing about the raghead reference is that it’s nasty remark to make about the quality of cloth in someone’s turban. But it’s no point in disputing that those Arabs all wear turbans.
1:41 pm
By the standards by which you are “criticizing” Coulter here, the Democrats should be up in arms about how President Bush forced all those foolish Muslims to get mad & burn shit & stuff.
Sure, you criticize Coulter for going “over the top”. But it’s just the fault of the monolithic “left” that she does. And it’s a testament to right-wing civic virtue that so many right-wing bloggers are calling her out on it while also calling out the evil lefties who have forced once-brilliant Republicans like Ann Coulter to have behave so poorly.
You oughtta be real proud.
2:19 pm
“RAGHEADS” AND “SAMBOS” AND “GOOKS”
There is much buzz this weekend about comments that conservative author/columnist Ann Coulter made at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, a speech which I missed due to a book signing at the same event. Ann used the term…
2:32 pm
“Ragheads” is bigotted and Ann should apologize. She won’t, of course. That’s her schtick: being unapologetically un-PC. But honestly, why not just stop inviting her to speak at conservative conventions and such? There are more articulate and intelligent speakers out there.
3:06 pm
[...] It seems that Coulter really stepped in it, yesterday and she is being appropriately and rightly taken to the woodshed by bloggers on the right. Whether Coulter will have enough grace to admit she blew it and to apologize for her excesses – well, that will be interesting to see. In the meantime there are some on the left who are demanding that those on the right admonish Coulter…which seems to me to be precisely what rightwing bloggers were doing, almost immediately, without needing prompting from folks on the left, thanks very much. [...]
3:40 pm
Hey, guys! Lighten up. You’re starting to sound like all those Danish companies, falling all over themselves for a bunch of cartoons that are nowhere near as offensive (not by miles) as Ann’s comments. Michael Moore is fat and stupid; Ann is smart and cute! There’s no comparison. The “poisoning” bit sounds a bit weird, but she did say it was meant as a joke for the media. Maybe she should stick with the truth (liberals have a mental illness), however, and resist any comments suggesting death or murder.
3:52 pm
Is Anyone suprised? Ann is a self-absorbed fooless. She comes across as someone who believes SHE is THE Conservative Movement. Oh yeah… her neck looks like a giraffe’s. Thanks for the help Ann, CPAC will probably have her headline next year. Pathetic….
4:14 pm
Ann Coulter is a disgrace and an embarassment to the Conservative movement
1st…. APOLOGIZE
2nd… WITHDRAW FROM PUBLIC APPEARANCES
3rd…. GO AWAY
4th… GO AWAY ANN
Seriously, how is she helping the cause? She’s merely fulfilling the prophecies of the left. The sad part… the CPAC audience gave her a standin…
7:09 pm
Ann Coulter Comments
I’ve avoided commenting on this in the last few days for two reasons: First, I wasn’t at the speech, nor have I read it online. Second, I’m not that big a fan of Ann Coulter anyway. Sure, she says some things that are right on the money when it co…
10:03 pm
Ms. Coulter is photogenic, articulate and successful. Oh, did I mention that Ms. Coulter is obscenely, disgustingly successful? While the Eleventh Commandment may be important, the Tenth is mandatory. The distinct impression may be forgiven that many of Ms. Coulter’s detractors are perilously close to its violation.
Ms. Coulter has said, “Raghead.†Racist? Hardly. Given the behavior of the Islamofacists (Hitchens) in the Great Cartoon War of 2006 during the past week, Ms. Coulter’s epithet hardly registers on the offence scale. Does she have a shtick? Probably. But one may be forgiven the observation that about the only people without one are troops of the line.
In their kinder, gentler moments, those master propagandists Roosevelt and Churchill were wont to use such epithets as “Nipâ€, “Japâ€, “Hunâ€, and “Krautâ€. While these gentlemen were probably racist in the way of their time, that was not the point of their characterizations. Instead, as all good propagandists, they attempted to encapsulate in a word a characterization that encompassed the animus of their constituencies.
Was Ms. Coulter unapologetically vicious? Indeed, she was, but in the best tradition of propaganda formulation. The West is, after all, at war. However, for those offended sensitive souls on the Right and Left, as well as those real adversaries the Islamofacists, there should be no care that her unfairness will remain unanswered; there will always be the Department of State.
10:35 pm
“Calling them Ragheads is NOT racist—Vote Republican in 2006”
LOL.
Ahh, I triple dog dare you bitches to try that slogan. Hey, you can have Trent Lott announce it too!
3:03 am
Rick Moran’s take is interesting, but I don’t think you can get away from “raghead” being an ethnic slur. That’s the plain sense of the term and that’s how it’s normally used. (OTOH, I’ve seen Iranian dissidents on the Free Iran forum referring to the mullahs as “ragheads”.)
6:17 am
It’s a tengential point, but I don’t think Arabs are classified with Persians/Afghans/N.Indians in the “caucasian” family. I think Semitic races are considered separate from both Caucasian and black African. If anyone even keeps track of such things anymore.
6:23 am
So is it racist if it is applied broadly to peoples of many races (Indian, Iranian, Turkish, Arab, Berber, Malay) who happen to wear the same style of dress? But what if the speaker doesn’t know these aren’t all one race? Just asking.
What’s sad is that the ummah-wide reaction to the feeble Danish cartoons last week opened a lot of people’s eyes and made it impossible, for a time, to cling to the mentalities of “they don’t hate us for our freedom” and “there would be no problem if only America would leave them alone.” It was, to borrow a educratic term, a “teachable moment.” But it had to happen, and along came Ann and gave the teachable people an excuse to slam the door shut again and focus on their domestic opponents rather than their civilizational enemies.
8:24 am
I see Ann’s comments as the first punch n the much needed push back at the craven posture of CNN and it’s fellow travelers and “sensitive” types.The war has come to us and to castigate Ann for her over the topness is a form of denial of that war.In a war there is room for the courageous in-your-face type of oratory that Ann is so good at.REJ
8:50 am
I see even the right is bowing to PC nonsense. Of course she’s over the top. That’s what she does. That’s why we like her. You folks badly need to get an enema.
10:34 am
Let’s see, Arab’s are “Caucasoid”, er… white – so Ann’s comment, technically, wasn’t racist. She called radical-islamists, ‘ragheads’. Once again, calling the enemy a bad name; again another non-starter. I guess the issue really becomes, how afraid and spineless are rightwing bloggers. Who cares what the MSM/left/Saddam says about the right. They are never going to stop their vitriol and hatred.
I mean, if there’s no racism, why take Ann to task? If she’s over the top, then why pay her any attention? Is it because she considers blogging a joke thereby pissing you guys off? Malkin calls the bad guys “bastard”, and Maron calls a subset “crazed” – and they all can rationalize the name-calling. But, when Ann does it, it’s bad, over the top, makes the right look bad to the left. And we can’t have you rightwing bloggers look bad in front of the left.
“QUICK! Be the first to condemn Ann to separate yourself as a “true” conservative”. Please. Truly intelligent people can distinguish derision placed on one subset even if the term applies to both good and bad subsets.
Case in point, do all white people get pissed when their southern counterpart is called ‘redneck’?
10:42 am
Wonderful point about why Coulter has to act crazy. It is hard to believe (but true) that she has a good legal mind, that she was on Michigan Law Review, that she made a significant contribution to both the Paula Jones case and the Florida recount controversy. If she had wanted to, she could have been a first-rate right wing commentator, perhaps ala George Will, perhaps ala the Volokh Conspiracy. The problem is that once one has developed a reputation for lunacy, there is no going back even if one wants to (and there is no indication that she does—but she will). The National Review and the Weekly Standard won’t touch her. If she tried to change her tone, she would lose her following (and her $30,000 “lecture” fees). What’s left? Genuine trouble, that’s what.
7:25 pm
Hey, great blog! Visit my blog Ragouthead Paradise for a really good time! Most of you seem really, really sensitive—I mean REALLY REALLY SENSITIVE
! You’ll love my place, come on over.
2:57 pm
Two tokes over the line
Ann Coulter is one of conservatism’s loudest voices. And unfortunately, she’s used it last Friday to behave like an ass (as in Democrat) while speaking at CPAC. I’m outraged with Lefty nuts make comments like that about President Bush. And I’m just…
7:36 pm
how can you tell an A Rab has become an adult?
you take the diaper off his ass and put it on his head
4:18 am
[...] So how did the audience respond to such hateful and violent language? Glenn Greenwald says: According to one of her blogging fans in attendance, 5,000 "conservatives" reverently sat there and listened to her and did nothing to indicate disapproval. To the contrary, her urging of violence against "ragheads" specifically "prompted a boisterous ovation." RightWingNutHouse reports that her speech was "well received by the audience." [...]
3:36 am
Lavoretto natale.
Lavoretto natale.
1:10 pm
Ann Coulter is about mediocrity. She is about appealing to the lowest common denominator and nothing else. No one ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the average person and Ann Coulter proves this.