July 29, 2006
COUCHABLE:
Watch Ann Go Whoosh!: Analyzing La Coulter (FLORENCE KING, 8/07/06, National Review)
Wondering what life in America would be like if Coulter used a stiletto instead of a sledgehammer is a tempting but futile excursion into dreamland. Suppose, for example, she was confronted, like Jennie Churchill, with a pompous young man who boasted that his financйe’s virtue was “priced above rubies.†Without missing a beat, Jennie said, “Try diamonds.†But if the young man said the same thing to Coulter?“The godless liberals are trying to link Pat Robertson to Charles Taylor’s diamond-smuggling cartel in Liberia while they cry crocodile tears over the poor starving Africans they’re helping to starve by conniving with radical ANC goons trained by Winnie Mandela who controls every mine in South Africa, all because they hate Robertson’s Christian beliefs so much they’ll be cheering and dancing in the streets if Taylor and the God-hating Marxists succeed in smearing him!â€
If Coulter lacks Jennie Churchill’s sophisticated wit, neither does she show any trace of Dorothy Parker’s lethal impishness. Parker’s assessment of her dependent husband — “Alan will always land on somebody’s feet†— would probably leave her cold. Not because she didn’t get it, but because it is so perfectly epigrammatic that there is no way to “mischaracterize†it, to use Coulter’s favorite fighting word; it can be quoted in context, out of context, or out of the blue without losing a thing.
Wit keeps sexual repartee from being offensive; the sharper the wit, the cleaner the joke. Challenged to use the word horticulture in a sentence, Parker immediately shot back, “You can lead a horticulture but you can’t make her think.†Her opinion of the current crop of debutantes: “If they were laid end to end I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.†The English adventuress who broke her leg in the middle of her divorce trial: “She probably did it sliding down a barrister.â€
If only Ms King were a hottie, she'd get the tv gigs. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 29, 2006 2:09 PM
Ann problem is while she has the facts on her side most of the time, she prefers the more profitable business of preaching to the choir and coming up with zingers that bring cheers from those already on her side than to attempting to persuade fence-sitters or those moderately on the other side of her rightness on a specific issue. Good for book sales; bad if you're scoring debate points.
Ann's fun to listen to in a WWE ringside interview sort of way, but in terms of electoral politics her style is about as good a way to gain supporters from the middle of the political spectrun as are the rants on the other side by folks like Al Franken or Michael Moore.
Posted by: John at July 29, 2006 2:51 PMIn her latest book, Ann Coulter describes Leftists as "godless". I find it interesting that while Christians may believe sinners will burn in the afterlife, environmentalists believe that due to "global warming" we will all burn in this one.
Environmentalists do not believe in God - and Al Gore is His Prophet. HA!
Posted by: obc at July 29, 2006 4:01 PMThey go after Ann's style because they sure can't go after her facts. Who ever heard about the N.J. 9/11 widows before the media went nuts about her book. Let her keep it up. She's exposed a lot more this way than if she wrote a scholarly tome nobody would have read.
Posted by: erp at July 29, 2006 5:14 PMThe dopplepostergander at it again.
Posted by: erp at July 29, 2006 5:16 PMThe thing is she isn't funny, but it's hilariuous how insane she gets the Left.
Posted by: oj at July 29, 2006 8:40 PM