College republicans nix Ann Coulter

http://doran.pacifist.net/ Doran

There may be hope yet.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Freethinkersanon Christopher

I think it should be clarified that the College Republicans initially wanted Coulter, but nixed her only after they received the letter from the college president.

They deserve credit for changing their minds, but the idea that the college president said anything about Coulter that they didn’t know is like, to borrow a line from Denis Leary, a smoker saying, “Holy shit, I didn’t know these things were bad for you!” only after the warnings on the package were enlarged.
- http://doran.pacifist.net/ Doran
  
  Oh I agree. And big cudos to the college president for calling them out, though indeed it’s a bit sad that he had to.
- Boundegar
  
  That won’t stop her from claiming her First Amendment freedoms have been abridged.
  - niktemadur
    
    But we can safely ignore her, can’t we?
    Yes we can.
- MTBooks
  
  not to stand up for the College Republicans, but they claim they rescinded her invitation before the President sent out his message. Something that everyone seems to be missing in the article.
  - http://www.youtube.com/user/Freethinkersanon Christopher
    
    I think we should stand up for them, and for any other group, that legitimately deserves it for doing the right thing. And that’s why I don’t want to be too down on them, but it’s problematic that they offered an invitation. Rescinding the invitation was a good decision, but having done so they’ve created more publicity than they would have if they’d just had her come and speak.
C W

Hope for the Republican Party is never, ever going to come from the College Republicans. That’s where the tricksters get their start!

franko

good for them. a perfect, reasonable response. i hope more join in this line of thinking. i’ve had enough of her type of “fame”.

Cowicide

i’ve had enough of her type of “fame”

Agreed, Coulter is the Honey Boo Boo of political discourse and only distracts us all from issues that truly matter to most Americans (and the world for that matter).
- http://profiles.google.com/marc.k.mielke Marc Mielke
  
  That’s a bit insulting to Honey Boo Boo. She and her kinfolk are dim-witted but good-natured (the gay pig bit was super-cute!), which is the exact opposite of Ann Coulter, who is rather witty but unadulterated evil.
  - Cowicide
    
    I see your point, Ann Coulter is far more evil… but I’m not sure that the Honey Boo Boo sensation is advancing humankind (similar to Coulter’s distractions from things that matter) and it’s very possibly debasing our American zeitgeist with its presence.
    
    Then again, I have to admit I’ve never watched more than 5 minutes of the inane show; Maybe I should catch the gay pig episode and see for myself?
    
    Overall, I find Americans embracing ignorance via mass media a bit jarring.
  - BillStewart2012
    
    Remember that Ann Coulter is a character played by an actress named Ann Coulter, just as Steven Colbert is a character played by an actor named Steven Colbert. Ann-the-actress may be a lot more conservative than Steven-the-actor, but the over-the-top evil is still a crafted act, even though she never breaks character in public the way Steven occasionally does, even when she’s hanging out with Bill Maher.
    
    And while she probably does have a coat made from Dalmation puppy fur, it’s fake, though the flying monkeys are strictly non-unionized.

capnmarrrrk

That’s nice, now she gets to be a martyr. She should be allowed to speak, then she should be exposed. However…since there is money involved, and I’d rather her not get paid for Idiocy.

Edit:What I mean by ‘exposed’ (as it made sense in my head), is heckled mercilessly in a live, public forum.

C W

If she didn’t claim martyrdom, she wouldn’t have a job.
- hugh crawford
  
  Isn’t a gruesome and protracted painful death a Quid pro quo for martyrdom ?Not that that should stop her , hell you could sell tickets.
  Burning at the stake, or the wheel?
marilove

“She should be allowed to speak, then she should be exposed.”

REALLY? Ann freakin’ Coulter of all people DOES NOT need exposure.
- capnmarrrrk
  
  You are correct
- acerplatanoides
  
  She does actually seem to need exposure and ridicule. And cameras.
  
  We don’t need her to have those things though.
  - EH
    
    All she needs is a new job. Or a job, period.
  - marilove
    
    You, sir, are correct.
- Philip Elliott
  
  No one is refusing her the right to speak, they are simply not inviting her to speak. Is the difference that subtle that you don’t see it?
  
  Edit: Sorry, that was meant as a reply to the Cap’n.
- http://profiles.google.com/marc.k.mielke Marc Mielke
  
  BEHOLD MY TRUE FORM! (envisions something along the lines of the goddess Lolth from Dungeons and Dragons).
  - AnthonyC
    
    Before or after the Silence?
http://binarygirl.myopenid.com/ binarygirl

She’s been “exposed” as a hateful sociopath time and time again. There’s nothing new anyone is going to learn from any future speaking engagement.
- capnmarrrrk
  
  You are correct as well.
welcomeabored

‘sense’
- capnmarrrrk
  
  heh, nope. I should have dropped the “I”
GawainLavers

Yeah, that’s worked out great in the past. Not all speakers deserve an engagement fee and travel stipend.

MTBooks

BB: “Fordham University’s college republicans cancelled Ms. Coulter’s speaking engagement after a passionate letter from their University president.”
linked article: “..he would not forbid the CRs from having Coulter at the Jesuit University. By that time, Fordham CRs had already rescinded the invitation to Coulter.”

I think you’ve confused the order of events.

This is the only corroboration I could find quickly: http://www.theramonline.com/news/student-outcry-leads-to-canceled-ann-coulter-appearance-1.2793790#.UKPTeuSCnf0

Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Also, she’s definitely showing her age, which is the real limit of her career.

(I’m not slagging off the woman for her looks. I’m saying her looks are the main reason she’s had professional gigs.)

http://boingboing.net/ Jason Weisberger

Hi Teresa!
marilove

I … wait. I don’t seem to recall anyone ever speaking of Ann Coulter as an attractive woman, and in fact, most people describe her in sexist and transphobic terms. I really, really don’t think we live in the same Ann Coulter reality…
- acerplatanoides
  
  Do you know many deep-dyed conservatives? Ask one of them. Your type isn’t her meal ticket.
  - marilove
    
    A lot of this *comes from the right*.
    
    Also, yeah, I’m from the middle of nowhere Arizona. Yes, yes I do know deep-dyed conservatives, and I can tell you that she is not their type.
    - acerplatanoides
      
      I’m betting AZ isn’t on her speaking tour. What I should have asked is do you know any deep dyed conservatives who operate news and/or publishing empires? I like plenty of conservatives, I’d probably love AZ.
- Navin_Johnson
  
  She’s very cynically tried to use sex to boost her sales and personal brand, and there are a lot of conservatives who seem to think she’s hottt stuff, which personally boggles my mind, but hey, taste is subjective.
  - http://www.youtube.com/user/Freethinkersanon Christopher
    
    Sometimes I think I might find her attractive if my brain weren’t my biggest erogenous zone.
    - niktemadur
      
      Cue Frank Zappa, “What’s the ugliest part of your body? Answer: Your brain”.
- C W
  
  “most people describe her in sexist and transphobic terms”
  
  I’ll assume you’re just repeating what idiots say, but you’re giving them credence by using the transphobic slurs as “evidence” to justify her lack of appeal.
  - marilove
    
    I don’t disagree with you, but I think Ann Coulter of all people can handle it.
- novium
  
  When people denigrate a woman’s looks or sexuality, it rarely has much at all to do with how she actually looks. It’s just perceived as the best way to invalidate/insult women, which is fucked up on so many levels. Besides, her physical looks don’t really need to be called into question: She’s an ugly human being, no matter what she looks like.
  - Shinkuhadoken
    
    When people denigrate a woman’s looks or sexuality, it rarely has much at all to do with how she actually looks. It’s just perceived as the best way to invalidate/insult women, which is fucked up on so many levels.
    
    It is, however, the cup Coulter has specifically fought for women to be measured by in truly (depraved) conservative ideology (i.e. baby makers that serve their men). It is therefore entirely appropriate to judge her as she has judged others.
    - novium
      
      Perpetuating that kind of rhetoric only validates it. She is an utterly hateful human being- that should be more than enough fodder without bringing in poisonous gender-targeted language and arguments. In her world view (or at least the one she makes her money peddling) those are perfectly valid criticisms, because women have no inherent value. Therefore, using them back at her, while perhaps satisfying, does nothing but play into that same assumption….which is a way of acknowledging that she’s right! It’d be like using racist language against a racist.
    - Shinkuhadoken
      
      It’d be like using racist language against a racist.
      
      Ann Coulter is more like Dave Chappelle’s skit of a black man born blind and raised as a white supremacist, only she’s a misogynist with perfect vision, so it’s sad, not funny.
      
      But here’s what I’m getting at: When Conservatives eat their own, it’s because their hypocrisy was their own undoing, like a preacher who was notoriously against extra-marital sex getting caught having an affair. Hopefully, Republicans have learned the lesson that hate doesn’t win elections, and if they have, the willful blindness against Coulter’s hypocrisy will become unclouded and she will be hoist by her own petard.
    - novium
      
      That actually works as well as an example- calling a black blind guy who is a racist a racist epithet doesn’t do anything but validate the racist mindset. Misogyny directed towards a misogynistic woman doesn’t do anything but validate her misogyny. Changing the culture means applying it to everyone, not just directing it at people you don’t like….because that’s exactly the status quo.
    - Shinkuhadoken
      
      You don’t need to do anything except not feel bad when she slips into irrelevancy.
  - Navin_Johnson
    
    There’s not a chick in that audience that Bill wants in kneepads. That’s ugly
    
    -Coulter tweeting the 2012 DNC..
    - novium
      
      That just proves that she’s an ugly human being. Why should that be used to justify perpetuating her disgusting behaviors?
    - Navin_Johnson
      
      It doesn’t. I was just pointing out that she engages in exactly what you were describing above. Mocking somebody’s looks is cheap and easy when it comes to politics, but there’s an undeniable ‘glass houses’ aspect to Coulter that probably makes people feel like it’s less off limits when talking about her.
    - novium
      
      I know that’s how it’s justified, but it’s still bull IMO. Mocking someone’s looks is more than cheap and easy in politics. It’s frequently, FREQUENTLY used to imply that women shouldn’t be in politics at all- after all, what’s the point if they aren’t attractive, amiright? Because that’s what all these dumbass comments about what any woman who enters politics or voices an opinion (even a hateful one. Even if she were an honest-to-god Nazi) come down to – is she attractive, do I want to fuck her, but what about her children, can you believe her hair style- the idea that nothing she says matter (whether for good, bad, or evil) because she’s just a woman. I want to see that culture destroyed. Obliterated. Forgotten. Perpetuating it, even against the most vile of the vile? Does not destroy it. It tacitly acknowledges that that world view is *accurate*.
      
      The best way to refute Ann Coulter’s misogynistic, racist bullshit is to call her out on it…or to ignore her all together, which would be my preference, because ideas that rotten are not worth spending even a moment on. Sending it back to her? Worse than pointless, it’s actively counter-productive.
      
      But then again, feminism is usually considered an inconvenient progressive cause whenever it’s not being directed at the other side.
- http://undulantfever.blogspot.com/ Bruce Arthurs
  
  TIME magazine. (I delivered mail for thirty years. Delivering that issue of TIME with Coulter on the cover was the only day I ever felt dirty and ashamed of what I was doing.)
http://profiles.google.com/marc.k.mielke Marc Mielke

Yeah. Her real enemy isn’t liberals, it’s S.E. Cupp. Who I’ll note is a bit more moderate, if at times incoherent (an atheist who privileges those of faith?)
Rachael Hoffman-Dachelet

I was just thinking the only way she can get away with the relentless negativity is her looks.
- chaopoiesis
  
  And, arguably, her gender.

emschelle

Oh no he didn’t call her an incandescent bulb!

http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby

I struggle to understand what a Republican would be without the hateful rhetoric, isn’t it part and parcel?

I know in the UK at least ‘conservative’ is a codeword for caring more about policy than people and generally disliking anyone who isn’t white and privileged. It’s a very selfish political stance, whilst ironically (on the most part) benefiting those they aspire to be, rather than who they are.

http://twitter.com/Prentiz Richard Coates

Conservatives in the UK had the first Jewish, and first female UK Prime Ministers. Margaret Thatcher was the daughter of a grocer. John Major, the last Conservative Prime Minister was the son of a trapeze artist. Conservative Governments introduced the first ever unemployment benefits in the UK, banned discrimination against the disabled and brought into force the Equalities Act. Let’s not fall into Miss Coulter’s trap of substituting name calling and type-casting for political discussion pls.
- http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby
  
  I was living in the present – but yes, there are a lot of voters that cast their ballot based on history and familiarity, rather than the candidates and their policy. I was also referring to the political stance and not the party, party politics (in the UK at least) hasn’t represented actual political leanings for a little while now, we have fringe parties that represent the extremes, but the big 3 are pretty much different masks for the same corrupt mess we call Westminster – but this brings me back to my first point.
  
  And really? Margaret Thatcher? She was a woman, yes, but also a monster.
  You are right though, I did present a rather extreme perspective – but I must admit I often struggle to see the perspective of the political right as anything other than what it is. Kind of like when a bigot claims they’re not a bigot because it’s all a matter of opinion.
  - novium
    
    All my British friends who ended up in politics are conservatives (Well, and one who is part of the SNP). I frequently disagree with them on things, but I’d never say they were all about things that benefited while privileged males (and especially the most privileged of the privileged) to the detriment of anyone else. Actually, that’s what’s kind of refreshing. Whereas the republican party has definitely gone there, to the point reasonable debate seems impossible, at least my British conservative friends argue things from a different point of view that is at least a) based in reality b)not monstrous.
    - http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby
      
      “I frequently disagree with them on things, but I’d never say they were all about things that benefited while privileged males.”
      
      Agree this is more relevant for a Republican (from what I gather) than a British conservative,
    - novium
      
      I would happily import all of my Conservative friends to US politics if it were all possible. Though the sad truth is that whenever American politics comes up, it’s usually readily apparent that they remain blissfully unaware of how far off the deep end Republicans have gone. There have been many awkward moments where they’ve mentioned supporting the tea party or wanting to work closer with their republican counterparts and those of us in the US have been like “….you do realize they’d consider you slightly to the left of Obama-The-Godless(/Muslim)-Baby-Killing-Socialist?”
- C W
  
  Coming from a poor background (theoretically, I’m unfamiliar with their stories and how much might have been fluffed up) doesn’t mean that you’re not primarily serving the interests of the privileged.
  
  Plenty of self-made and “self-made” persons want to keep others in their supposed former spot in life struggling.
  - Navin_Johnson
    
    Exactly, ‘kicking away the ladder’ is typical conservative stuff. As is having complete amnesia when it comes to recalling all the social benefits that may have aided you throughout your life..
- Navin_Johnson
  
  Conservatives in the UK had the first Jewish, and first female UK Prime Ministers. Margaret Thatcher was the daughter of a grocer. John Major, the last Conservative Prime Minister was the son of a trapeze artist
  
  That reminds me of Rush Limbaugh being stunned that blacks don’t vote for Republicans even though they ‘have’ “well-spoken” blacks like Condi Rice. Thing is, white privilege doesn’t require wealthy beginnings, so I think his point stands.
  
  Conservative coalitions aside, conservatism (ideology) at it’s core is a defense of privilege and hierarchy. The fact that a lot of working and middle class people subscribe to an ideology that often actively works against their interests (at least their financial interests) doesn’t change that.
  - grimc
    
    It reminds me more of US conservatives pointing out that Lincoln was a Republican and that proves today’s GOP is obviously not racist.
    - Navin_Johnson
      
      It’s pathetic how that ahistorical narrative keeps getting trotted out. There’s always somebody that has to patiently remind them about Dixiecrats, The Southern Strategy, The Civil Rights era….etc…. all erased from history. Doncha know, it was progressive hicks who were beating and murdering conservative civil rights workers and marchers…
    - novium
      
      It depresses me how far the Republican party has fallen in the last hundred and fifty years.
Ito Kagehisa

I’m a registered Republican, but not a big fan of hateful rhetoric. My family is mixed race, although I am lily white.
- http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby
  
  I’m interested then, what makes you favour a republican stance? Would you agree that it’s a more selfish political position, and if not why?
  - novium
    
    Not to defend the Republicans in their current madness, but it’s not like the democrats don’t have their fair share of selfish positions.
  - Ito Kagehisa
    
    I have three reasons for being a Republican.
    
    1) I believe in many of the things they say, although it’s interesting to note that these are the exact things they don’t do if you actually elect a Republican Party candidate. For example limited government, personal responsibility, individual freedom, fiscal conservatism, state’s rights, all these are things I believe are good. They are also the things that most Republicans will espouse during campaigns and then actively destroy once in power.
    
    2) I live in a state that is overwhelmingly Democratic. Therefore, if I am a Republican, my vote and my political activities that require major party membership count far more than if I am just another Democrat drone. In a primary, for example, my own vote is vastly more powerful than any Democrat’s vote, because there are so many fewer people voting. If the Republican party continues to fall apart, eventually I will be the sole Republican and there will be some changes, let me tell you!
    
    3) It’s a two party system. Somebody has to do the job. I manned a voting booth in 2008 because the state was desperate to find anyone willing to be a Republican representative (tales of that experience here). It’s not an enjoyable task, although I learned a lot.
    
    All these reasons are entirely selfish. They are related to my selfish desire to make the world a more enjoyable place for myself and my children. I would not agree that Democrats are more or less selfish, I don’t think that is party related.
    - http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby
      
      “…eventually I will be the sole Republican and there will be some changes, let me tell you!”
      
      I like this way of thinking.

kevin casey

“I told the University community that I hold out great contempt for anyone who would intentionally inflict pain on another human being because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, or creed. ’Disgust’ was the word I used to sum up my feelings about those incidents. Hate speech, name-calling, and incivility are completely at odds with the Jesuit ideals that have always guided and animated Fordham.”

As a graduate of a Jesuit highschool I find this pretty ironic. It was ~15 years ago, but there was no lack of name calling and incivility towards people of different sexual orientations on the part of the faculty, and they certainly promoted sexist attitudes as well.

acerplatanoides

So you had a bad time in a Jesuit highschool, which means it’s ironic that a different group of Jesuits is doing something right today? I think I have a different definition of irony from you.

Irony to me is the equating all Jesuits together as a monolithic group, as a response to one group doing something individual and maybe different. Saying they are all the same when the point at hand is that they are not. That to me is irony.

Doing that is IMO basically namecalling. You may have picked it up in high school? It’ s uncivil. If you had a hard time with that treatment, don’t do it back maybe?
- kevin casey
  
  In that the Jesuits are a very centralized organization who have official policies of discrimination, yes I do find it ironic that they use that set of ethics as a justification to condemn some else’s discriminatory actions. Many of the Jesuits who taught me were lovely people, a minority were not. I have no doubt that this guy at Fordham is also an ethical and well intentioned person. That said I have no reason to believe that the things I was taught weren’t the Jesuit party line, things could have changed, and I could have been exposed to a particularly conservative bunch, but I don’t think that was the case.
  - acerplatanoides
    
    Connected a dot I hadn’t seen re: centralized org with official policies….
    
    If you think the bullying IS a official policy, then yeah, you’d see this story as irony. Thoughtful reply. Thank you.
- C W
  
  “So you had a bad time in a Jesuit highschool, which means it’s ironic that a different group of Jesuits is doing something right today?”
  
  Or perhaps he’s preferring deeds to words.

Charles Céleste Hutchins

I hope this turns into a trend.

C W

Nah, Wingnut Welfare will still give all pundits steady wages.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4FUD4VOOO53VZJ7HLWAL3MMTIQ Joe F

First off, did they invite her before or after she said that women and men under 26 shouldn’t be able to vote?

http://www.youtube.com/user/Freethinkersanon Christopher

Regardless of when she said that “women and men under 26 shouldn’t be able to vote” they did invite her after she said that women shouldn’t have the right to vote.

At best that doesn’t say much for their process for reviewing potential speakers.

Snig

I’m wondering if reflection on their recent election losses caused them to reconsider how they’re presenting themselves.