Ann Coulter - A New Low

[dragon wench]

Just when I had thought Ann Coulter couldn't possibly get any worse..




Ann Coulter on CNBC Show: Jews Need 'Perfecting'

NEW YORK Appearing on Donny Deutsch's CNBC show, "The Big Idea," on Monday night, columnist/author Ann Coulter suggested that the U.S. would be a better place if there weren't any Jewish people and that they needed to "perfect" themselves into -- Christians.

It led Deutsch to suggest that surely she couldn't mean that, and when she insisted she did, he said this sounded "anti-Semitic."

Asked by Deutsch whether she wanted to be like "the head of Iran" and "wipe Israel off the Earth," Coulter stated: "No, we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say. ... That's what Christianity is. We believe the Old Testament."

Deutsch told E&P's sibling magazine, Adweek, today, "I was offended. And then, and this was interesting, she started to back off and seemed a little upset."

Asked to gauge her reaction, Deutsch said, "I think she got frightened that maybe she had crossed a line, that this was maybe a faux pas of great proportions. I mean, did it show ignorance? Anti-Semitism? It wasn't just one of those silly things."

A transcript, provided by Media Matters, follows.
*

DEUTSCH: Christian -- so we should be Christian? It would be better if we were all Christian?

COULTER: Yes.

DEUTSCH: We should all be Christian?

COULTER: Yes. Would you like to come to church with me, Donny?

DEUTSCH: So I should not be a Jew, I should be a Christian, and this would be a better place?

COULTER: Well, you could be a practicing Jew, but you're not.

DEUTSCH: I actually am. That's not true. I really am. But -- so we would be better if we were - if people -- if there were no Jews, no Buddhists --

COULTER: Whenever I'm harangued by --

DEUTSCH: -- in this country? You can't believe that.

COULTER: -- you know, liberals on diversity --

DEUTSCH: Here you go again.

COULTER: No, it's true. I give all of these speeches at megachurches across America, and the one thing that's really striking about it is how utterly, completely diverse they are, and completely unself-consciously. You walk past a mixed-race couple in New York, and it's like they have a chip on their shoulder. They're just waiting for somebody to say something, as if anybody would. And --

DEUTSCH: I don't agree with that. I don't agree with that at all. Maybe you have the chip looking at them. I see a lot of interracial couples, and I don't see any more or less chips there either way. That's erroneous.

COULTER: No. In fact, there was an entire Seinfeld episode about Elaine and her boyfriend dating because they wanted to be a mixed-race couple, so you're lying.

DEUTSCH: Oh, because of some Seinfeld episode? OK.

COULTER: But yeah, I think that's reflective of what's going on in the culture, but it is completely striking that at these huge megachurches -- the idea that, you know, the more Christian you are, the less tolerant you would be is preposterous.

DEUTSCH: That isn't what I said, but you said I should not -- we should just throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians, then, or --

COULTER: Yeah.

DEUTSCH: Really?

COULTER: Well, it's a lot easier. It's kind of a fast track.

DEUTSCH: Really?

COULTER: Yeah. You have to obey.

DEUTSCH: You can't possibly believe that.

COULTER: Yes.

DEUTSCH: You can't possibly -- you're too educated, you can't -- you're like my friend in --

COULTER: Do you know what Christianity is? We believe your religion, but you have to obey.

DEUTSCH: No, no, no, but I mean --

COULTER: We have the fast-track program.

DEUTSCH: Why don't I put you with the head of Iran? I mean, come on. You can't believe that.

COULTER: The head of Iran is not a Christian.

DEUTSCH: No, but in fact, "Let's wipe Israel" --

COULTER: I don't know if you've been paying attention.

DEUTSCH: "Let's wipe Israel off the earth." I mean, what, no Jews?

COULTER: No, we think -- we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say.

DEUTSCH: Wow, you didn't really say that, did you?

COULTER: Yes. That is what Christianity is. We believe the Old Testament, but ours is more like Federal Express. You have to obey laws. We know we're all sinners --

DEUTSCH: In my old days, I would have argued -- when you say something absurd like that, there's no --

COULTER: What's absurd?

DEUTSCH: Jews are going to be perfected. I'm going to go off and try to perfect myself --

COULTER: Well, that's what the New Testament says.

DEUTSCH: Ann Coulter, author of If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans, and if Ann Coulter had any brains, she would not say Jews need to be perfected. I'm offended by that personally. And we'll have more Big Idea when we come back.

[...]

DEUTSCH: Welcome back to The Big Idea. During the break, Ann said she wanted to explain her last comment. So I'm going to give her a chance. So you don't think that was offensive?

COULTER: No. I'm sorry. It is not intended to be. I don't think you should take it that way, but that is what Christians consider themselves: perfected Jews. We believe the Old Testament. As you know from the Old Testament, God was constantly getting fed up with humans for not being able to, you know, live up to all the laws. What Christians believe -- this is just a statement of what the New Testament is -- is that that's why Christ came and died for our sins. Christians believe the Old Testament. You don't believe our testament.

DEUTSCH: You said -- your exact words were, "Jews need to be perfected." Those are the words out of your mouth.

COULTER: No, I'm saying that's what a Christian is.

DEUTSCH: But that's what you said -- don't you see how hateful, how anti-Semitic --

COULTER: No!

DEUTSCH: How do you not see? You're an educated woman. How do you not see that?

COULTER: That isn't hateful at all.

DEUTSCH: But that's even a scarier thought.

Now, I realise that Coulter often spouts what she does just for attention
... But, this really goes too far..

[DesR85]

Saw this posted in another forum where I hang out. Very despicable of her to say all that. Her behaviour is similar to that of a neo-Nazi.

[BlueSky]

Looks like the old saying:
if you give a person enough rope they will hang themselves, ...
might just be starting to happen with Coulter....

[fable]

I don't expect anything to happen to Coulter. She's selling a new book, and she vomits this kind of refuse whenever that happens. It's pretty sad when this is allowed without comment, while veterans who use ads to try getting us out of Iraq end up being censured by the most braindead US Congress since 1894.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Meh, her 'things would be better if women couldn't vote' comment was better.

[dragon wench]

I am really hoping this could be Coulter's undoing...
and, perhaps it will be.. Maybe she has taken on a lot more than she can chew here, for all kinds of reasons.

But, given how long she's been permitted to spew crap this kind of crap, I definitely have my doubts. *sigh*

[fable]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragon wench I am really hoping this could be Coulter's undoing...

You mean, the same way it's been Rush Limbaugh's undoing since he and others started attacking a 12-year-old kid who defended SCHIP against Bush? Hell, we don't even have a Fairness Doctrine on television or radio any longer, since Reagan stacked the FCC that removed it back in the eighties. You can get away with saying whatever you want, as long as there's an extremely conservative, aggressive media empire behind you.

[dragon wench]

Like I said, Fable, I very much have my doubts..
But, hey, I'm trying to be optimistic..

[fable]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragon wench Like I said, Fable, I very much have my doubts.. But, hey, I'm trying to be optimistic..

Didn't mean to press. Optimistic is a word these days only in the US vocabulary of big corporations, especially defense contractors and merc companies. Maybe it remains in the Canadian dictionary...oh, wait. Aren't you expecitng a new Harper version, out soon?

[dragon wench]

Quote:

Optimistic is a word these days only in the US vocabulary of big corporations, especially defense contractors and merc companies. Maybe it remains in the Canadian dictionary...oh, wait. Aren't you expecitng a new Harper version, out soon?

Ehh.. Well consider this to be micro optimism (personal) to be a spill over into the macro...
Besides, every so often I get hopeful, it's my idealistic, inner 20-year-old who still believes the world can be changed for the better.

*groans*
You just had to remind me of that didn't you?
There are all kinds of factors afoot, but a rather large problem (my personal view anyway) is that the Liberals picked the *wrong* leader when they had their convention. Dion isn't really a bad guy, as such, but he has neither the metal nor gravitas to deal with the Harpy and his band of Henchmen.

[kyle]

I'm a perfected Christian, aka an atheist.

Seriously though, the only way she can sell books is by being sensationalistic, and she's sensationalized everything else, so anti-semitism was the next logical step.

Like Dragon Wench, I'm thinking this is the beginning of the end for her - not because of what she said, I doubt she'll get much backlash for it, but because... what is there after this for her? She's washed up.

[fable]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyle Like Dragon Wench, I'm thinking this is the beginning of the end for her - not because of what she said, I doubt she'll get much backlash for it, but because... what is there after this for her? She's washed up.

In a nation brutalized by decades of media sanctioning violence as good and/or fun, verbal bludgeoning will probably never lose its appeal. Even when it's inaccurate and poorly expressed, there will always be those who think every one of Coulter's victims should pay for belonging to a different racial/sexual/religious group than theirs. Just like Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Carlson, Beck, etc, the same nauseating garbage can be repeated ad infinitum, to their delight. It helps to momentarily displace that gnawing sense that they're not so different from everybody they hate, and they can never have enough of that.

[VonDondu]

Why does everyone keep picking on Ann Coulter? /sarcasm

I honestly don't think this is a "new low". Not for Ann Coulter, I mean. She said what most devout Christians actually believe: she thinks it would be nice if everyone converted to Christianity. In my book, that is a whole lot "nicer" than saying something like "liberals should be shot" or "we need to kill all of the Moslems".

What amazes me is that an interviewer who knew what she has said about members other of ethnic groups in the past actually gave her a chance her to spew her bile to the world again on national TV on his own show, which is mindblowing in itself. And then he actually got all huffy when she said something that might be personally offensive to HIM. What an idiot.

[Fiberfar]

She can't reach a new low, she's a bottomless pitt!

[fable]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VonDondu What amazes me is that an interviewer who knew what she has said about members other of ethnic groups in the past actually gave her a chance her to spew her bile to the world again on national TV on his own show, which is mindblowing in itself.

Not mindblowing. It's called doing what you need to for ratings, even if that includes crawling in a gutter filled with filth.