"She's Funny That Way"

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Media
Posted on Tue Jun 26, 2007 at 09:03:26 PM EST
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So was titled a piece by Time's John Cloud a few months ago:

. . . Coulter wants to make people laugh more than anything; she is, as I have argued here, a right-wing ironist and comedienne as much as she is a political commentator. . . . We don't read her body language the way we normally do because the words she is uttering are so peremptory and shocking. If we did, we would put her in the same league as Bill Maher or Jackie Mason, not the dry policy analysts who are sometimes pitted against her on cable-news shows.

Of course Coulter was Time's cover girl 2 years ago. Boehlert skewered:

April 19, 2005 | When Time magazine named Ann Coulter among its 100 "most influential people" last week, alongside such heavyweights as Ariel Sharon, Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Kim Jong Il and the Dalai Lama, the choice produced guffaws online. Plugging the issue on Fox News last week, Time executive editor Priscilla Painton insisted it was Coulter's use of "humor" that made her so influential, stopping just short of suggesting that Coulter is the conservative Jon Stewart. . . . At least now we know where Time magazine was going with its choice. Turns out Coulter's inclusion was just a warm-up -- a justification -- for this week's fawning Time cover story, "Ms. Right." . . .

But Time's Joe Klein is concerned about the coarsening of the discourse by blogs:

the smart stuff is being drowned out by a fierce, bullying, often witless tone of intolerance that has overtaken the left-wing sector of the blogosphere. Anyone who doesn't move in lockstep with the most extreme voices is savaged and ridiculed—especially people like me who often agree with the liberal position but sometimes disagree and are therefore considered traitorously unreliable.

Joe, call me when someone wishes you die in a terrorist attack. What Time has published makes a mockery of Klein's whine.

< Elizabeth Edwards Takes on the She-Pundit | Eugene Robinson's Funny That Way >

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"She's Funny That Way" | 26 comments (26 topical)

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Cloud has a history of coddling (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by andgarden on Tue Jun 26, 2007 at 09:08:51 PM EST

that [expletives removed].

To the substance of what you say, Al Franken had this pegged years ago with Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations. Civility is only to be demanded from liberals.

As a centrist, you are, of course, exempt. ;-)

My exemption (5.00 / 2) (#2)
by Big Tent Democrat on Tue Jun 26, 2007 at 09:12:34 PM EST

is deserved. Heh.


: Heh (5.00 / 1) (#3)
by TexDem on Tue Jun 26, 2007 at 09:20:12 PM EST

Indeed.

It's just an observation (none / 0) (#6)
by Repack Rider on Tue Jun 26, 2007 at 09:37:39 PM EST

If Rush is not a big fat idiot, then the category does not exist. As a dealer in insults and lies, he cannot be considered immune to the truth about himself. What was it that Adlai Stevenson said? "If the Republicans will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them."

Franken didn't even mention that Limbaugh is a convicted criminal, a drug addict, a smuggler, a money launderer, and takes Viagra with him when he visits the under-age prostitution capital of the world, all of which are also undeniably true.

Franken was making an observation that anyone else could make. If he said the sky was blue, would you say he was insulting the sky?


Instead of her dying in a terrorist attack (5.00 / 1) (#4)
by Edger on Tue Jun 26, 2007 at 09:28:15 PM EST

I have a worse fate in mind for her.

Maybe one day she'll be swarmed by a hundred rabid commie-pinko atheist leftwing gay and lesbian drunk naked acidheads who all graduated with liberal arts degrees totally disconnected from reality bent on total destruction of society, with nothing better to do with their time than put shrooms in her tea, tie her to her chair, douse her in patchouli oil, hang a mirror around her neck, aim a strobe light at her...

...and spend the night talking her down while making her listen to Pink Floyd's Animals album. While staring at the lava lamp in front of her.

Then lets see what she's made of, or if she can string three words together.

Peace.

Understand that it's an act (5.00 / 2) (#5)
by andgarden on Tue Jun 26, 2007 at 09:37:13 PM EST

She's playing a role, and I have very little confidence that much of what she says comes out of any conviction.


Too many people believe (5.00 / 1) (#9)
by Edger on Tue Jun 26, 2007 at 09:47:41 PM EST

that she says what she says out of conviction. That she means it. And think they should think the way she tells them too.

Whether it's a role or not, it's dangerous. And sick.


I agree (none / 0) (#7)
by Big Tent Democrat on Tue Jun 26, 2007 at 09:43:02 PM EST

That's why the real question is why does the Media have her on?

She should not be seen or heard imo.

Let her have a blog, Fox and the Moonie Times.


: She's an ideological pornographer. (none / 0) (#10)
by andgarden on Tue Jun 26, 2007 at 09:48:39 PM EST

I could say more, but I'd just end up sinking to Rush's level.

Yes (none / 0) (#8)
by Edger on Tue Jun 26, 2007 at 09:43:15 PM EST

But I'd still enjoy seeing her convicted.

Especially by herself.


I think she has found a niche (none / 0) (#14)
by Militarytracy on Tue Jun 26, 2007 at 11:54:39 PM EST

to get attention but she isn't close to any human or being to my knowledge. She just projects varieties of hate that the right is comfy with and she gets attention being their conduit. I felt sorry for her for just a moment when E Edwards was saying she was "that child's mother, the child that died and what pundit was saying was hate speech". I saw something flicker across pundits face for just one moment, one moment of shame and something that looked like a deep loneliness. I can't believe it but I felt sorry for her.


: But then it passed (5.00 / 1) (#15)
by TexDem on Wed Jun 27, 2007 at 12:26:35 AM EST

you're forgiven.

Actually, she wouldn't be out of her element (5.00 / 2) (#18)
by Luke D on Wed Jun 27, 2007 at 02:08:03 PM EST

That environment probably would not phase her because, surprise surprise, Coulter is a Deadhead, and has probably been there, done that.

See http://www.jambands.com/Features/content_2006_06_23.06.phtml


LOOK (none / 0) (#19)
by Edger on Wed Jun 27, 2007 at 02:14:41 PM EST

There's no way I'm burning all my Dead records. Ain't gonna happen.

I'll go into denial first and pretend I never read that.

Ok with you? ;-)


No doubt (none / 0) (#20)
by Luke D on Wed Jun 27, 2007 at 02:23:17 PM EST

My hundreds (thousands?) of tapes and CDs and years of devotion are not affected by a fellow fan being a total jerk.

That whole interview is a little jarring; I was a bit shocked when I read it in Relix a few months back, but I quickly regained my composure and chalked her behavior up to never coming fully back from a bad trip. Or, some people are just jerks.

<reference>
Marge: Gosh, I thought he'd be happier in his true habitat.

Warden: Oh, I think he is.

Marge: Then why is he attacking all those other elephants?

Warden: Well, animals are a lot like people, Mrs. Simpson. Some of them act badly because they've had a hard life, or have been mistreated...but, like people, some of them are just jerks.

Stop that, Mr. Simpson. [Homer butts the warden repeatedly with his head]
<end reference>


: Heh! Never coming fully back? (none / 0) (#22)
by Edger on Wed Jun 27, 2007 at 02:54:59 PM EST

Was she ever fully here to begin with? Maybe she just kind of sort of looks that way?

According to Bill Mahrer (none / 0) (#16)
by TexDem on Wed Jun 27, 2007 at 12:28:56 AM EST

who infers personal experience, she'd probably enjoy that Edger.


I don't know how you can keep reading (5.00 / 1) (#12)
by Militarytracy on Tue Jun 26, 2007 at 10:35:01 PM EST

that Joe Klein, but I guess I don't have to then.

the smart stuff is being drowned out by a fierce, bullying, often witless tone of intolerance that has overtaken the left-wing sector of the blogosphere

I'm tired of incompetence, everybody is and Bush has oversold incompetence as being smart and the stock is worth nothing now. I don't know how Joe is going to make a living anymore from his smart incompetence.

Ann Coulter and that hair (5.00 / 1) (#17)
by NoPeroxideNeeded on Wed Jun 27, 2007 at 10:11:34 AM EST

One idea to raise a lot of money for someone or something worthy:

Goal: Pay to guess how many times Ann will shake, touch, adjust, or otherwise draw attention to her golden tresses. Five upcoming public appearances will be chosen. Independent counters will count/recount for accuracy. Whoever comes the closest wins the pot.

coulter should be in prison (5.00 / 1) (#21)
by Sailor on Wed Jun 27, 2007 at 02:48:01 PM EST

she's called for political leaders and prez candidates to be assassinated. she committed voter fraud.

But I guess IOKIYAR

coulter's only what we make of her (4.00 / 1) (#27)
by TCKelly on Fri Jul 13, 2007 at 08:54:15 AM EST

by drawing attention to her commentaries, we give her a much bigger stage than she would have if we just ignored her. Her comments enrage so many of us on the left that we put a camera in her face to try to rebut it, or to show the rest of america why we think she's nuts, but all we are really doing is giving her a megaphone to speak over our heads to the undecideds. She's bumpersticker thin and that resonates with the media-fed public.

There has been something (3.00 / 1) (#11)
by Stewieeeee on Tue Jun 26, 2007 at 10:04:40 PM EST

made of maher's and coulter's friendship.

insofar as they both consider themselves entertainers, they CLAIM to respect one another.

i have a suspicion that bill maher feels sorry for her more than anything else.

at least i hope that's the case.

time magazine is trying to remain relevant to a demographic that, for the most part, can't even read.

She's truthful that way (1.00 / 3) (#23)
by Poppy123 on Wed Jun 27, 2007 at 06:32:48 PM EST

Coulter told the truth and the left doesn't like it:

In 1985, a 31-year-old North Carolina lawyer named John Edwards stood before a jury and channeled the words of an unborn baby girl.

Referring to an hour-by-hour record of a fetal heartbeat monitor, Mr. Edwards told the jury: "She said at 3, `I'm fine.' She said at 4, `I'm having a little trouble, but I'm doing O.K.' Five, she said, `I'm having problems.' At 5:30, she said, `I need out.' "

But the obstetrician, he argued in an artful blend of science and passion, failed to heed the call. By waiting 90 more minutes to perform a breech delivery, rather than immediately performing a Caesarean section, Mr. Edwards said, the doctor permanently damaged the girl's brain.

"She speaks to you through me," the lawyer went on in his closing argument. "And I have to tell you right now -- I didn't plan to talk about this -- right now I feel her. I feel her presence. She's inside me, and she's talking to you."

The jury came back with a $6.5 million verdict in the cerebral palsy case, and Mr. Edwards established his reputation as the state's most feared plaintiff's lawyer.

In the decade that followed, Mr. Edwards filed at least 20 similar lawsuits against doctors and hospitals in deliveries gone wrong, winning verdicts and settlements of more than $60 million, typically keeping about a third. As a politician he has spoken of these lawsuits with pride.
----------------------
It has since been proven medically that Edwards was lying. He actually ruined alot of good doctors practices and lives, and now he wants people like Ann to shut up about it. He's one of the reasons we have so many Cesarian sections being done. Any women not governed by politics should find him detestable.

: Plagiarist (5.00 / 3) (#25)
by Repack Rider on Wed Jun 27, 2007 at 09:05:11 PM EST

You ripped off the New York Times, without attribution and out of context.
And you presented it as if you had written it yourself, but the perfect spelling and punctuation gave you away, you illiterate, plagiarist hack.
Are you really an example of our political opponents? If so, the future bodes well for liberal causes.

She's truthful that way (1.00 / 3) (#24)
by Poppy123 on Wed Jun 27, 2007 at 07:43:07 PM EST

I see this site considers trolling, any fact they happen to disagree with. What a great oppotunity for dialogue.

Can any women defend what Edwards did in court? He claimed to be channelling the thoughts of a dead baby..has Coulter done that?

: Nice job! (5.00 / 2) (#26)
by Sailor on Wed Jun 27, 2007 at 11:17:48 PM EST

now go back under the bridge, and enjoy your cookie.