Coulter Speaks, the Right Applauds

(From TPM) Brent Bozell, the proprietor of a conservative media watchdog site, sent an e-mail to a lot of media sources (but not RSI) about liberal abuse of Ann Coulter.

But Ann Coulter is owed an apology from those outlets, including NBC’s Nightly News, The Washington Post and CNN’s American Morning, which have mis-reported her comments. And conservatives, take note: Today it’s Coulter, tomorrow it may be you. The left has demonstrated that it will stop at nothing, including flat-out dishonesty, to undermine our leaders.

Both Greg Sergeant of TPM and John Amato of Crooks and Liars respond forcefully. But they also miss the depth of "Coulterism" in the contemporary conservative movement. Disgusting as it is, Bozell would be right to refer to Ann Coulter as a "leading conservative figure" even if she's not the leader of an institution like James Dobson or a power broker like Ralph Reed.

Working essentially as a political comedian, Coulter is the raging id of the conservative movement. As Bush, Cheney, Republican presidential candidates, and Republican Congressional leaders have been discredited, Coulter has become more visible and prominent. Conservatives now look to Ann Coulter to express exactly what they think of Muslims (death and conversion), immigrants (roaches), John Edwards, Al Gore, and liberalism in general. The war in Iraq might be failing, Bush couldn't do anything about Katrina, and the Republicans in Congress might be corrupt, but Coulter nails exactly what they think in the punchline of every political joke. When she joked about John Edward being killed in a terrorist attack, Coulter expressed just what her fans think about Edwards and other liberals as well. In a time when conservatives don't have much to feel good about, Coulter has gone from just entertaining their bigotries to being a symbol for what they like about themselves.

As a result, Bozell's right about the danger that right-wingers face. The Paris Hilton-like disgust now directed at Coulter could easily be directed at them too.

Personally, I don't have a problem with directing that kind of disgust at the right, as long as no one gets put in jail on ham and egg charges like Paris Hilton.