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The Erratic Odyssey of a Conservative 'Info-Babe' By Bill Berkowitz
Then in mid-October, according to The Boston Globe, Coulter was accused by a former co-worker at the conservative weekly Human Events of plagiarizing parts of her 1998 bestseller High Crimes and Misdemeanors, the book that launched her career as a television pundit. Michael Chapman "complained to his bosses that a lot of his original research and reporting -- carried out for a special 1997 Human Events supplement called 'A Case for Impeachment' -- ended up in Coulter's book." Why pile on now? After all, anyone who's read her columns or seen her shtick on television probably knows more than they'd ever want to know about someone they'd rather know nothing about. The fact is, Ann Coulter is more than the sum of her writings and tubular appearances. She is the quintessential poster child for right-wing punditry -- bought and paid for by conservative philanthropists. According to mediatransparency.org, a web site tracking right-wing money and politics, she has "worked for or received funds from no fewer than six" well-funded conservative institutions over the years. Up from obscurity
Background: Coulter's 1998 book High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton, hit The New York Times bestseller list and propelled her to television celebrity. She quickly became one of a group of nearly indistinguishable blond-haired "info-babes" who became quasi-permanent residents on the programs of Geraldo Rivera, Larry King, and the Fox News Channel during the Clinton impeachment era. Coulter has received several journalism awards from conservative organizations.
She received the Conservative Journalist of the Year award from L. Brent Bozell's right-wing Media Research Center last year. The conservative Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute also bestowed an award "for her unfailing dedication to truth, freedom and conservative values and for being an exemplar, in word and deed, of what a true leader is." A recent issue of The Washington Monthly compiled a selection of classic Coulter quotes -- representative of her provocative, pissy, funny, sassy, angry, pig headed, shrill, take-no-prisoners shoot from the lip style. Here are a few:
Despite the setbacks, Coulter continues to let it rip in her columns. What once seemed fresh and provocative is now repetitive and tiresome. Her October 31, column includes this: "Women -- and I don't mean to limit that to the biological sense -- always become hysterical at the first sign of trouble. They have no capacity to solve problems, so instead they fret. But despite the fearful fifth columnists whiling away the war naysaying America's response, we will win this war." Another recent piece starts out: "Liberals are up to their old tricks again. Twenty years of treason haven't slowed them down."
"As a Jew, I could be uneasy at Ann's suggestion that mass conversion to Christianity should be wielded as a tool of foreign policy were it not so obvious that her comment was hyperbolic, tongue firmly in cheek. In the final analysis, nothing Ann said should have caused a scandal. Not in a reasonable and open society." How has Coulter been cultivated? According to "Clinton, Conspiracism, and the Continuing Culture War: Starr, the Federalist Society and Collegial Networks," an article posted at Political Research Associates' publiceye.org, "Coulter attended Cornell University, where she launched the conservative Cornell Review, part of the conservative Collegiate Network funded by [Richard Mellon] Scaife. "She trained at the National Journalism Center, run by conservative columnist M. Stanton Evans, whose lectures are sometimes sponsored by the Young America's Foundation. The Center claims no partisan bias but its lecturers and postings are skewed to the right. The center receives funding from the conservative Olin Foundation. While at the University of Michigan law school, Coulter founded the local chapter of the Federalist Society. After the Republicans Congressional takeover in 1994, Coulter joined the staff of Sen. Spencer Abraham, (R-MI), a Federalist Society activist. She then became a legal commentator for MSNBC." Of late, however, Coulter has become a crude caricature of herself. Her choleric commentary is so often beyond the pale that some of her former colleagues appear concerned. Perhaps her slide is only temporary and she'll be back on cable television in the near future, hounding the Clintons or some other "liberal" targets. Regardless of her future path, it's worth noting that many of today's conservative television pundits, including those with "info-babe" credentials, did not just drop from the sky. They've been nurtured, financed and trained in right-wing institutions, where political hardball is always the name of the game. Bill Berkowitz is an Oakland-based freelance writer covering right-wing movements. Contact him at wkbbronx@aol.com. |
Ann Coulter: Fascism with a pretty face 
Columnist David Horowitz 
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