Dennis Robaugh of the Daily Southtown had an editorial this week that basically sums up Coulter:
Coulter has become somewhat of a celebrity on the right. She speaks colorfully and looks good on TV. (Did you know you can download an Ann Coulter ring tone for your cell phone, too?) But her commentary, both in print and on the talk shows, isn't designed to inform or persuade. Rather, her purpose is to provoke and entertain.
If you're in the choir, you love to hear her preach.
If you're a thoughtful independent open to persuasion, chances are you won't learn much of anything from what she has to say. Unlike, say, a William F. Buckley or a Pat Buchanan or a George Will…
And while as opinion journalists they have a point of view, they also have a certain regard for the facts that Coulter simply lacks.
Still, she's good for a laugh, which is one reason she's on all these shows that have turned politics into mere entertainment.
Among pundits, Coulter is the equivalent of Carrot Top; an object of ridicule, not of respect. She's someone you laugh at, not with.
This is the problem with Coulter. She presents nothing productive or helpful to a political debate, but merely increases the level of invective and partisanship.
November 24th, 2006
Posted by
Eric |
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Coulter's column this week is an attack on Nancy Pelosi, soon to be the first female Speaker of the House. The attack is not surprising, as it seems to be a trend in right-wing media this week. A New York Post columnist called her a "shrew," and a FOX News anchor referred to her on the air this week as the "Wicked Witch of the West." This continues a pre-election trend during which — again on FOX News — it was suggested she’d had a botched face lift and Dennis Miller insulted her intelligence.
Coulter begins her column this week by complaining about the media’s concentration on Pelosi. She says she "thought we had moved beyond such multicultural milestones." But then she spends the majority of her column complaining that not enough attention was paid to Condoleezza Rice when she was nominated as the first black woman to be Secretary of State.
Coulter doesn't seem to have done her research very well. She claims that:
There were only 77 documents noting that Rice was the first black woman to be the secretary of state, and half of them were issues of Jet, Essence, Ebony or Black Entrepreneur magazine.
A Lexis-Nexis search for the time between Rice's nomination and confirmation as Secretary of State turns up over a hundred articles, all in major papers like the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Houston Chronicle and others. None of these were in sources aimed specifically at African-Americans.
Claiming that media was "ignoring Secretary Rice's achievement" Coulter says:
A New York Times profile of Rice at the time waited until the last sentence to note in passing that Rice was "only the second woman, and the first black woman, to hold the job."
Yet, that very same day, the Times also ran an article that pointed out in the third paragraph that Rice was to be the first black female Secretary of State. So Coulter's claim that the media was ignoring Rice's achievement are simply the result of sloppy research.
Coulter doesn't mention Pelosi again until near the end of her column, when she says that Pelosi's election is a "minor achievement" unworthy of the "breathless" and "gushing" reporting she received. Minor achievement? Pelosi is second in line to succeed the Presidency. It is the highest elected office a woman has ever achieved in this country. Condoleeza Rice, while an accomplished and intelligent woman, was neither the first African-American nor the first female Secretary of State (those being Colin Powell and Madeline Albright, respectively
This column is not Coulter's attempt to praise Rice for her accomplishments; her goal is to denigrate Pelosi, regardless of how significant her election is. The main reason Coulter has a place of favor among the conservative media is that she sticks to the party line, not that she is informative or insightful,. She has only good things to say about Republicans, and only bad things to say about Democrats Her shoddy research and offensive claims show that she is anything but informative or insightful. Coulter's value to Republicans lies in the very fact that she is so partisan and divisive.
Sources:
November 19th, 2006
Posted by
Eric |
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Residents of Palm Beach County, Florida, continue to express their dismay that Supervisor of Elections Arthur Anderson failed to put together a case against Ann Coulter for voter fraud, despite having ample time in which to do so. Anderson cited Coulter's unwillingness to cooperate as the main reason. He instead fobbed the case off to the state attorney's office for investigation. In an editorial published on Election Day, the Palm Beach Post noted:
In contrast to what she writes and brays, Ms. Coulter's behavior as a suspect has been annoyingly coy. Her defense is that she's above the laws that everyone else is supposed to follow. She voted in the wrong precinct to avoid publicly acknowledging her true Palm Beach address. Her privacy is a matter of personal safety, not law.
Dr. Anderson had ample time to document the case against Ms. Coulter. Such documentation would have included her voter registration, her signature on the voter roll at the precinct where she cast her ballot and her attorney's responses to requests for her address. Instead, Dr. Anderson last week sent the state attorney a letter citing his "exhaustive efforts to bring closure to the allegation," and the conclusion that his office is not suited to "undertake this investigatory challenge." To his request for guidance, State Attorney Barry Krischer suggests that he call the police — and, this time, turn in names of witnesses to the alleged crime.
Jose Lambiet of The Post broke this story nearly nine months ago. If Dr. Anderson wants voters to have faith in his office — and these days, that's in short supply — he should put together the case he should have been building. No one is supposed to care more about election law than the elections supervisor.
United Press International noted that, along with disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley, Coulter apparently did not vote in last week's mid-term election. Of course, to do so would certainly have stirred up the quicksand with which she's surrounded herself. If she tried to vote in New York, where she told Hannity & Colmes she actually lives, she would have to explain why she cast a ballot in Florida just nine months ago.
If she tried to vote in that same precinct where she cast her ballot in February, she would need to explain why — again — she didn't vote in the precinct where she's registered. And the reverse is equally problematic; voting in the Palm Beach precinct where she's registered — her current registration lists not her Seabreeze Avenue residence but her realtor's house — would have proven conclusively that she committed a felony in February.
It will be interesting to see if Coulter ever coherently and publicly addresses this issue.
Sources:
November 11th, 2006
Posted by
David |
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During the February 7, 2006 Palm Beach town council election, Ann Coulter allegedly voted in the wrong district, even after being alerted by poll workers that her voter information was incorrect. According to the Voter Fraud Incident Report filed on March 7, 2006 by James D. Whited and addressed to Susan A. Eichorn, Town Clerk,
…I said that she had a problem as her home address did not match the address which was in the election computer rolls. Ms. Coulter then said, "What was the problem?" It was explained that she needed to fill out a change of address form in order to vote in Precinct 1198. She countered with, "Where would I vote with the address that I have?" I advised her that it would be at St. Edward's Church. She said "thank you" and hurriedly went out the door and down the driveway. I followed her to the edge of the driveway trying to get her to return but to no avail.
Ann Coulter was a registered voter within the town of Palm Beach and evidently she did cast a ballot within another precinct in the town.
Coulter, who owns a home on Seabreeze Avenue in Palm Beach, allegedly cast her ballot in Precinct 1196 at St. Edward Catholic Church. However, official elections documents show Coulter registered as living at the Indian Road home of her realtor.
On March 27, 2006, Dr. Arthur W. Anderson, Supervisor of Elections, notified Coulter via letter, "It has come to our attention that the address we have on record for you may not be your legal residence address," and asked that she complete an attached statement "to determine the accuracy of the information underlying your potential ineligibility" to vote. The letter also advised Coulter she had the right to request a hearing to determine her eligibility, and that "Failure to respond within thirty (30) days … may result in a determination of ineligibility and in removal… from the statewide voter registration system."
In June, 2006, Coulter skirted the issue on Fox News's Hannity and Colmes show during the following exchange:
Alan Colmes: You're talking about godless liberals not having values, not being values people. In light of that you've been in the news a little bit lately, accused by election supervisor Arthur Anderson in Palm Beach of voting in the wrong district and not answering a registered letter that they sent to you. And they say that you might have committed a felony. So could you address those charges and tell us what happened?
Ann Coulter: I think the syphilis has gone to their brains.
Colmes: Is that what it is?
Coulter: Yes.
Colmes: Did you knowingly vote in the wrong district?
Coulter: No….. No. I live in New York. And I'm not going to tell you anymore about where I live, Alan. ….
Colmes: You didn't knowingly walk into the wrong district?
Coulter: Correct.
Colmes: And did you — is there a reason you didn't respond to the authorities when they sent you a registered letter?
Coulter: This is all false, I'm telling you. You've got — I mean, the "Treason Times" may hate America, but they're at least accurate. When you go to the bush-league newspapers, you get all the venom of the New York Times, but they're all retarded.
To date Coulter has failed to address the question of why, if she does indeed "live in New York," she attempted to vote in Florida, and why her voter registration shows the Florida address of her realtor (a woman who has publicly stated Coulter does not live with her).
In July — at least ninety days later after Anderson's first letter — Coulter's attorney, Marcos Daniel Jimenez D'Clouet, informed Anderson that he would discuss the matter over the phone or in person, but not in writing, in retaliation for Anderson allegedly providing details of the matter to the media. Anderson responded that the matter had to be settled in writing.
After Coulter and D'Clouet failed to respond to subsequent letters requesting information and clarification, Anderson announced on November 1, 2006, that he would turn over the matter to Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer's office for investigation and possible prosecution.
Knowingly casting a vote in the wrong precinct is a felony carrying a punishment of up to five years in prison.
Sources:
- "Media finally picks up Coulter story", Midtopia. June 12, 2006
- "Coulter Voting Case to Prosecutors?", New York Times. November 5, 2006.
- "Coulter probe to be sent to state", Palm Beach Daily News. November 2, 2006.
- "Paper: Ann Coulter might face voter-fraud charges", OnDeadline. November 2, 2006.
- "State attorney to probe Coulter's alleged voting violation", Palm Beach Post. November 1, 2006.
- Voter Fraud Incident Report
- Palm Beach County letter to Ann Coulter
November 6th, 2006
Posted by
David |
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Coulter starts out her column this week with John Kerry's infamous joke-cum-Republican-talking-point:
For those of you keeping score at home, John Kerry has now called members of the U.S. military (a) stupid, (b) crazy, (c) murderers, (d) rapists, (e) terrorizers of Iraqi women and children. I wonder what he'll call them tomorrow.
Kerry's attempt to joke about the President getting the U.S. mired in Iraq has quickly become the talking point du jour. No reasonable person could have seen Kerry's speech and thought he was referring to American troops in Iraq and not the President, especially with the fact that Kerry used to actually be one of the troops. Furthermore, he used none of the words Coulter has accused him of using. Since Coulter cavalierly throws around the "rapist" accusation, one would expect she would be more careful.
Most of the rest of Coulter's column is spent analyzing the historical gains made by one party or another, and comparing them with the party that held the Presidency. She uses this to spin the upcoming election as the death knell of the Democratic Party. Two weeks ago, on FOX News, she claimed:
The average of the midterm election pickup since World War II is about 40 seats. They lost seats in Bush's first midterm election. So they ought to be picking up 60 or 70 seats.
As Media Matters for America has noted, the average gains in the House in the midterm elections has been 25 seats, not 40. In only five of the fifteen midterm elections since World War II has the change been more than 40 seats.
As millions of lunatic Muslims plot to murder Americans, some Americans — we call them "Soccer Moms" — will cast a vote to save Michael J. Fox this year. In the process, they will put all Americans at risk by voting for a frivolous, dying party.
Since 48% of Americans voted Democratic in the last Presidential election, predictions of its demise are probably premature. Plus, why is Michael J. Fox this week's Republican punching bag?
It would be impossible to discuss Coulter's predictions of how America will vote next week without mentioning how she will vote, or whether she even will. On February 7, Coulter allegedly tried to vote in one precinct and, when challenged on her home address by a poll worker, fled the voting precinct and voted in another.
The Palm Beach Elections Supervisor has been trying to get Coulter to clarify her actual address since March 27, but she has refused. The case was likely to have been turned over to prosecutors by the end of last week. Even if nothing comes of this case, this is the woman who said only about a month ago:
Way too many people vote. We should have fewer people voting. There ought to be a poll tax to take the literacy test before voting.
One can not help but wonder if Coulter would pass her own criteria for voting.
Sources:
November 5th, 2006
Posted by
Eric |
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