By Fern Sidman

Conservative commentator and prolific author, Ann Coulter can be called a lot of things, but the shy, retiring type she is definitely not. Neither is she timid or taciturn. Since her emergence on the political commentary scene, she has assumed the position of the darling of the neo-cons and die hard right-wingers as she is a most vocal and outspoken cheerleader for the Republican party. She is a ubiquitous presence on the television talk show circuit and can always be counted on to raise the ire of Democrats, liberals and leftists of all stripes with her predilection for spewing forth a seemingly endless foray of acerbic jibes and over the top controversial analyses. In the past she has fired her salvos at women, ethic minorities, gays, Supreme Court Justices, Democratic presidential candidates, the widows of 9/11 victims, the New York Times and anyone else that does not subscribe to Coulterism.

On a positive note, she is a zealous and passionate conservative warrior and has never been known to back pedal, even under the harshest scrutiny. She speaks out against the dangers of Islamic fascism, exhorts patriotism and calls for strong family values. She has championed many a righteous cause and has the courage of her convictions. For entertainment purposes, she adds a colorful dimension to the causes and party that she is loyal to, in a back drop of more conventional, even toned and sometimes painfully boring commentators.

Beyond that, her hyper-contentious political rhetoric is riddled with a mammoth amount of anger, hubris, pomposity and downright cruelness. She shoots with both barrels and the radius of her target range is infinite. Her words speak for themselves: Concerning Democratic presidential contender, Sen. John Edwards, she has said, “If I’m going to say anything about John Edwards in the future, I’ll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot” and “I was going to have a few comments about John Edwards but you have to go into rehab if you use the word faggot.” — at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. She has also made callous statements regarding the baby that John and Elizabeth Edwards lost.

Concerning one of her favorite targets, liberals, she has said, “When contemplating college liberals, you really regret once again that John Walker is not getting the death penalty. We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too. Otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors.” (- address before the Conservative Political Action Conference, Jan. 2002)

She has also mouthed the following quips: “Liberals love America like O.J. loved Nicole”; “Liberals are stalwart defenders of civil liberties — provided we’re only talking about criminals”; “Whether they are defending the Soviet Union or bleating for Saddam Hussein, liberals are always against America. They are either traitors or idiots”; and “We’ve finally given liberals a war against fundamentalism, and they don’t want to fight it. They would, except it would put them on the same side as the United States.”

On women she has said: “If we took away women’s right to vote, we’d never have to worry about another Democrat president. It’s kind of a pipe dream, it’s a personal fantasy of mine, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women.”

On the environment she said: “I take the biblical idea. God gave us the earth. God says, ‘Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It’s yours.’” On the New York Times she said: “My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building.” (- New York Observer - August 20, 2002)

There is no question that Ann Coulter relishes the cherished First Amendment rights that she enjoys as an American. She has every right to say what she believes and she may indeed say what we think deep down inside. Her views may have their merits and her no holes barred posture may appeal to many people.

Recently, on the CNBC program “The Big Idea” hosted by Donny Deutsch, Ann Coulter used this opportunity to create a media frenzy by making some inflammatory comments about Jews. During the October 8th broadcast, Deutsch asked her, “If you had your way … and your dreams, which are genuine, came true … what would this country look like?” Coulter responded, “It would look like New York City during the [2004] Republican National Convention. In fact, that’s what I think heaven is going to look like.” She described the convention as follows: “People were happy. They’re Christian. They’re tolerant. They defend America.” Deutsch then asked, “It would be better if we were all Christian?” to which Coulter responded, “Yes.” Later in the discussion, Deutsch said to her: “[Y]ou said we should throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians,” and Coulter again replied, “Yes.” When pressed by Deutsch regarding whether she wanted to be like “the head of Iran” and “wipe Israel off the Earth,” Coulter stated: “No, we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say. … That’s what Christianity is. We believe the Old Testament, but ours is more like Federal Express. You have to obey laws.”

So there you have it. According to the gospel of Ann Coulter, Jews currently live in an imperfect state, presumably because they have not adopted Jesus as their savior nor embraced the teachings of Christianity. Again, she has the right to hold and express her religious views and she may or may not be anti-Semitic, but the danger lies in those who are willing to take her statements to their logical conclusion and begin harassment campaigns against Jews or even worse. Judaism teaches us that we human beings can never live in a “perfect” state. Only G-d is perfect and we mortals do transgress laws and commit sins. Jewish law teaches us the concept of repentance, of correcting our behavior and if we stumble or fall on the path of life, to pick ourselves up and try again; to continue to strive for good, despite our human shortcomings. Apparently, Ann Coulter transcends imperfect human behavior and lives on her own private strata of spiritual excellence.

The great concern regarding Ann Coulter is that in the next few weeks she will be speaking on our nation’s campuses, Tulane University, University of California at Irvine and USC to be exact as part of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week (October 22-26), sponsored by the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This program will take place on over 200 university and college campus across the country. Horowitz is a Conservative academic who has courageously spoken about the dangers of Islamic extremism and of the blatantly left wing and pro-Muslim agenda that is presented to students on Western universities. He has publicized his latest project on his Front Page Mag web site, www.frontpagemag.com. Mr. Horowitz is to be lauded for initiating a project in which many of his Conservative colleagues have joined together to educate and inform students of the ramifications and repercussions of Islamic-Fascism, not only on their personal lives but on a global dimension. Among the speakers will be Sen Rick Santorum, Robert Spencer, Noni Darwish, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Phyllis Chesler and Frank Gaffney. Included in this speaker’s rostrum is Ann Coulter.

There are many groups who are planning to protest this event. According to Horowitz’s web site, “The left has been campaigning to suppress Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week and make sure the academic community does not hear about the abuse of women in Islam or the genocidal agendas of the Islamo-Fascists against Jews, Christians and other infidels. Now the White Supremacist Neo-Nazis have joined the Muslim Students Association, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the Revolutionary Communist Party, the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Socialist Worker, Students for Justice In Palestine and other left-wing groups in the effort to slander, defame and shut down by any means necessary our campaign. In short, we now confront the Islamo-Fascists at home as well as abroad. Fortunately, the students involved in putting on Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week are up to the task.”

According to statements issued by opponents of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, they say, “Make no mistake, Islamophobic propaganda is not motivated by Christian tolerance, liberal democracy, or secular reason but by Jewish bigotry! We certainly don’t support terrorism, violence or crime, but we will not spread hatred in favor of Zionist Jews”. I would imagine that Jewish students in particular will be subjected to vicious attacks by a plethora of pro-Muslim organizations. Given this scenario, will the controversy that swirls around Ann Coulter’s recent statements about Jews be the main focus of the media attention that an event of this sort is bound to attain, or will she tell Jewish students that their biggest problem is that they are not living in a “perfected” Christian state and perhaps assign blame to Jews for the opprobrium which is cast upon them by Muslim extremists. Will her message of education and information on this crucial issue be blurred by her latest rants?

According to a statement on Mr. Horowitz’s web site, he displays no anxiety over Ann Coulter and her participation in the event. “I have received a surprising number of emails from friends basically asking “What are you going to do about Coulter?” This is a reference to her recent comment that she is hoping for the perfection of the Jews. My response is this: what else would a Christian hope for? That’s the message of the New Testament: Jesus came to fulfill, complete, perfect the Law. If you’re a Christian, that’s what you believe. If you don’t accompany this belief by burning Jews who refuse to become perfected at the stake why would any Jew have a problem? Why do some Jews think that Christians should not really believe what they believe while it’s okay for Jews to really believe they are God’s Chosen People? I don’t get it. Whatever happened to the pluralism of ideas? In any case, what I’m going to do about Coulter is finish her latest exhilarating book, If Democrats Had Any Brains They’d Be Republicans, which happens to be a hall of fame of her so-called “over the top” moments that drive leftists crazy. Right on Ann.”

Perhaps Mr. Horowitz makes some good points, but given the unbridled hatred of Jews and Israel on college campuses in America today and the orchestrated campaign to vilify Jewish students who support Israel, do we really need to add Ann Coulter and her agitating remarks to the mix? How will her statements impact Jewish students, many of whom already feel under siege and do not possess a strong Jewish religious identity. I would strongly advise Mr. Horowitz to ponder this issue.

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Related: Media/Blogsphere, Judaism, Racism

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