http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_steven_l_080114_coulter_sheds_any_re.htm--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 14, 2008
By Steven Leser
As I read the beginning of her most recent article dated January 9 2008,
http://www.anncoulter.org/cgi-local/printer_friendly.cgi?article=229 , something miraculous began to happen to me. I began to feel sorry for Ann Coulter.
For those of you who do not know, Ann’s father passed away on January 4th. Her latest article is mostly about that and about what kind of a man he was. Through the first five paragraphs, ending in “…forgot to put on your skirt” I already had a letter to Ann written in my head. The letter would have given her my condolences and said something along the lines of “…despite the fact that we vigorously disagree on the issues, this was no time for those kinds of disputes. I feel for you and your family that you have lost your father, he sounded like an amazing fellow and I offer you my most heartfelt condolences.”
I have written several articles that were very critical of Coulter so I would not have taken this course lightly. I remain very angry about some of the things she has written and said and I think she routinely goes a mile beyond what is decent, fair and reasonable discourse. However, I thought, this isn’t the time to be political. This person’s father has passed away and it seemed clear from the beginning of the article that she loved him a great deal and that he personified nobility to her. This was the time to rise above politics and reach out to another human being.
Unfortunately, after the fifth paragraph that ended as I described above, Ann started being Ann. Somehow, this woman used the same article she was penning as a eulogy to her father as vicious attack agit-prop against Liberals and Democrats in general and John Edwards and the Kennedy’s in particular, so much for my letter offering condolences. Once again, Ann has shown that even when you think she has been as vile or disgusting as possible, she will prove you wrong. She can exceed even that level of hatefulness.
It is hard to imagine a person showing this kind of disrespect to their loved ones. I dislike Ann and Republican & Conservative views at least as much as she dislikes John Edwards and Democratic and Liberal views, but I would not mention her or attack her or Republicans or Conservatives in the same article I was using to eulogize someone about whom I cared or loved. The people I care about are a hundred times more important than scoring political points, particularly during a eulogy for one of them!
I realized as I continued to read her latest exercise in visceral hatred that this person has ceased being human. Ann’s entire world is now about hate. With most people, if you want to feel some degree of empathy with them, you can tell yourself, well, at least they love their children and/or their parents, etc. One can no longer do that with Ann Coulter. Her hate is so overwhelming that it has even penetrated and poisoned the love that she has for her parents.
The rest of the ideological right in this country needs to do something about and for Ann Coulter. I cannot imagine Tony Snow or Bob Novak or even Sean Hannity or Bill O’Reilly ranting about Liberals in a similar situation. When you think that the article you are writing that discusses the passing of your father is a good place to make points about your political opposition (assuming that political opposition did not cause the death) I think some kind of intervention is necessary.