Posted on 03/10/2009 11:25:01 AM PDT by Zakeet
In an event billed as a “distinguished speaker series” event, Ann Coulter faced off against Bill Maher last night at Radio City Music Hall in New York. In front of 6,000 hissing New York City liberals -- alternately absorbing and answering vulgar, sexist and racist insults from “comedian” Bill Maher -- Coulter battled back against audience shriekers, an unfunny Maher and “moderator” Mark Halperin of Time Magazine in a “debate” that would have been more accurately billed as a cage match and shown on Pay-per-View tv.
The tone was set at the very start. The audience was asked whether they thought President Obama was doing a great job -- or if they "agreed with Rush Limbaugh," which is of course the natural counterpoint. Not exactly a fair question, and the response was predictable.
Ann began her 15-minute opening address by acknowledging that her match up against Bill Maher was kind of like the meeting of Sid and Nancy. We all know how that worked out for Nancy.
Less than 5 minutes into Ann's short speech and the audience had already thrown all decorum out the window. Demonstrating their penchant for suppressing speech they disagree with, audience members yelled obscenities at Coulter, the mildest of which was "go to hell." One gentleman ran up the aisle yelling "We've got a real slut on our hands." This prompted an unfazed Coulter to say, "Aren't liberals polite?" Tonight, anyway, the answer was a resounding "no."
When she had concluded her opening remarks, Maher walked smugly onto the stage to a standing ovation and the kind of adoration usually reserved for feather-haired teen idols who spend weeks on the cover of Tiger Beat. He talked about how racist, greedy, hypocritical and stupid Republicans are, to uproarious laughs and multiple bursts of applause.
Then Maher and Coulter were united by Halperin in the center of the stage for what was supposed to be some rigorous intellectual debate.
It wasn't -- here's a brief recap: They argue about evolution -- Ann says she doesn't believe in it; Bill insults the world's Christians.
They talk about Sarah Palin. Ann thinks she's got a shot at the presidency eventually; Bill calls Palin "Cruella Deville," a "Spokesmodel from the car show" and "dumber [than Bush]" with boobs, only he used a four letter word of course.
They talk about stem cell research -- Ann quotes statistics from Godless; Bill calls embryos "microscopic goo."
They talk about the economy -- Ann says Barney Frank and Chris Dodd are to blame; Bill says the stimulus is "a big package, even for a black guy."
They talk about Bush -- Ann says he kept us safe; Bill says he "spent money like a pimp with a week to live."
And they talk about religion -- Ann says Christians are very tolerant (to loud boos); Bill says that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal performed an exorcism in college. And means it.
Bill is momentarily heckled, and promptly calls the heckler a seven-letter obscenity beginning with “a” and ending in “e.”
Maher takes potshots at the American public, calling the country stupid with an adroit use of multiple and varied literary devices meant to show how much smarter than the average American he really is.
But the substance -- if you can call it that -- of the discussion took a backseat to the carnage, the uncomfortable back-and-forth between Maher and Coulter, and the infuriating uselessness of Halperin, who practically egged Maher on as he leered and patronized Ann throughout the night, condescendingly calling her "sweetness," and "my darling in the little black dress."
As Coulter fought vainly to stick to a topic, Maher would feign exhaustion over her uncanny penchant for logic and reason, calling her "dunk tank clown," and overseer of the "institute of rectum-derived statistics." At one point, forced to point out his petulance, she said, "Now see, I'm citing facts and you're calling me names," eliciting a throw-away apology and a shudder-inducing pat on the shoulder.
Adding to Maher's total disrespect for, well, everyone, and the audience's total disrespect for Ann, was the overwhelming feeling that this whole charade was rigged. Halperin would cut Ann off to move onto another searing "question," cheered on by the audience every time, but let Maher rattle off 17 off-topic jokes about Ann's genitals or Bush doing drugs.
At one point, while bickering over Obama's campaign promise to pull out of Iraq immediately, Maher successfully goads Halperin into confirming one of his points -- which Halperin does. What kind of "moderator" actually joins in the debate?
A liberal one.
In the end the result was clear: Bill got the most applause in a rigged fight, Ann held her own and liberals have no class. But we already knew that.
This thing belonged in a boxing ring in Atlantic City or Vegas with Jerry Springer as referee.
“why does she take part in this crap?”
Because, her and Bill are ex-lovers and it is all in fun. It is a way for them to amuse themselves.
Ann, We all have a limited time in this life. Why in the heck are you wasting a precious bit on people like this? Don’t tell me you didn’t know ahead of time what the night would be like. Don’t do that again.
Money?
“... when you wrestle with pigs all you get is filthy and smelly - and the pig likes it.”
And so does Anne’s bank account. The more she hangs around with those swine, the more material she gets for subsequent books.
Is it me or just this photograph or is Ann getting hotter?
I don’t know why she puts up with it. She and Maher are friends? I’ve always thought highly of Ann but she doesn’t need to do this. I don’t think it helps her. She can’t need the money that much, or is she truly a media -—?
She may be a demogogue but Ann is far from an anti-intellectual. She has the stats and facts to back up her assertions but enjoys tweaking the libs.
Bill gets one (1) point for this remark which is slightly funny and also true.
Of course, Obama is spending six times the amount in 1/48th of the time. AND he's spending the money on toxic lefty crap. AND he's raising taxes rather than reducing them.
She does not back down from a fight and the money is probably not bad.
I would like to see this “debate” on HBO. It would be an eye opener for many to see the degenerate left in action.
I've no idea, it's beyond my imagining that anyone could need the money THAT bad, and how much money are we talking about anyway? She sells a lot of books and doesn't need to take abuse to sell books. She seems too sensible to be a masochist or an attention hog. Too smart to believe she can convert idiots with logic.
Who can say? Different strokes.
She's getting hotter!
As for Maher, he's getting dumber and uglier. One of the many reasons I cancelled HBO...
I agree that Ann is “anti-intellectual”. It appears that you are the “intellectual”. Ann is intelligent. I’m not sure about you.
$
That is insane. And untrue.
I can’t believe she would have ever been so desperate as to have slept with this Garden Gnome named Maher....
My take is she is doing it for new material.
Next book “Brainless”?
She doesn’t need the money, but she probably enjoys the challenge, and it gives her video material for her guest appearances to prove her points about libs.
But what we are experiencing now is like in 1860—the pressure in the pot is building, and it is not going to end well. It won’t be blue and grey this time—it will be blue and red.
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