The Ann Rule.
Posted on 11/15/2003 10:01:05 AM PST by EveningStar
Coulter gets what she wanted at CU
Conservative author says she thrives on battling liberal critics
By Aimee Heckel, Camera Staff Writer
November 14, 2003
Ann Coulter knew what she was getting into when she agreed to speak at arguably the most liberal hotbed in Colorado on Thursday night.
That's why she came.
"How many normal females are going to want to stand up and be called a Nazi and a racist?" said the conservative author and columnist. "As luck would have it, I happen to enjoy it. ... It perks me up to see liberals have nothing in the arsenal."
About 2,000 people filled the University of Colorado's Macky Auditorium on Thursday night to hear Coulter criticize Democrats in light of the war in Iraq. About half hissed and booed, and the other half laughed at her prickly humor and thanked her with a standing ovation.
Some, like Kevin Cooper of Louisville, said he wanted to hear another viewpoint, even if it contradicted his own.
"You can't make a viewpoint with one side. You have to understand the other side, too," he said.
Coulter said CU was typical of most colleges she speaks at, with a little extra heckling. But one thing surprised her, she said.
"I've never seen this on a college campus before: They were applauding Saddam Hussein," she said after her speech. "I was a little taken aback."
Coulter was referring mainly to one question about when the United States will put the interests of the world before its own.
"I think removing Saddam is good for the world. That question presupposed it's not," she said.
In response, some audience members said that because they do not support the war doesn't mean they support Hussein.
Coulter criticized most of the crowd's questions, calling them not intelligent or thoughtful.
"I go to these college campuses and I'm witnessing a breakdown in cognitive thought," she said.
But criticism Thursday night was mutual. In response to Coulter's advocacy of racial profiling to weed out terrorists, some called her racist and others stomped out of the auditorium.
"It's one thing to talk about liberals or conservatives," said Kerry Kite, CU's diversity director. "There's a big difference to come out and crack jokes that have some sort of meaning. But to just defame other cultures and ethnicities is just plain ignorant."
The CU Cultural Events Board organized the event.
Contact Aimee Heckel at (303) 473-1359 or heckela@dailycamera.com.
Sad but probably true.
LOL! Hey Kerry, your entire life is a joke.
LOL, no, Ann is certainly no mealy-mouthed "moderate".
Shock and awe is most inviting, but at least I concur that "I go to these college campuses and I'm witnessing a breakdown in cognitive thought." The problem is not exactly a nice bell curve phenomenon.
Coulter is not exactly the kind of older woman my daughter admires or aspires to imitate...
Pretty rich talk for one who refuses to countenance opposition to the war without smearing such individuals as "Saddam lovers".
I'm also uncertain what "cognitive thought" she thinks to promote with her gallery of provocative images ... particularly those mixing sex and weapons.
To be honest, I don't find that Ann Coulter vests her conservative audiences with much more "cognitive" ability than the liberals from whom she gets her kicks.
"No matter what Bush does, you have to vote for him" surely puts to rest the notion she finds us any less malleable than lockstep liberals willing to countenance the unthinkable from their leadership so long as they "win".
I'd never heard such a frank insult to the intellect of individual conservatives in my entire life.
What liberals don't get, it is not about racism (there are many Christian arabs and many muslims not arab), it is about islam. Pointing that out is not racist it is wise. Until liberals figure that out, they will remain islams future "victims"(oh, goody just what liberals love being victims).
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