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Has Ann Coulter Hit Her Tipping Point?
AP ^

Posted on 03/11/2007 9:08:10 AM PDT by doesnt suffer fools gladly

Has Ann Coulter Hit Her Tipping Point?

By DAVID BAUDER

NEW YORK (AP) - Ann Coulter has been a reliable name for years among people who plan television news shows - an attractive, articulate blonde conservative who's made a living lobbing verbal bombs.

Following her use of a gay slur about Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards this month during remarks to the Conservative Political Action Conference, some on TV are wondering whether her shelf life is expiring.

Many were angered by her use of the "f-word". Coulter later said she considered it a "schoolyard taunt." She said it was a joke about "Grey's Anatomy" actor Isaiah Washington saying he would seek counseling after using the word to refer to a fellow actor.

At least four daily newspapers have dropped Coulter as a columnist, citing her comment about Edwards.

Head-turning remarks are hardly anything new for the author of "Godless: The Church of Liberalism" and "How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)." In "Godless" last year, she wrote of World Trade Center widows: "I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much."

"It's a world of 'are you talking about me? are you talking about me?'" said Steve Friedman, executive producer of "The Early Show" on CBS. "And eventually you have to get more and more outrageous to be talked about. One day you cross the line and become persona non grata. I think she's getting close. I think Bill Maher is getting close."

Friedman has no plans to book Coulter on his show, but said he had no plans even before her Edwards comment.

Some people on NBC's "Today" show didn't want to see Coulter before she was booked to talk about "Godless" last summer, said Jim Bell, the show's executive producer.

He overruled them. Having only certain points of view would make for a bland program, he said. Since Coulter is a best-selling author, clearly there's an audience that responds to her. Coulter also appeared on a "Today" segment this Feb. 8, debating a University of Pennsylvania professor.

Bell said last week that Coulter's legitimate points of view are beginning to get lost in the noise of being outlandish.

"She sometimes goes out of her way to push some buttons and tends to generate more heat than light," he said. "We love a lively debate, but we would tend to get people who would generate more light."

Said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism: "You do wonder whether she's destined for 'Dancing With the Stars' at some point."

Several conservatives criticized Coulter for her Edwards remarks. Fellow columnist Michelle Malkin lamented that Coulter had tarred the work of people at the Washington conference. She called Coulter's humor "tired old shtick." Tim Graham, director of media analysis at the Media Research Center, said some conservatives envy the attention she gets and dislike how she distracts from legitimate arguments.

"If you got the sense that she was saying things you thought she believed, it would help," he said.

Still, Graham said it would be "outrageous" if Coulter is blacklisted by networks but Maher isn't. The HBO comic angered some by recent remarks suggesting more people would live if an assassination attempt against Vice President Dick Cheney had been successful.

The liberal organization Media Matters for America, which has long campaigned against Coulter, hopes this is a "defining moment" that causes TV networks to turn their backs on her, said spokesman Karl Frisch.

MSNBC once fired Coulter as a regular contributor after a remark she made to a Vietnam veteran. But Coulter has appeared there as a guest on shows and the network has no policy against her.

The remarks "won't stop conservatives from buying her books and her ability to sell books is what drives her bookings on TV," said MSNBC's "Hardball" host Chris Matthews.

CNN had scheduled Coulter to appear with Paula Zahn last Monday. The network said Coulter canceled her appearance.

"We have and will continue to interview provocative guests and ask them tough questions," CNN spokeswoman Christa Robinson said. "We don't have overall bans about anyone. We will book them when we think it is appropriate to do so, on a case by case basis."

The changing nature of cable news may limit Coulter's ability to speak to those who don't already agree with her. Cable talk shows used to be built upon fiery debate, while now there are more shows that take a point of view and depict world events through that prism. Think Lou Dobbs, Keith Olbermann and Glenn Beck.

A spokeswoman for Coulter did not return a call for comment. Coulter, however, did appear on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" three days after the Edwards remark and belittled the idea that it would do lasting damage to her. It's a cycle, she said: she says something, the same people become hysterical, and that's the end of it.

It's about her 17th allegedly career-ending moment, she said.

"It happens about every six months," Coulter said, "and you're always there to put me on TV, Sean."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: coulter
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To: doesnt suffer fools gladly

Being vulgar or appearing mean spirited does not advance the conservative cause. Ann Coulter (sigh) is intelligent enough to get her point across without resorting to school yard taunts.


21 posted on 03/11/2007 9:23:00 AM PDT by buckalfa
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To: doesnt suffer fools gladly
"...Coulter's legitimate points of view are beginning to get lost in the noise of being outlandish"

Bingo. The phrase "Pyrrhic victory" comes to mind.

22 posted on 03/11/2007 9:25:57 AM PDT by BibChr ("...behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" [Jer. 8:9])
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To: tcrlaf

Nothing.

1. "Faggot" is just not that offensive, and

2. I do not recognize the validity of any laws or policies that grant special protection to homosexuals. Treating them and their practice of disgusting perverse sexual acts with the condemnation and derision it deserves is a non-violent and perectly valid act of civil disobedience, if nothing else.


23 posted on 03/11/2007 9:28:38 AM PDT by BMIC
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To: Jo Nuvark
Ann speaks for me.

For me, too.

24 posted on 03/11/2007 9:28:52 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Free Republic, "Where a few remnant curios bite.")
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To: Tax-chick

Ann speaks for normal people....this is one thing the faggots dont understand....


25 posted on 03/11/2007 9:29:59 AM PDT by Vaquero ("An armed society is a polite society" Robert A. Heinlein)
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To: Luke21

I guess the saying is.
The more outrageous you are, the more news coverage.
Thats why Anna Nicole has been the main news story the last month.


26 posted on 03/11/2007 9:30:02 AM PDT by BlueSky194
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To: Vaquero

I wouldn't have put it in exactly the same words, but then, nobody asks me to give a presentation at CPAC or appear on cable TV news :-).


27 posted on 03/11/2007 9:32:17 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Free Republic, "Where a few remnant curios bite.")
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To: ken21
i point these people to the u.s. constitution, but they've never read it, nor are they sure it's relevant.

They vote, though, right? People such as your neighbors are why I've given up on this country.

28 posted on 03/11/2007 9:32:36 AM PDT by MichiganConservative (If you don't like rape, then don't rape anyone. Don't push your morality on others.)
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To: tcrlaf
As The Mexican Comic said on his show:

I think you mean Carlos Mencia...he's not mexican and he makes sure to let you know.

He's descended from Guatemala and he always tells mexicans "if you love Mexico so much, go the *()&)& back!"


29 posted on 03/11/2007 9:33:43 AM PDT by JRios1968 (Tagline wanted...inquire within)
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To: ken21

Tell me some crazy comments Rush has made over the years.
You cant compare Rush to Ann.
Rush tries to beat you on points.
Ann tries to be outrageous for attention.


30 posted on 03/11/2007 9:34:09 AM PDT by BlueSky194
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To: doesnt suffer fools gladly

Socialist hate free speech... We ought to have a law that protects free speech... maybe even an amendment to the Constitution... or make it one of the first Bill of Rights... maybe we should take communist and put them in jail for suppressing free speech and essentially breaking the law.


31 posted on 03/11/2007 9:35:16 AM PDT by Porterville (Bullies love Peace and the Peaceful fight Wars.)
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To: BibChr

>>Bingo. The phrase "Pyrrhic victory" comes to mind.<<

I have yet to see anyone explain how this advances conservatism or will gain new voted for conservative candidates. I am willing to listen, if anyone would care to explain it.

It sure get's the ol' adrenalin pumping though, doesn't it? Kind of like going to a Monster Truck Rally.


32 posted on 03/11/2007 9:37:19 AM PDT by SerpentDove
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To: Lancey Howard

"Their word for non-sodomites is "breeder", which they pronounce with a sneer."

Tho not when MY offspring replenish THEIR social security fund.


33 posted on 03/11/2007 9:38:24 AM PDT by spanalot
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To: SerpentDove

"voted" should be "votes"

Stupid lack of typing skills!


34 posted on 03/11/2007 9:38:34 AM PDT by SerpentDove
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To: doesnt suffer fools gladly
Has Ann Coulter Hit Her Tipping Point?

No. The rush towards authoritarianism and fascism has.
35 posted on 03/11/2007 9:40:18 AM PDT by PA Engineer (Liberate America from the occupation media.)
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To: JRios1968

Biography:
Mencia was born “Ned Arnel Mencia”, the seventeenth of eighteen children in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. His father, Roberto Holness, is from Honduras, and his mother, Magdelena Mencia, is from Mexico. He was raised in East Los Angeles, California by his aunt Consuelo and uncle Pablo Mencia.


36 posted on 03/11/2007 9:42:46 AM PDT by GatĂșn(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)
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To: SerpentDove

Yep.

This is such a pretentious way of saying it, but: the discussion makes me sad.

FReepers defend Ann because she's said 1001 wonderful things correctly, acerbically, cuttingly. She shows the guts and gusto and take-no-prisoners attitude that we wish to God even one or two of our "leaders" would show.

With all that, I agree. I've defended her, and expect I'll continue to do so.

But no one except God is perfect, and no human being except Jesus has NEVER misspoken, nor needed to reconsider or regroup. Statements like this lessen her effectiveness and derail the discussion.

So, many fellow-FReepers defend her because she's Ann, they think she's hot (I don't, and don't care), and because they hate her critics. I get all that.

But you know, no one's always right. Better friends and supporters say, "Hon -- that was dumb. Really. It isn't worth you becoming 'The Faggot Lady' in people's minds. Then they won't hear all the vastly more important stuff you have to say. Don't be the last to admit it was dumb."


37 posted on 03/11/2007 9:45:35 AM PDT by BibChr ("...behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" [Jer. 8:9])
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To: GatĂșn(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)

Honduras...Guatemala...ok. Point is made, though...


38 posted on 03/11/2007 9:45:42 AM PDT by JRios1968 (Tagline wanted...inquire within)
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To: doesnt suffer fools gladly; SerpentDove; supercat; BibChr; BlueSky194
Sadly, Ann has managed to turn her best and strongest weapon, her words, back on herself.


39 posted on 03/11/2007 9:46:41 AM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
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To: doesnt suffer fools gladly

I don't get it, Roger Ailes cracks an Obama job that causes the cancelation of the Democrat Debates and no thread excoriating him.

Instead we're focused on Ann.

I suspect infiltrators.


40 posted on 03/11/2007 9:48:06 AM PDT by Balding_Eagle (If America falls, darkness will cover the face of the earth for a thousand years.)
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