March 04, 2007
Going all buggy
I usually try not to pay attention to Ann Coulter because she's the kid you knew in third grade who would eat a bug for a quarter all grown up. No longer working for lunch money, she commands handsome speaker's fees for being vile.
Of course, it's pretty normal for children to find the gross-out artist entertaining. When those children grow up without any corresponding maturation of their tastes, something is wrong. The fact that there is an audience for Miss Coulter is a lot more disturbing than any of her verbal diahrea.
"But wait!" I can already hear from the rightwing. "She's just entertainment! She's our Michael Moore! You guys have Michael Moore! What about him?"
Okay, let's talk about Michael Moore. He makes films. His films have a political viewpoint. You may or not agree with his viewpoint, you may or may not find them entertaining. Moore likes to portray the people he doesn't like as stupid, uncaring, selfish bastards. Frequently, his targets help him in that portrayal with their stupid, uncaring, selfish behavior. Unlike Ann Coulter, Michael Moore has thus far refrained from calling for anyone to be shot, imprisoned, poisoned, blown up, executed as an example to others, or forced to convert to a different religion.
Beyond that, is Moore even a Democrat? It's pretty well known that in 2000 he supported Ralph Nader's run for the Presidency. True, in the last couple of election cycles he's urged people to vote Blue. But it seems to be more out of the pragmatic belief that a Democratic win would be the best way to undo the havoc Bush and Co. have wreaked on this country than his finding in politicians like John Kerry and Nancy Pelosi qualities he didn't detect in Al Gore. Even a quick glance at michaelmoore.com or the website of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council will show that Moore is, at best, a voice on the left fringe of the Democratic Party.
Ann Coulter, on the other hand, is embraced by the Republican Party. The CPAC conference where the latest brouhaha erupted included speeches by Vice President Cheney and most of the GOP presidential candidates. Just a month ago she was the featured speaker at a fundraiser for Denton Republicans. For a mere $15,000 you could sit at the underwriters' table with the blonde bugeater herself.
Republicans embrace Ann Coulter because her values are their values. More than two decades of promoting division, waging class warfare, demonizing disagreement have led to their total ethical and moral bankruptcy. Their most important legacy may be a cautionary lesson for future generations about the vast gap between governing and merely wielding power
The GOP candidates who laughed at and applauded Miss Coulter's remarks are now making the predictable expressions of regret over those awful things she said. Rather than engaging in that hypocrisy, they'd be better off asking themselves why they can't seem to stop paying that kid to eat those bugs.
Posted by mayor mcsleaze at March 4, 2007 03:18 PM
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