Tuesday - March 06, 2007

On Ann Coulter

Or Late to the Party 

What should the right do about Ann Coulter?  Her remarks at CPAC last week, which are highlighted here, were out of bounds.

When she said, right after 9-11, "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity", the left about had a unanimous hissy fit.  But that is because, in general, the only outrage the left can muster is against the United States.  They never can seem to find any hatred towards our enemies.

Last year she raised the hackles of the left again, when she said, "I think our motto should be, post-9-11: raghead talks tough, raghead faces consequences."  Once again, the left is outraged, because they direct their hatred for Bush the Nazi or the American soldier as baby killer.  Heaven forbid the left calls our enemies a bad name or two.

Unfortunately, this year, Ann crossed the line of good taste.  I know what she was trying to say, but she said it poorly.  This was her John Kerry moment.  She choose the wrong words.  What she said wasn't funny, witty, or biting.  Additionally, she was a guest at CPAC, and she decided to embarrass her hosts.

What to do with Ann Coulter?  Machiavelli wrote:

And the reason for this is, that no well-ordered republic should ever cancel the crimes of its citizens by their merits; but having established rewards for good actions and penalties for evil ones, and having rewarded a citizen for good conduct who afterwards commits a wrong, he should be chastised for that without regard to his previous merits.

Ann needs to apologize for her comments.  If she won't do it on her own, then her friends and colleagues need to impress upon her the need for her to apologize.  And if she won't apologize, then she needs to be marginalized until she realizes her mistake.

Why should she apologize?  Because the right is not like the left.  We hold our own to account.  For instance, has the left chastised  Bill Maher for saying that it was too bad Cheney wasn't killed by the suicide bomber in Afghanistan?  Or did the Democrats, opponents of the "culture of corruption" force, William Jefferson, who had $90,000 in bribes in his freezer to resign?  No, New Orleans reelected him and Speaker Pelosi gave him a committee on Homeland Security.  I could fill twenty pages on things the left has said that should cause moral outrage that the left has let pass.  But that is part of the defining difference between the right and left.  We don't let this things pass.

Allowing Ann to skate on this one would make us just the like left.  Do you want a Cindy Sheehan hanging around your movement?