Ann... oh Ann

Ann Coulter, state worshipping warmonger extraordinaire whom, if she lost a few pounds, would probably slip through the floorboards is at it again. In her recent column, "The Purpose Driven Left," she artfully slandered everybody left of her and Rush all while misrepresenting a completely irrelevant anecdote. She wasted no time going to the heart of the issue:

The liberal take on Catholicism is that it's a controversial religion because of its positions on abortion, sodomy and various other crucial planks of the Democratic platform (curiously, positions that are shared by all three of the world's major religions).

The issue I guess is attacking the Left. As any good conservative, Ann is quick to the 'wedge issues'; though it would be hard to say the Democrats make abortion a key plank of their legislative efforts and sodomy is hilarious. I mean does anyone really give a shit if someone next door loves the back door be it same sex or straight? At least she doesn't screech about gay marriage this time (surprising!).

I will take a little aside here to talk about the Pope. Being a social democrat atheist of Polish descent, I think the Pope was the man. Now he certainly had many failings but in all he was true to his faith. He was the first ever pope set foot inside a mosque, the first to visit Israel where he placed a prayer inside the Western wall, and always was antiwar. The only Western leader to explicitly fight against the Iraq War, Pope John Paul II loved peace as much as Ann Coulter loves to invade, kill and forcibly convert the people over there.

Back to the article, Ann essentially retells Ashley Smith's herorics in her kidnapping by Brian Nichols the escaped rapist who shot up an Atlanta courtroom. Personally I think it’s a great story and to quote from the MSNBC article it was the "best case scenario" that could have happened- a happy ending to gruesome and desperate tale of murder and escape. Coulter does however neglect to mention Ashley not only used Christian teachings but also personal conscience such as the fact she needed to see her daughter and her husband had been murdered, to appeal to Nichols. But this misrepresentation is not Coulter's cardinal sin.

For some reason Ann wants to politicize this testament to human courage and use it a weapon against liberals of all people. I’m surprised Ann is impressed by Ashley's peaceful appeal to Christianity when she says things like this:

I think [women] should be armed but should not [be allowed to] vote.

She was probably disappointed that Ashley didn’t bust out a gat and start a gunfight or mace Nichols to further enrage him. Throughout her career, Coulter has attempted to show how secular liberals want to destroy Christian America. Using Ashley Smith's story is irrelevant to this cause because it doesn't matter what political affiliations Nichols or Smith adhered to as it is a story of personal and religious morals.

It is interesting to note that Coulter believes the only secular minded people are liberals and that the left is secular in nature. I'm sure the different ministers and leaders of our NDP would disagree i.e. J.S. Woodsworth, Tommy Douglas, Bill Balkie, and their belief in the social gospel. The Left certainly has a strong religious component which Ann chooses to ignore. I guess the religious left is far less militant then the religious right, maybe that’s the problem. She does advocate violence against American civilians which I don't believe the Religious Left agrees to:

My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building.

Disgusting is about the only word that can describe that statement. It turns my stomach to think mainstream conservatives accept a woman who believes this (GRAPHIC) is perfectly acceptable it just could be better directed.

In the end, Ann finishes with a veiled dig at Rachael Corrie and of course a leading Democrat who this time is Nancy Pelosi. After reading Ann's tiresome and ultimately disturbing rants, one questions the sanity of the American Republican party. She is not some obscure wacko writing from her cabin in Montana but a nationally syndicated columnist who frequents political pundit shows and is just another component of the Right Wing noise machine and echo chamber that is shepherded by Rush, Savage, Malkin, talk radio, FOX 'News", Powerline and Reynolds.

They do not bring debate but savage partisan hackery to a new level. In the words of Paul Craig Roberts in The Brownshirting of America:

Bush's conservative supporters want no debate. They want no facts, no analysis. They want to denounce and demonize the enemies that the Hannitys, Limbaughs, and Savages of talk radio assure them are everywhere at work destroying their great and noble country.

Read the whole article. Its great when ultra-conservatives-libertarians such as Lew Rockwell and Justin Raimondo warn about the "many different guises in which tyranny appears" and the "rebirth of fascism" in 21th Century America. David Neiwert is getting conservative company in his The Rise of Pseudo Fascism and Rush, Newspeak and Fascism essays. Let's hope they are not too prophetic.