The Observation Deck

I was listening to On The Media this morning, and someone on the show commented that Ann Coulter was a joke, but Don Imus was the one making the jokes.

Thoughts?

Ann Coulter is delusional.

Don Imus is just Old and Smart: That is why he had to go.

Usually I'd say that when you're attacking the powerful, you get more latitude in how demeaning and insulting you can be and still be within the bounds of acceptable taste. In that vein, much of what made Imus' comments reprehensible is the epithet was bafflingly unconnected to his point, which was that there are some tough-looking girls on the team and they appear to be fierce competitors. That disconnect between the point of his statement and the casual derogatory term reveals, perhaps, a baseline negative attitude about blacks and/or women that shouldn't be tolerated by listeners.

As far as I can tell, Coulter's usually been careful to denigrate people for their political beliefs rather than their race, sex or other 'taboo' subject. The worst I can think of was when she said the 9/11 widows wouldn't trade their celebrity and settlement monies for having their spouses back. That was about the slimiest out of all the nasty things she's said.

But here's the thing - Ann keeps getting attention because she has a marketable base - rabid right-wingers who love to hear nasty things said about liberals. No matter how bad she gets, there will be people who will buy her books and pay her to appear on talk shows to make those points.

The lesson is, if you're going to say something outrageous, it should be something that your audience already agrees with, I guess.

David Lay wrote:Ann Coulter was a joke, but Don Imus was the one making the jokes.

Thoughts?

I don't care too much for Imus but the fact he was fired is the joke.

Coulter is smart and speaks out.


Joe

Yeah, her fag joke was brilliant.

Coulter is fake.

She is in the same vein as Andrew "Dice" Clay and Tony Clifton, except that there are fools out there that actually believe she's real.

Come to think of it, she looks like a dude, and I've never seen her and Andy Kauffman in the same place......hmmmmmmmmm

Jeff and Flash never had these problems.