DONAHUE — JULY 18, 2002
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PHIL DONAHUE, HOST: Good evening. She’s a well-known conservative whose book, “Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right” is on No. 1 position on “The New York Times” bestseller list. Looky, here.
Well, welcome, Ann Coulter. You couldn’t have been meaner to me. I’m not in the book. What am I? A potted plant? And liberals are rich. If a liberal has indoor plumbing, he’s a hypocrite. Liberals are sort of classist type people who go around in limousines and are not in touch with the real world.
You give me a headache. This book, I mean, on and on. I’ve never been so assaulted in my life.
ANN COULTER, “SLANDER”: Oh, thank you. You’re not that assaulted.
You weren’t mentioned.
DONAHUE: That was the biggest thing that hurt. You’re proud of what you did to Bill and Hill, aren’t you? You impeached the guy.
COULTER: Thank you. You’re one of the few who will give me credit for that.
DONAHUE: Well, you’re right there. You were with-you played Monica’s tape-recorded conversations with Linda Tripp at your house parties, holiday time.
COULTER: No, I didn’t, but that’s the last book. Can we talk about this book?
DONAHUE: Wait a minute. Did you or did you not play the Monica tapes in your apartment, or is it a home, at a holiday time?
COULTER: No, that is utterly preposterous. But I love that there are so many rumors about me out there, and that people want to talk about crazy things like this, rather than discuss my book.
DONAHUE: David Brock, in his book “Blinded By the Right,” says you did.
COULTER: Apparently he says a lot of things that aren’t true, though I haven’t read his book. I hear it’s wonderfully edited, though, because it’s edited by the same person as this book, which just came out.
DONAHUE: But you’re proud that you spent $70 billion of the people’s money investigating Bill Clinton?
COULTER: Are we really going to keep talking about the last book?
DONAHUE: I want you to tell me if you’re proud of that. This is the first chance I’ve had to talk to you.
COULTER: I’m disappointed that he was not removed from office. And, as I wrote in my last book-we will get to this book in a moment, right?
DONAHUE: Well...
COULTER: As I wrote in my last book, at the end of the introduction, the conclusion that if Clinton can get away with what he got away with, it would set a whole new standard for the entire country. And we are seeing that right now in these corporate scandals.
I think it’s wonderful that these people are being taken away in cuffs and that people are angry about it. But to say that Bill Clinton had nothing to do with that, when half the people on TV saying it’s fine to lie, cheat, steal, it’s just about sex. Well, apparently a lot of people who run corporations think it’s OK to lie if it’s just about money.
I think it was incredibly corrupting for America. And I think it’s astonishing that all liberals and that every Democrat defended that man on the basis of his argument, my opponents are right wing Republicans. And that’s why I wrote this book.
DONAHUE: And to see those righteous brothers, Republicans from the House, marching from the House to the Senate, monogamous, all, that didn’t embarrass you? $70 million of the people’s money to look up a dress. And you brought the government to a halt for a year and a half. Nothing else was done.
Because you were out there trying to get Bubba. You couldn’t get him at the polls so you were going to knock him off right in the middle of his term. That’s kind of shameful. You’ve got to be a little bit sorry.
COULTER: In addition to Clinton’s extremely persuasive argument to liberals, like you and Democrats, I shouldn’t be removed from office because my opponents are right wing Republicans, there was also the very popular argument, let’s move on, let’s move on. I moved on a long time ago. I’m glad we impeached him.
I’m sorry we didn’t remove him from office. But I think the country is having a major swing-back now. They see, after America comes under a grievous attack, the great importance of having a man of some morals and virtue in the Oval Office. And I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief that that has happened. Now, I don’t think it would have been without Clinton’s impeachment.
DONAHUE: Right. We will talk about the book. But you take some heavy incoming from Brock’s book, which I’m sure you read.
COULTER: I did not read it. I don’t know anyone who read it.
DONAHUE: Let me just tell you. He accuses you, among other things, of being an anti-Semite.
COULTER: Maybe that will help me with the Muslims.
DONAHUE: He says that you left New York because you wanted to get away from all these Jews. Did you say that?
COULTER: I find this very interesting, that I write a book saying liberals won’t argue about things, instead what they do is call conservatives names. And I come on your show and all you’re doing is calling me names.
DONAHUE: No, I’m not calling you. I’m saying that this is...
COULTER: Right, you’re quoting other people who called me names.
DONAHUE: Well, you did say, you’re telling the liberals we call people names. Listen to Ann.
COULTER: This book has been quite discredited. I thought we were going to talk about my book.
DONAHUE: You label Clinton as crazy, like a serial killer, creepier and slimier than Kennedy. A horny hick, you called him, white trash. You called all these names. Your hatred, and those who supported you...
COULTER: Not hatred.,,
DONAHUE: ... for Clinton was pathological.
COULTER: I’m not the president of the United States. I come on your show and all you’re doing is calling me names.
DONAHUE: But you don’t...
COULTER: I’m not sending boys into battle to die for the country. I’m not the commander-in-chief. I’m just trying to talk about my book. I come on your show, all do you is call me names.
DONAHUE: Right. Your liberal-you also make the point that liberals somehow don’t seem to get it. And all they do is argue with themselves. There’s a lot...
COULTER: To the contrary, I say it’s conservatives who argue with themselves, which is why every interest public policy idea for 20 years has come out of some part of the right wing. It’s amazing how productive debate can be when one isn’t constantly being called names and can engage in argument from the right wing.
I mean, in the past 20 years, some of the new ideas, some of which are being implemented, have been implemented, or are at least being talked about, flat packs, Star Wars, ending that...
DONAHUE: The liberal catechism includes a hatred of Christians. You believe this?
COULTER: Giuliani’s quality of life crimes.
DONAHUE: You don’t like my question.
COULTER: No, I was just trying to finish my answer. You mischaracterized my book and I’m just trying to describe my book. All these great new ideas keep coming up because...
DONAHUE: Liberals hey America.
COULTER: I think argument actually does produce something, whereas, for 20 years all we keep hearing from liberals is, my opponent is racist, sexist, anti-Semitic. That’s not an argument. This a 6-year-old argument.
DONAHUE: I just want to make sure we got this right. Liberals hate America. They hate all religions except Islam. Liberals love Islam, hate all other religions.
COULTER: Post 9/11.
DONAHUE: Well, good for you.
COULTER: In fact, liberals do go crazy at every mention of God, certainly in a public school. Including voluntary prayers at football game. But I note that they have a very heightened interest that the terrorists at Guantanamo be free to practice their religion.
DONAHUE: All right, you’re on the record as denying that you played these tapes for entertainment at your parties before the Paula Jones thing even was...
COULTER: Preposterous.
DONAHUE: Before the president was even deposed on the Paula Jones...
COULTER: Phil Donahue, do you still beat your wife? Because that’s what I say to this charge.
DONAHUE: And we’ll be back with Ann Coulter in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DONAHUE: The book is at No. 1 on the “New York Times” bestseller list. There it is, Ann Coulter. “Slander” is the title. The “National Review” on-line Web site fired you after you said that we should convert them to Christianity and kill their leaders and invade their countries. You said that.
COULTER: Also false.
DONAHUE: The “National Review” did not drop your column? You called them girly boys.
COULTER: Yes, they dropped my column...
DONAHUE: That’s the first thing that you’ve acknowledged, that you did call them girly boys.
COULTER: I call a lot of people a lot of things.
DONAHUE: So you’re a name caller yourself. You acknowledge that.
COULTER: I don’t have any problem with invective. The title of my book is “Slander,” not “Invective.” When I call somebody a name, I assure you, it’s true.
DONAHUE: Yes.
COULTER: I happen to know a lot of girly boys. I like a lot of them.
It’s simply a fact that they were being girly boys for dropping my column.
What was incorrect was your claim, first, that they fired me or, B, that it was because of that line in that column. It was actually the next column that proposed we give an extra little look at swarthy men at airports that upset them and they refused to run.
DONAHUE: You have a call. We have a caller. Dave?
CALLER: Yes, I’m here, Phil.
DONAHUE: Go ahead.
CALLER: Yes, I’d like to know why Ann thinks the ethics of Harken and Halliburton are preferable to those of Clinton and Gore, who gave us about the best decade we’ve had in recent years.
COULTER: The idea that, you know, we had good weather when Clinton was in office. Actually, the economy was pretty bad until the Republican Congress came in and cut the taxes from the tax increase that Clinton had given us. Because, I mean, the Halliburton, Cheney-this is such a classic liberal hoax charge, which I describe in my book in chapter five, which is, you know, you have these complicated, tedious charges that no one could possibly follow.
It would have to be like Ross Perot with the charts and the points. And by the time everyone has figured out there’s nothing there, there’s no there, there. We’ve already heard all the-allegations he does not deny.
(CROSSTALK)
DONAHUE: So liberals are chasing Enron unfairly. They didn’t game electrical energy to California, gouge middle-class, taxpaying citizens who sent their sons and daughters to war, inflated their utility bill so that they could make more money, then bail before the stock. That’s fine with you.
You still want us to go after Whitewater. What a treasure trove was that. How many millions? How many months? How many people?
COULTER: Can I respond?
DONAHUE: Go ahead. Make your point.
COULTER: Actually, you’re the one who wants to keep talking about Clinton. I’m the one who wants to talk about my book.
DONAHUE: Enron is fine.
COULTER: And really, I don’t...
DONAHUE: Enron is a good thing?
COULTER: I don’t mind Enron as much as I mind you losing the entire viewing audience when I’m trying to sell a book, by going through these tedious charges. As I say, only liberals could slander people through the boredom of their charges. They’re just insinuating, saying Bush, Cheney, Enron, Enron.
DONAHUE: Nothing. Nothing at all here.
COULTER: OK, produce something.
DONAHUE: Go away, liberals.
COULTER: No...
DONAHUE: Produce something? We just had the bottom fall out of all those companies-not only Enron, but the rest of them as well.
COULTER: Right, and you know why? It’s because people are lying and cheating and steeling. And who set the model for that and who defended someone who did that? We did say it’s OK to lie. It’s fine to lie. In fact, it’s OK to perjure yourself before a federal judge.
DONAHUE: Clinton caused the Enron scandal?
COULTER: No, he caused the scandal which causes all of these scandals, which is corruption...
DONAHUE: You’re the one who said you didn’t want to go there. But, go ahead. You’ll use Clinton as it’s convenient. Go ahead. You were saying?
COULTER: You’re the one who said what caused this? Yes, what caused this is Bill Clinton and a complete decline of morals. Are you saying that what these people did was legal? Because it wasn’t. They are going to be arrested. And when there is-and they will to go jail. And they were willing to break the law, as was the president, the most powerful man in the universe.
And half the people on TV were saying, that’s fine. That’s fine because his opponents are bad people. It’s just an excuse.
DONAHUE: You’ve grievously been unfair to some folks in here. You have “New York Times” columnist Frank Rich demanding Ashcroft stop monkeying around with Muslim terrorists?
COULTER: Yes.
DONAHUE: He said no such thing. Frank Rich is out there saying go get them.
COULTER: Yes, he did. He had a column on it.
DONAHUE: No, he didn’t.
COULTER: I cite the column and I invite the viewers to look it up. It is quoted. It is footnoted. He had an entire column denouncing John Ashcroft for not meeting with the representatives.
DONAHUE: That’s not monkeying around. That’s not saying he should stop monkeying around.
COULTER: Oh, yes, it-look, he asked if it was one or the other.
DONAHUE: Let’s, for the sake of this argument-Rich was saying...
COULTER: No, not for the sake of this argument.
DONAHUE: Rich was saying if anybody knows about terrorism, it’s people who operate abortion clinics. And they have names. They know things. And they wanted to talk to Ashcroft so they could help him with this war on terror.
Wouldn’t see them. Wouldn’t even talk to them. That was the point...
COULTER: OK, can I respond now?
DONAHUE: Sure.
COULTER: And, moreover, he quoted the great expertise of these planned parenthood experts. Because the true terrorists are the opponents to slaughtering children in the womb. That’s what we have to worry about in this country. He quoted them and what their advice would be, don’t offer terrorists money.
Well, the precise quote, you know, terrorists they were looking for was, caught in response to a reward of money. That’s a little embarrassing, don’t you think? Listen to these people.
Well, the advice they were giving, that he quoted in his column, turned out to be 180 degrees wrong. And that was the point of this column. Concentrate on people going after abortion clinics.
DONAHUE: You accuse him of suggesting that Ashcroft and the rest should stop...
COULTER: He was not pursuing the war on terrorism seriously because he would not meet with Planned Parenthood.
DONAHUE: That isn’t what you said.
COULTER: Of course it is.
DONAHUE: “Liberal Lies About the American Right.” Read it for yourself. This is something you might want to curl up before the fire, read. And it may make you happy, if you’re on her side of the ledger. We’ll look for your next book and I hope it’s as successful as this one.
You’re doing something right, Miss Coulter.
COULTER: Thank you.
DONAHUE: They’re buying your books.
Next, a woman who was sentenced to 24 years in jail just because she was holding money for her drug-dealing boyfriend. The Rockefeller laws-unfair jailing mothers? Separating them from their children-it has to stop. Back in a moment.
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