Hmmm. I don't seem to have a Tom Sellick pic.Here's Mel. :)
Posted on 03/30/2005 4:41:24 AM PST by bitt
Conservative columnist and author Ann Coulter was greeted with a mixture of standing ovations and heckling after she took center stage Tuesday night at Kansas University's Lied Center.
As soon as she stepped up to the microphone, Coulter fired off one zinger after another about liberalism while promising to answer questions from left-wing members in the audience who could "thrash their way to a coherent thought."
"I've come to find I like liberals a lot more," Coulter said early in her speech. "They're kind of cute when they're cold, shivering and afraid."
Coulter spoke as the 37th J.A. Vickers Sr. Memorial Lecture Series lecturer to a crowd estimated by KU officials at about 1,800 people. The lectures, which began in 1971, were established through a gift to the Kansas University Endowment Association by the Vickers family of Wichita.
Coulter received several standing ovations during her speech, but she also found herself interrupted several times by a small, scattered group of hecklers.
"I think there are some people in the audience who meant to be at the sexual reorientation class down the hall," Coulter said, in response to the heckling.
Moments later Coulter stopped and called for assistance from students when hecklers started in again and no one of authority was seen trying to stop them.
"Could 10 of the largest College Republicans start walking up and down the aisles and start removing anyone shouting?" Coulter asked. "Otherwise, this lecture is over."
Several people responded, leaving their seats to confront the hecklers, and verbal confrontations erupted in parts of the auditorium. One of those who answered Coulter's call was Michael Conner, a Shawnee freshman.
"All I did was say they shouldn't stop her from speaking," Conner said of confronting some audience members in the back of the auditorium.
Later, when heckling broke out again, a couple of uniformed KU Public Safety Department officers appeared and escorted about six people out of the auditorium.
Coulter resumed her critical remarks, calling Sen. Ted Kennedy a "human dirigible" and the Democrats' "spiritual leader." She also made fun of the Democrats' dalliance with filmmaker Michael Moore and former presidential candidate John Kerry, who she said got away with telling "big, fat, enormous lies."
Despite Kerry's loss, Democrats think their political stances and ideas just "need new labels for their bottles," Coulter said.
She also blasted the nation's judicial system for its handling of the Terri Schiavo case. "We no longer have a single check on the judiciary," she said.
Coulter's appearance spurred mixed emotions among those who came to see her. About a dozen protesters stood outside the center before her speech, carrying signs bearing quotes from her books and columns. Ron Warman Jr. dressed up in a clown suit to express his dislike of Coulter.
"I think she's a clown or a witch," the 45-year-old Lawrence man said.
Some of the protesters, such as Robert Richardson, said they were members of the Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics.
"We're just not open-minded enough to like Ann Coulter," Richardson, 28, of Lawrence, said.
Others, such as Mollie Devine, 26, said she was a big fan of Coulter.
"I love her," the Lawrence woman said. "She doesn't back down. She's also funnier than the other (conservative) columnists."
Mary Anne Smith, 38, said she welcomed a chance to hear a noted right-wing conservative speak.
"We hear so much of the liberal side in Lawrence," she said. "I'm excited she came here, and this is not a very easy place to come."
John Altevogt, a conservative GOP activist from Wyandotte County, also welcomed Coulter.
"Ann Coulter is logical, rational and an independent thinker," he said. "In essence, everything the left hates in their womenfolk."
Unhappy with controversy
Others said they were displeased with the hecklers, including brothers Richard and Alfred Dyer, who sat in front of a few hecklers they described as acting like children.
"I think they did a disservice by heckling her," Alfred Dyer, 54, Tonganoxie, said.
"She's got a right to be treated in a civilized manner," Richard Dyer, 53, Lawrence, said.
John Hoopes, 46, Lawrence, said the event reminded him of watching the "Jerry Springer Show."
Coulter was paid $25,000 for her appearance, which was paid from the Vickers endowment fund, said Toni Dixon, director of communications for the KU School of Business. State and university money were not used, she said.
This is the same post thats in breaking news over at DU.. same person?
Sorry, but her thighs are NOT Ann's thighs.
I think the rest of it is phony, too. Photoshop!Absolutely photoshopped.
The first time I saw that pic, it took me a few
seconds but I knew it wasn't Annie. :)Still, a nice pic for the guys here. :)
I don't know if I would go so far as to say they are cute. They are kind of funny.
But they are as scary as hell when they are in control.
I think he was implying it.
Yes, they MUST have their eye candy. Now, if we could only find a good picture of Tom Selleck, MY eye-candy. Mxxx
Hmmm. I don't seem to have a Tom Sellick pic.Here's Mel. :)
Anyway, I'm outta here for a bit.Heading over to Fry's Electronics to window shop for a
scanner. Taking notes so I can maybe find one on eBay
cheap enough. :)
You're right!
Not that I admit to anything, and don't ask my husband--he's a vicious liar. About that, at least.
rotfl
You are wise. Very wise (smile). Maryxxx
He's nice but he's still not Tom. Sigh.
what's with the kitty call? ann is a dead head. she loves the greatful dead.
I like them too ;)
"She is a Dead Head. WTF does that mean?"
A supremely dedicated fan of the Grateful Dead.
Calling it as she sees it, no doubt.
Agreed. Totally.
"I wonder if the public will even get it?"
The discerning public will certainly get it. It will, though, pass over the heads of people who falsely consider themselves to be open-minded -- like, say, the kind of folks who regularly post at DU.
I was at the lecture at KU last night. The heckling and loud giggling started before Ann even really got started. I just wanted to hear Ann speak. She even said at the beginning that there would be a q/a session at the end, but the children couldn't wait that long and let Ann do her lecture first. If I were a lib I would have been embarrased by the behavior of the 20 or 30 or so in attendance that made fools of themselves. They were even disrespectfull in the q/a session... A uniformed member of the military had the mic and was trying to ask a question while the children in the back tried to talk over him too.
On the bright side, Ann was great and handled herself very well.
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