Text 941, 216 rader
Skriven 2007-05-26 13:20:00 av ROSS SAUER (1:123/140)
Ärende: Ann Coulter
===================
Leave it to Ann Coulter to show what a big fan she is of Jerry Foulwell, 
and even expand on Falwell's lies and bigotry.

"[I]f I had a dollar ... ": After defending Falwell's post-9-11 
comments, Coulter and Caldara joked about her homophobic slurs

Summary: During a guest appearance on Newsradio 850 KOA's The Jon 
Caldara Show, right-wing pundit Ann Coulter defended the late Rev. Jerry 
Falwell's comments in which he blamed feminists, gays and lesbians, and 
abortion rights supporters for the September 11, 2001, terrorist 
attacks. She and Caldara later joked about Coulter's history of 
incendiary rhetoric, including her highly publicized homophobic remarks.

After telling Newsradio 850 KOA host and Independence Institute 
president Jon Caldara that "it never pays to apologize to liberals," 
frequent guest and right-wing pundit Ann Coulter stated that the late 
Rev. Jerry Falwell's comments blaming feminists, gays and lesbians, and 
the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), among others, for the 
September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were "utterly defensible" and 
"straight Christian doctrine." Coulter continued by saying that what 
Falwell meant was that "if you reject God, he's going to stop protecting 
you."

Later in the May 17 broadcast, during a discussion with a caller who was 
"concerned" about "politically correct speech," Caldara said, "[I]f I 
got a dollar for every time she [Coulter] called me a 'faggot' I'd be 
one rich man." He added that Coulter "calls me 'faggot' only because 
she's, she's seen me shoot." Coulter replied, "Yeah, but you [Caldara] 
keep calling me 'nappy-headed ho.' " 

Discussing Falwell's recent death and the media's coverage of some of 
his controversial statements, Coulter said, "It does prove my point -- 
stated over and over again, most clearly in How to Talk to a Liberal (If 
You Must) -- it never pays to apologize to liberals. You apologize, they 
take it as an admission of wrongdoing and what Jerry Falwell said after 
9-11 is a perfect example of that. It was utterly defensible. It ... was 
straight Christian doctrine. " 

The "straight Christian doctrine" Coulter apparently referred to was 
Falwell's comment on the September 13, 2001, broadcast of Pat 
Robertson's The 700 Club, in which he blamed "abortionists," 
"feminists," and gays and lesbians for the September 11 terrorist 
attacks:

But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court 
system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The 
abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not 
be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we 
make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, 
and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying 
to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American 
Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the 
finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen'. 

Later that day Falwell apologized on CNN, saying, "I would never blame 
any human being except the terrorists, and if I left that impression 
with gays or lesbians or anyone else, I apologize." However, as Media 
Matters for America noted, Falwell in November 2004 defended his remarks 
about 9-11 and falsely claimed that when he assigned blame for God's 
wrath, he had "likewise" held responsible "a sleeping church, a 
lethargic church."

Coulter herself has blamed Democrats for the 9-11 attacks, and wrote in 
her May 16 column that Falwell also should have assigned blame for 9-11 
to "[Sen.] Teddy Kennedy [D-MA] and 'the Reverend' Barry Lynn," 
executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and 
State. 

Later in the broadcast, after making his "faggot" remarks, Caldara said, 
"[W]e all say things that we occasionally regret" and surmised that 
"must have happened" with Coulter "at some point as well." Coulter 
responded, "I don't think so," and added, "Nothin' that they've been 
hysterical over." 

As Colorado Media Matters pointed out when Caldara announced in July 
2006 that Coulter would be a regular guest on his show, Coulter has a 
history of incendiary rhetoric; she has leveled personal attacks, made 
accusations of treason, and called for violence against those with whom 
she disagrees. Examples include:

In her book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism (Crown Forum, June 2006), 
Coulter presented "liberalism as the opposition party to God" [p.22] and 
attacked widows of victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks who have spoken 
out on political issues, calling them "self-obsessed women" who act "as 
if the terrorist attacks happened only to them" and who are "enjoying 
their husbands' deaths" [p.103]. 
In addition to calling former Vice President Al Gore a "total fag" and 
stating that former President Bill Clinton "show[s] some level of latent 
homosexuality," Coulter during a March 2 speech to the Conservative 
Political Action Conference (CPAC) said she "can't really talk about" 
Democratic presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards (NC) 
because "you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot.' " As 
Media Matters noted, nine newspapers dropped Coulter's column after her 
homophobic remarks. 
From the May 17 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Jon Caldara Show:

COULTER: But if I could just say one other thing on Falwell, because 
everyone is just -- well, two things: It does prove my point -- stated 
over and over again, most clearly in How to Talk to a Liberal (If You 
Must) -- it never pays to apologize to liberals. You apologize, they 
take it as an admission of wrongdoing and what Jerry Falwell said after 
9-11 is a perfect example of that. It was utterly defensible. It --

CALDARA: What did --

COULTER: -- was straight Christian doctrine. 

CALDARA: What did -- remind me, what did he say and then tell me the 
apology. 

COULTER: He said -- well, it's in the column, which is posted at 
AnnCoulter.com -- it was his remark, he went on Pat Robertson's TV show, 
they're talking about 9-11, I don't know, the next day or that night or 
something, and obviously taking a Christian perspective. They're two 
Christian ministers sitting there. And, and he said, you know, "America 
has been" -- I'm, I'm paraphrasing a little, but -- "America has been 
rejecting God's help. God's been protecting America since its conception 
when John Winthrop arrived on the Arbella, but now we have, you know, 
the feminists, the pagans, the ACLU, People for the American Way, the 
gays who are activists and promoting that as an alternative lifestyle. 
And I blame them for withdrawing God's protection." This is just 
straight Christian doctrine. It doesn't mean bad things don't happen. It 
doesn't mean America brought it on itself. What it means is if you 
reject God, he's going to stop protecting you. And, and it -- there was 
nothing to apologize for. He did apologize, 'cause everyone went crazy. 
And now everyone takes his, his apology as, you know, proof that there 
was something wrong in what he said in the first place. 

CALDARA: And, and, and you've learned, of course, how to apologize over 
and over again. 

COULTER: [Laughs] Yes, I figured out what it is that upset them and see 
how I can redouble it in my next statement. 

[...]

CALLER: I should speak quickly before I get [makes muffled sound] -- 
before I get muffled here by, based on what's been happening to a lot of 
people on the air lately. I'm, I'm calling 'cause I'm concerned about 
what seems to be taking place here in America with people and 
politically correct speech, and also with the mindset that you must 
believe, as I believe -- meaning the person that is in power in order to 
be good. Because that's, it's getting scary on the air. I want to hear 
people's points of view, and I'm afraid we're at a point now where we're 
not even allowing people to express an idea, even if it's a negative 
one.

CALDARA: I tell you what, if there's, there's no one better qualified to 
talk about that than -- 

CALLER: I was going to say.

CALDARA: -- than, than, you know -- by the way, if -- 

CALLER: Ann Coulter. 

CALDARA: If, if Coulter -- you know, if I got a dollar for every time 
she called me a "faggot" I'd be one rich man. 

[Laughter]

CALLER: Well, like she said, the women that are, the women that are 
Christian are hot. 

CALDARA: Yeah. Well, I mean, she, she, she, she calls me "faggot" only 
because she's, she's seen me shoot. 

CALLER: But, see, their holy [unintelligible]

COULTER: Yeah, but you keep calling me "nappy-headed ho." 

[Laughter]

[...]

COULTER: Right. I'm not -- no one hires me, so no one can fire me.

CALDARA: Right.

COULTER: The only people who can fire me are the American people. And, 
by the way, by not buying my books they're not hiring me for speeches. 
And, by the way, this shows why the advertisers are being stupid. 
Because the American people keep buying my books. So, you and -- I mean, 
the sorts of things you or I would get in trouble for are, are going to 
be similar. So the advertisers are being stupid. They are responding to, 
to a small group of, of screaming hyenas, whereas we know -- and, and I 
am a proxy for that -- that most of your listeners would not be offended 
at anything they'd get hysterical over. I mean, not anything you'd say. 
I know you. 

CALDARA: Oh, come on, if I got, if I got a dollar for every obnoxious 
thing I said, I'd be, I'd be very wealthy. But we all say things that we 
occasionally regret. And doing a three-hour show every day, sooner or 
later something's going to slip out that you wish you could, you could 
tuck back in. And I -- that must have happened with you at some point as 
well. 

COULTER: No, I don't think so.

CALDARA: [laughs] No, I don't think so.

COULTER: I'll tell you one thing, completely seriously.

CALDARA: Yeah.

COULTER: Nothin' that they've been hysterical over. 

CALDARA: Right.

COULTER: Nothin'. 

© 2007 Colorado Media Matters.

þ CMPQwk 1.42 16554 þ
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Doc's Place BBS Fido Since 1991 docsplace.tzo.com (1:123/140)