Has Ann Coulter Hit
Her Tipping Point?
By AP from the
NYTimes on the Web, March 11, 2007
NEW YORK -- Ann Coulter has
been a reliable name for years among people who plan television news shows -- an
attractive, articulate blonde conservative who's made a living lobbing verbal
bombs.
Following her use of a gay slur about Democratic presidential candidate John
Edwards this month during remarks to the Conservative Political Action
Conference, some on TV are wondering whether her shelf life is expiring.
Many were angered by her use of the ''f-word''. Coulter later said she
considered it a ''schoolyard taunt.'' She said it was a joke about
''Grey's Anatomy'' actor Isaiah Washington saying he would seek counseling after
using the word to refer to a fellow actor.
At least four daily newspapers have dropped Coulter as a columnist, citing her
comment about Edwards.
Head-turning remarks are hardly anything new for the author of ''Godless:
The Church of Liberalism'' and ''How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must).''
In ''Godless'' last year, she wrote of World Trade Center widows: ''I've
never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much.''
''It's a world of `are you talking about me? are you talking about me?'''
said Steve Friedman, executive producer of ''The Early Show'' on CBS.
''And eventually you have to get more and more outrageous to be talked about.
One day you cross the line and become persona non grata. I think she's
getting close. I think Bill Maher is getting close.''
Friedman has no plans to book Coulter on his show, but said he had no plans even
before her Edwards comment.
Some people on NBC's ''Today'' show didn't want to see Coulter before she was
booked to talk about ''Godless'' last summer, said Jim Bell, the show's
executive producer.
He overruled them. Having only certain points of view would make for a
bland program, he said. Since Coulter is a best-selling author, clearly
there's an audience that responds to her. Coulter also appeared on a
''Today'' segment this Feb. 8, debating a University of Pennsylvania professor.
Bell said last week that Coulter's legitimate points of view are beginning to
get lost in the noise of being outlandish.
''She sometimes goes out of her way to push some buttons and tends to generate
more heat than light,'' he said. ''We love a lively debate, but we would
tend to get people who would generate more light.''
Said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism:
''You do wonder whether she's destined for `Dancing With the Stars' at some
point.''
Several conservatives criticized Coulter for her Edwards remarks. Fellow
columnist Michelle Malkin lamented that Coulter had tarred the work of people at
the Washington conference. She called Coulter's humor ''tired old
shtick.'' Tim Graham, director of media analysis at the Media Research
Center, said some conservatives envy the attention she gets and dislike how she
distracts from legitimate arguments.
''If you got the sense that she was saying things you thought she believed, it
would help,'' he said.
Still, Graham said it would be ''outrageous'' if Coulter is blacklisted by
networks but Maher isn't. The HBO comic angered some by recent remarks
suggesting more people would live if an assassination attempt against Vice
President Dick Cheney had been successful.
The liberal organization Media Matters for America, which has long campaigned
against Coulter, hopes this is a ''defining moment'' that causes TV networks to
turn their backs on her, said spokesman Karl Frisch.
MSNBC once fired Coulter as a regular contributor after a remark she made to a
Vietnam veteran. But Coulter has appeared there as a guest on shows and
the network has no policy against her.
The remarks ''won't stop conservatives from buying her books and her ability to
sell books is what drives her bookings on TV,'' said MSNBC's ''Hardball'' host
Chris Matthews.
CNN had scheduled Coulter to appear with Paula Zahn last Monday. The
network said Coulter canceled her appearance.
''We have and will continue to interview provocative guests and ask them tough
questions,'' CNN spokeswoman Christa Robinson said. ''We don't have
overall bans about anyone. We will book them when we think it is
appropriate to do so, on a case by case basis.''
The changing nature of cable news may limit Coulter's ability to speak to those
who don't already agree with her. Cable talk shows used to be built upon
fiery debate, while now there are more shows that take a point of view and
depict world events through that prism. Think Lou Dobbs, Keith Olbermann
and Glenn Beck.
A spokeswoman for Coulter did not return a call for comment. Coulter,
however, did appear on Fox News Channel's ''Hannity & Colmes'' three days after
the Edwards remark and belittled the idea that it would do lasting damage to
her. It's a cycle, she said: she says something, the same people
become hysterical, and that's the end of it.
It's about her 17th allegedly career-ending moment, she said.
''It happens about every six months,'' Coulter said, ''and you're always there
to put me on TV, Sean.''
|
