On The O’Reilly Factor (with Laura Ingraham sitting in) the other night, Ann Coulter claimed the status of the only brave conservative on TV willing to criticize Sarah Palin (full transcript at the link, video here):
And it doesn’t really matter, I might add, that, oh, it’s the media’s fault and they attacked her and they saw her as a threat, all of which I believe is true.
Nonetheless, yet and still it has worked, and most Americans don’t want Sarah Palin for president. But she’s become sort of the Obama of the Tea Party. She’s just “The One” to a certain segment of right wingers. And the tiniest criticism of her — I think many of your viewers may not know this. No conservative on TV will criticize Palin, because they don’t want to deal with the hate mail. You know, you say her voice is a few octaves too high or perhaps Michele Bachmann’s speaking voice is more modulated, and you will be inundated with enraged e-mails and letters….
You know, fish or cut bait here, because you are ginning up this group of Americans who will not even consider anyone else.
You know, we used to all love Sarah Palin, conservatives like me, for her enemies. I’m starting to dislike her because of her fans.
While Coulter portrayed herself as heroic, in fact she is just one in a long line of conservatives who have criticized Palin including on TV and made the same points made by Coulter. Read the full Coulter transcript of Coulter on O’Reilly, then watch these videos.
Did Coulter say anything that hasn’t been said ad nauseum by mainstream conservatives on TV and elsewhere?
Ann, you have done great work over the years. But piling on Palin while claiming victim status was not one of your finer moments.
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Comments
No conservative on TV will criticize Palin, because they don’t want to deal with the hate mail.
Ha! That’s very disingenuous of Coulter, because if anyone thrives on making contriversial statements in order to generate hate mail, it’s Ann Coulter.
No, the media is attacking Palin because that’s what they are being instructed to do. Can’t have a reformer near DC.
Your last sentence explains it all—Fear
The only thing we have to fear is Palin entering the race and destroying any chance we have to defeat Obama.
Period.
The integrity of your comment is flushed down the toilet by your choice of new moniker. How does it feel to be so clever you waste your time and effort?
Btw, It actually encourages me, because the hate and spittle Ms. Palin attracts from the “professional conservatives” here and elsewhere are the “tell” that informs me we, the people, who would support her if she chose to run, are on the right track. So thanks for the validation.
yup
the DC powerbrokers and their surrogates do not want a charismatic accomplished populist to lead
*Sudden and Relentless Reform*
that phrase is CHILLING for a certain segment of the population
(not for me though *__*, and they can’t laugh it off cos, SHE HAS DONE IT BEFORE)
Look, simply put: Who fought the Republican establishment and Oil powers in Alaska – and won — and became a very popular governor until the national Dems and the Press started a cowardly attack on her? A “dummy” by the name of Sarah Palin. I’d take a former PTA head and small town mayor any day for POTUS over the painful genius of Barack “Clueless” Obama, the smartest man ever to be president, the reverse Midas of American prosperity.
mbabbitt wrote:
“Look, simply put: Who fought the Republican establishment and Oil powers in Alaska – and won —…”
So, I guess what you’re saying is it’s a good thing to use the power of government to put a boot on the neck of private companies?
Aside from being female, Sarah Palin graduated from the wrong college. She offended those who think that an Ivy League education is a prerequisite for high public office. Like Harriet Miers, she simply cannot be one of the “best and the brightest,” regardless of any subsequent lifetime accomplishments.
This has nothing to do with Palin’s ability to get elected. Try to stay on topic.
Clearly you’re in love with her. How is that any different than the Obama zombies from 2008?
huh?
to know about her amazing accomplishments in governance, and to admire those, plus her character and fortitude is to *be in love with her*?
how do ya figure that pal?
Watch the doco “The Undefeated” and read the Palin Admin emails if you wanna know WHY a huge and growing Army of American Citizens want this woman to be POTUS
Palin’s speech last Saturday, her Sunday run, her Monday speech, and her lengthy facebook article on Tuesday, I think it was, were individually and collectively quite impressive. She gets it. She hits the crony capitalism better than anyone else, which I think is what scares all of the commentators mentioned in this thoughtful piece by the Prof.
Let’s have two minutes of hate from the right for Sarah Palin’s “fans” – the people of the United States. The farmers and their wives from Iowa, the businessmen she had lunch with, those restaurant owners she’s been talking to, those fishermen she visited in New Hampshire, all those people who kept her in a rope line in Iowa for 45 minutes, the people at the Iowa State Fair who thronged her, all those people volunteering at this very moment for Palin, the members of those Palin organizations in every state of the Union, the organizers and webmasters of the more than 100 websites dedicated to Sarah Palin’s election like Jewish American’s for Sarah, The Vets4Sarah, Students4Palin, Physicians4Palin, Seniors4Palin. Go get’em Ann.
Well, we do live in an Orwellian World where we are all belonging to the Status Quo.
If we don’t eat the Status Quo meat then we’re labeled as fanatical pudding.
In other words; our Ruling Class wants their Status Quo cake while us eating too.
I have yet to hear Coulter or Krauthammer, or Brooks, or Rove explain how someone with 20 years of proven Conservative governing experience (Palin) is less electable than one who has 4 years of questionable Conservative governing experience (Romney) or one who has 1 1/2 years of highly questionable Conservative governing experience (Christie).
Further; candidate Obama LOOKED Presidential too, however his actions as President are deceptive and cruel.
If you’re counting back to her election to the Wasilla City Council, then Palin has 19 years of “conservative governing experience.” But, in fairness, don’t you then have to count back to Chris Christie’s election as a Morris County Freeholder in 1994?
Coulter seems to be exaggerating in saying that no conservatives on TV criticize Palin, but she does have a valid point about people’s sanctimonious attitude toward such criticism. Palin ISN’T perfect she HAS made mistakes, and she DOES have an obligation, IMO, to fish or cut bait as far as 2012 is concerned. If she doesn’t want to be the party’s standard-bearer, then she should avoid overshadowing whoever that standard-bearer is.
Just because she was excessively and unfairly criticized in 2008 doesn’t mean that she shouldn’t have to face legitimate criticisms from fellow conservatives in 2011 — the same as any other would-be contender for the nomination.
I don’t think I have a single substantive policy disagreement with Palin (at least that I’m aware of). I think her instincts and judgment are first-rate, and I would have no trouble at all supporting her as the nominee. My concerns are that, rather than trying to convince independents (mostly) that she is a serious person capable of handling the job of president, Palin seems more focused on raising her celebrity profile and building what amounts to an almost cult-type following among her fans (for want of a better term).
For the record, I’m tentatively on the Rick Perry bandwagon, despite some concerns about his immigration policies. However, I’m so determined to see Obama go, I could be persuaded to support Romney on the theory that he’s more electable. (One plus for Romney, evidenced last night, is that he’s been through the process already and therefore seems really well prepared to stand up to the media glare. Perry IMO still needs to figure out when it’s appropriate to go off script and say something unexpected, but I digress.)
If I am to understand where you are coming from it is that Palin is willing to endure a multitude of Zombie Killers who have for the last three years rentlessly and viciously assaulted her, her family, her personal wealth, her freedom, her rights, her privacy all because she is interested in ‘celebrity’?
There are issues for which Palin and I disagree however it does not mean I am a fanatic if I acknowledge that her governing record is exceptional. I’m a results-oriented person preferring to examine the results of the action rather than examining the intention. Palin gets results and in business, results matter. Over the years I’ve had a number of smart people in my business unfortunately many of them were incapable of accomplishing results; they’d talk a great game but at the end of the day they were fired because I cannot pay people to produce nothing.
Thank you for the correction, I will add Christie’s Freeloader time. He has 4 1/2 years of highly questionable Conservative geverning experience; 1/2 year more than Romney.
What is your obsession with Palin, Jacobson? Seriously, you come off as completely out of touch.
It’s over man. She’s done. Stick a fork in her. Get over it, or we will definitely lose to Obama in 2012.
You need to be more objective about this issue. The polling data for her is horrible, and it’s_not_getting_any_better.
polls are fluid, dynamic
this time in the last cycle it was Hilary v. Guliani
in March 1980 RWR was 25 points BEHIND the incompetent Jimmy Carter
let’s have everyone with governing experience get in the race and debate the issues, display their experience and credentials
then, let the American voters choose their future
At the risk of hijacking the thread I’ll offer one further observation then I’ll shut up.
For the last couple of decades poor Ann Coulter has endlessly written the same umpteenth ‘liberals are crazy’ books that she has lost her talent for willy and robust thinking.
She is a casualty of her own trade.
By the same token, when Ann Coulter comes out against you, and you’re conservative it’s probably time to not run for president.
Today’s DBD cartoon provides the answer (http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/)
For posterity here’s the the actual link to the cartoon to which, I believe, ‘foxlets’ refers:
http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/2011/09/08/
.
Wow. Jacobson, you are a intellectual coward.
Truth is, you’re afraid. Afraid of the truth.
By deleting my comments you stifle debate, debate that needs to happen regarding who we are going to send against Obama in 2012.
Can you really not handle comments that disagree with you? Is your blog nothing more than a way to get affirmation?
Note to deranged new commenters. Your comments automatically get held moderation and do not appear until I get arround to checking the list. So nothing was deleted. But since there is no place here for the deranged, I will now block you. Get your own blog.
Thank you, sir. For that you earned a complementary Mocha Cappuccino.
Go back under the bridge….
David Brooks is a conservative? Since when?
It doesn’t matter what THEY (the pundits) say. What matters is what WE (the people) say.
Ann Coulter has been disappointing lately. I really took umbrage at her latest WND column in which she continues to insist that Amanda Knox is guilty of murder in Italy. Her reasons for her belief indicate a very superficial knowledge of the case. I suspect that she was merely taking a controversial position for publicity, but it further damages her credibility as an informed pundit.
I have no reason to doubt her sincerity of opinion on that case. I have read many American reactions to the verdict & most can not grasp the Italian system or any non American legality whatsoever.
I suggest you read some British newspapers & get another view if you can’t compute the Italians.
Italy does tend to bring out the primeval in American women. I have yet to recover from Erica Jongs travels (auto biography) where she nymphomaniacked herself across Italy even with pimply messenger boys.
I did like the goody goody 2 shoes defense though. Good try.
FOX News is clearly in the bag for Romney as they were in 2008. These two catty women are doing the bidding of fearful DC Blue Bloods and they picked the wrong side.
Sarah, and we focused conservative voters, are not sheep to be lead around by DC Blue Bloods. We are fully awake and fully engaged and We Mean Business. The internet has empowered us beyond DC’s wildest dreams.
Obama changed America all right but… not the way both parties ever dreamed of.
We are their nightmare. The fear and loathing we see is an artifact of something very very good. DC politicians *should* be afraid of informed active involved voters, not the other way around.
Sarah Palin is the real deal. She is not in this for personal gain as are the DC Blue Bloods.
Frightening for them, it is.
It’s interesting that mentions of Palin on FoxNews are usually negative. Recently, they’ve worn out the latest Fox poll (conducted by a Perry crony)which supposedly shows her unpopularity. If anyone believes that 68% of Tea Partiers don’t want her to run, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
CNN televised both of Palin’s speeches over the weekend. FoxNews not only didn’t televise them, they hardly noticed that she gave them.
What’s interesting too is that Palin and Greta Van Susteren are such good friends, and Greta is a Democrat. Then you have the so-called Conservative pundits who make snide remarks at every opportunity.
I hope that if Palin decides to not run she steps back from the Presidential cycle a bit. Nothing wrong with continuing to express her opinions but I would hate to see her allow herself to be used by the GOP which has tried so hard to discredit her.
Katie n But what sort of election will it be if Sarah does
1- not run as candidate
2- not involve herself in HR & Senate campaigns.
3- does not draw targets on vulnerable Dem seats & therefore responsible for all murders in that district onwards.
4- continues to not accompany the Chicago Top Cop & to not take responsibility for all Chicago shotgun crimes.
5- takes her punditry & speech skills off to better paid venues across the globe.
America won’t be the same.
(cross-post w/mods from the Erick Erickson thread)
Will she–?–won’t she–? Should she, shouldn’t she?
Whatever.
I remain firmly committed in my support of a Palin candidacy; –do not need Krauthammer, Rove, Will, Noonan, Brooks, Frum, Ingraham or Coulter to tell me which way the wind blows. In fact, that they are all in bed together tells me all I need and more than I want, to know.
Until such time as she announces she will not seek the nomination, or in the unlikely event that she seeks but does not win the Republican Party nomination, for me, it is all in for Palin.
Should she not be the Republican nominee, I will support ABO – Anyone But Voldermort.
As to the potential for her to win the nomination, I read the Palin Electability Series last April when it came out. I found it very persuasive then, and find nothing to challenge that assessment today.
In my view, if she seeks the nomination, she earns it; ultimately winning the election on 6 Nov 12 becoming the 45th President of the United States.
Take good care,
Sandy
Spot on. Another Cappuccino to you, too.
Thanks for the Electability series link!
Are you sure that David Brooks and David Frum are actually conservatives? Personally, I won’t vote for a liberal because they have a sharp crease in their pants ( a very strange criteria if you ask me) and, as far as I am aware, Frum seems to hate all other conservatives. Admittedly, I don’t follow him but all I do see him doing is criticizing conservatives and Republicans.
At any rate, these 2 do little to buttress your point.
Professor, methinks we need a new name or classification for those fearless “conservative” commentators who keep parroting the dhims. Because they have so little courage and keep wanting us all to “fit in” with progressives, I suggest we call them the “Blue Birds of Blunder”. Or should the last be “Dhimmitude”?
“Clearly you’re in love with her. How is that any different than the Obama zombies from 20”
You will notice I do not call you by your new moniker mainly because I don’t want to give it any substance. But answer your question: it’s different because we know ALL about Palin (from the cradle until today) and after six in national politics, we still know nothing about your boy. Except that he doesn’t know how many states there are among other faux paux, in spite of being a Constitutional scholar, he can’t tell the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. One also wonders how many days of those six years did he actually spend doing his jobs? The answer might surprise even you.
Dang it! Correction: Bloods not Birds. [Sorry, bob]
All of the candidates have a few over-zealous supporters. Especially the ‘Palinistas, Perrykrishnas and Paulies.’ I think it’s the mark of idiocy to alienate these vocal, passionate groups of people who are, most importantly, voters. Other than a few, most of those voters will switch to the nominee when/if their candidate loses the primary. To me,that’s the greater danger. If our candidates are unfairly attacked by the media pundits, many of us may simply become less inclined to support the ‘other guy’ because of the vitriol that passes for analysis by the MSM.
Personally I figure those candidates who don’t have a few over-zealous supporters are candidates most people really don’t care about one way or the other. One person’s over-zealous is another person’s actively engaged. The GOP is going down the same road that led us to McCain – the media & Independents liked him and we got told to hold our noses & vote for him. Oops – those Independents who kept saying what a great candidate he was turned around and voted for the Dem not the Dem-lite.
The bland milk toast candidates aren’t likely to rally the GOP base and unless you really want to let the media & the Independents totlly pick our candidate again it seems like a little fire in the supporters is a good thing.
If I remember correctly weren’t these people, Brooks, Frum, Noonan, Coulter and co, the pundits who jumped on W over the Dubai port deal and the Harriet Myers thing and helped destroy both thus aiding the dims? How did that port deal turn out, idiots?
You have to understand thse people earn their livings from the elite class. If they should ever support the antithesis of the elite world, they will get no more interviews from that world and they will get no more invitations to appear on Meet the Press, etc. The elite world whether republican or dim, never forget or forgive. So they do have a dog in this race.
I am an avid Palin fan but if she chooses not to run or fails to win the nomination, I, too, will vote for ABO. To do anything less is self destructive.
Let’s look at reality folks. Ann Coulter’s Modus Operandi is to say outrageous stuff so that:
a. liberal talk shows will have her on.
b. she can peddle her latest book/book tour/speaking gig.
c. think of her as a conservative Don Rickles; she says outrageous stuff to get laughs and bucks.
With that in mind, which do you think will net her more air time and attention.
a. saying she loves palin and will vote for her
b. saying palin should go away. (note she was careful NOT to say anything really nasty or personal unlike our liberal friends and their fetish over her womb)
This is Coulter being Coulter. Relax. I don’t believe she has a record of prognostication in re the Presidential election.
I believe the problem for Ann goes deeper than what has been described.
Ann (and Laura) over the years have asked people to buy their books. Having a loyal fan base, they have prospered as a result of a stead stream of consumers.
Problem is, Gov. Palin, Ann, and Laura generally share the same fan base. Essentially, Ann and Laura have bitten the very hands that feed them.
Ann wasn’t done with her victim card throw-down after the interview on Fox News. No, she continued portraying herself the victim in a Washington Times (“those Palin fans are sure nuts aren’t they) article and apparently on a very recent episode of “Inside Edition.”
The only reason I can see for Ann driving her book purchasers off the cliff is that she has decided to go mainstream establishment republican.
Great, much needed post, Professor.
If we don’t have the courage to stand with those who dare to stand for us, then we deserve to be led by the mediocre or cowardly.
[…] If she is Eliza Doolittle, then, she is an Eliza Doolittle of her own making — one who managed to make dropped letters and disconnected syllables sound as elegant as any aristocratic English. Does she then represent the exaltation of mediocrity, as some of my friends have argued? Or does she actually represent a new brand of excellence, one in which the historic ordinary is the standard by which to judge? For she does seem so ordinary … and yet she stands alone as one who can inspire even in the intrepid Ann Coulter “a moment of weakness.” […]