June 27, 2007
Hotline After Dark -- Playing Hardball
Ann Coulter got an entire hour of "Hardball" last night and Elizabeth Edwards called in to say this: "I'm calling -- you know, in the South, when someone does something that displeases us, we want to ask them politely to stop doing it. I would like to ask Ann Coulter if she wants to debate on issues, on positions, we certainly disagree with nearly everything she said on your show today. But it is quite another matter for these personal attacks. The things that she has said over the years, not just about John, but about other candidates, lowers our political dialogue precisely at the time that we need to raise it. So, I want to use the opportunity, which I don't get much, because Ann and I don't hang out with the same people, to ask her politely to stop the personal attacks."
Coulter: "The wife of a presidential candidate is calling in, asking me to stop speaking?"
E. Edwards: "You wrote a column a couple years ago which made fun of the moment of Charlie Dean's death, and suggested that my husband had a bumper sticker on the back of his car that said, 'Ask me about my dead son.' ... This is not legitimate political dialogue. It debases political dialogue. It drives people away from the process. We can't have a debate about issues if you're using this kind of language."
More E. Edwards: "I have not talked to John about this call." She continues: "I'm making this call as a mother. I'm the mother of that boy who died."
Coulter: "I think we heard all we need to hear. The wife of a presidential candidate is asking me to stop speaking. No" (MSNBC, 6/26).
THE TIME IS NOW
Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) went on the "NewsHour" to talk about his floor speech.
On why he spoke now: "I think now is the time the president has an opportunity to gain a bipartisan foreign policy in Iraq and in the Middle East. ... Rather than going on with the surge ... we ought to reposition our American forces in other places in Iraq where they have greater safety ... and we ought to bring some of them out of Iraq."
On why not wait until September: "There will be more American causalities by September. There will not be much progress by the Iraqi parliament and government. ... What's also being lost is the potential for a diplomatic initiative."
Asked if other GOPers will follow him: "Well they may not want to follow in my wake -- they may have very independent views -- but I think they are all thinking very hard about this and trying to think how they can work with the president and that is my point -- it is not to get in an adversarial situation" (PBS, 6/26).
READY TO PLAY IN THE BIPARTISAN SANDBOX
And Joe Biden was in the "Situation Room":
On Lugar's floor speech: "Lugar is the most respected Republican in the area of foreign policy. His departure from the president's position is one he's long held in my private discussions with him. But him going public with it is a big, big deal."
More: "I called him to thank him for making the speech. I think it's significant. And I also called to tell him -- which will probably get me in trouble -- but I called to tell him if the president is really willing to make a change in course, I'll jump in the tank. I will be part of an effort to get us out of this mess if he needs some bipartisan help to do it."
Asked about VP Cheney: "He's got all this secret information. He has total access to every single solitary secret in the federal government. Who died and left him boss? No matter what construct you come up with, why is he not responsible for being accountable to how he handles that information? And this ridiculous construct, this constitutional web he's weaving that he is president of the Senate, he's not a -- look, if he's not Rahm Emanuel has a bill. If he's not a member of the executive branch, good. Eliminate his salary. Take away his house" (CNN, 6/26). [EMILY GOODIN]
Posted at 08:52 AM
Comments
This comment is risible: "I think we heard all we need to hear. The wife of a presidential candidate is asking me to stop speaking. No"
It's a typical hate speech ploy: Any request to cease and desist such speech in order to focus on issues is immediately decried as censorship. Why can't Elizabeth Edwards laugh at a joke about her dead son? Or the awesome humor surrounding Charlie Dean's death in southeast Asia? Did the Democrats have a humorectomy?
If you have evidence and reasoned arguments, you use them. If instead you disparage someone personally, it is because that is all you can do. And apparently that's all Ann Coulter is capable of doing.
corinne | 06.27.07 10:32 AM
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Well said, Corinne. Ann Coulter is nothing more than a shock jock desperate for attention. She is sad.
Andy | 06.27.07 12:09 PM
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To put it mildly, Coulter is a big, dark, shameful blot on human race. Whats the difference between Coulter and people like Bin Laden who wish death on others? In politics there is no place for hateful speech.
If an average person makes the same comment that Coulter has made about Bush, Cheney, Rudy, etc that person will be taken away by FBI.
Shame on ABC and Hardball too for giving a platform to a hideous, rotten personality like Coulter.
me | 06.27.07 12:31 PM
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I don't think that can blame TV shows for having Coulter on when her books sell millions of copies. There is clearly a large market for mindless hate and rage against progressive politicians and ideas in America today, and suppressing that market won't work in a free society, no matter how feverishly Coulter and her ilk are working to make that society significantly less free for minorities, the poor and other targets of their hatred.
Instread, we need for her remarks to be heard for what they are: the empty, nihilistic, impotent rage of a group that knows that despite appearances, it is in a steep decline, and whose time in history will soon be over.
Enjoy Coulter's spectacle while it lasts. Soon she will be forgotten.
goethean | 06.27.07 01:10 PM
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The test of our nation will be to see how many people remember E.Edwards' words, and how many Ms.Coulter's. Coulter inspires nothing but hatred in human beings. She is anti-evolutionary.
L.C. | 06.27.07 02:32 PM
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Between Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter I don't know which one is more hatefull. I think they should both fall off the face of the earth. They are two little snakes spewing venom from their filthy mouths.
Carol | 06.27.07 02:40 PM
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Elizabeth Edwards didn't ask Ann Coulter to "STOP SPEAKING." That's how the 'Cons are trying to spin this, and they were doing so this morning on Faux Views Channel.
Elizabeth Edwards asked Coulter to stop resulting to "PERSONAL ATTACKS." Coulter's response to Mrs. Edwards was to tell her to stop "writing."
Edwards to Coulter: "Stop personal attacks."
Coulter to Edwards: "Stop writing [books]."
So, who really wants to silence disagreement and dialogue? It's Coulter, not E. Edwards.
ST | 06.27.07 02:47 PM
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BTW, "Man Coulter" reinforces the republican image that republicans are cold, heartless and mean.
btw | 06.27.07 03:46 PM
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Non-fiction best sellers do not sell millions of books. If she was into a two hundred thousand, she did great. But then, Hardball usually get several hundred thousand viewers, is it worth offending them and do we really think that Ann Coulter's supporters are going to switch from Fox to MSNBC on a continuing basis? I don't think so.
I don't understand the programming decision.
Wirro | 06.27.07 04:07 PM
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Coulter is right on, as usual. She criticizes liberals who portray themselvse as victims to immunize themselves from criticism. These include Cindy Sheehan, some of the widows from September 11th, and John Edwards. E. Edwards referenced a column where Ann calls her husband out on his constant use of his son for this purpose (something that Gore and Schrum also attest to). John Edwards' constant references to his son (and his constant degredation of his 'mill worker' father) cheapens them.
Matt Braynard | 06.27.07 04:18 PM
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Ann Coulter is a sad and mean person
What is so funny to make fun about the death of Edwards's son? Is making fun from someone hard loss part of political debate?
Johny Bee | 06.27.07 04:22 PM
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donkeys have one but elephants have a bigger one ann
betty | 06.27.07 04:24 PM
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Mrs. Edwards conducted herself with dignity and breeding - and Coulter further exhibited herself for what she is: a classless skank
tristanrobin | 06.27.07 05:14 PM
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Millions? Who buys them all? AEI? Fred Barnes and NRO?
Ghost of Tom Joad | 06.28.07 12:50 AM
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