Posted by
Mr. D on Sunday, July 09, 2006 7:31:03 PM
Ann Coulter has really stirred the pot this time! Even Bill O’Reilly has entered the fray, and says that he thinks she has clearly stepped over the line. I heard her comments, and wondered what context to put it in. There are two things I do know about Ann Coulter: 1) She is articulate and filled with hyperbole, and 2) She usually makes a very cogent point, even while overstating it- sometimes a lot.
When I first heard her oft repeated remark about the five women “enjoying their husband’s deaths” I naturally drew back, aghast at her remark. But being a naturally-curious sort of fellow, I purchased her book, Godless The Church of Liberalism. Coincidentally last night my wife and I were in our hotel, on the way back from our Grand Canyon vacation, and were tuned in to Fox News, Bill O’Reilly. I happened to be reading her book at that time, and was just finishing chapter four. The conservative, whom Bill disagreed with (he does that a lot, which is what makes him so intriguing) kept referring to her remarks in the book, and stating that they did make sense.
Anyway, I read the next chapter with delight (I do wish Mr. O’Reilly would have reprinted her remarks- since he said he had read them sixteen times). There are two pertinent paragraphs which I will point to and will quote from them briefly:
After 9/11, four housevives from New Jersey whose husbands died in the attack on the World Trade Center became media heroes for blaming their husbands’ deaths on George Bush and demanding a commission to investigate why Bush didn’t stop the attacks. . . . These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by grief-arazzis. I’ve never seen people enjoying their husbands’ deaths so much. (Coulter, p. 103)
In context, I have to say I am inclined to agree with Coulter. These women, who should be grieving, and whom I am sure, are grieving nevertheless have made a political parade out of their husbands’ deaths. It is they who have done the wrong thing by publically politicizing such a private tragic thing. Coulter is right to take them to task; it is a bit of irony that she pointed out that these are women put in an unassailable category- Coulter herself is being assailed now for attacking MSM darlings.