Ann Coulter at it again:)

Another Ann Coulter article. This time talking about the liberals slamming of Dr. Rice and Supreme court justice Clarence Thomas. This article is not as venomous as some previous ones but I think the lady knows from which she speaks. The left is way out on this one and I just don’t understand their thinking. They claim to be for affirmative action and equal rights but only if the minority or female agrees with their ideology. Thoughts? Let the arrows and daggers fly;)

The New And Improved Racism
Ann Coulter (archive)

December 9, 2004 | http://www.townhall.com/images/icon_print.gif Print | http://www.townhall.com/images/icon_email.gif Send

http://www.townhall.com/graphics1/columnists/coulter.gif Still furious about the election, liberals are lashing out at blacks. First it was Condoleezza Rice. But calling a Ph.D. who advised a sitting president during war “Aunt Jemima” apparently hasn’t satiated the Democrats’ rage. Even the racist cartoons didn’t help. So this week, they’ve turned with a vengeance to Clarence Thomas. Only the Democrats would try to distract from their racist attacks on one black Republican by leveling racist attacks against a different black Republican. If Democrats don’t nip this in the bud, soon former Klanner and Democratic Sen. Bob Byrd will be their spokesman. In the past few weeks, there have been nasty insinuations all around about Condoleezza Rice’s competence for the job.

Democratic consultant Bob Beckel – who demonstrated his own competence running Walter Mondale’s campaign – said of Rice, “I don’t think she’s up to the job.” Joseph Cirincione, with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (so you know they don’t have an agenda or anything), said Rice “doesn’t bring much experience or knowledge of the world to this position.” This was reassuring, inasmuch as that was also liberals’ assessment of the current president before he took office and he, to put it mildly, has been doing rather well. The Kansas City Star editorialized that Rice “has not demonstrated great competence in the last four years,” which is to say, Dr. Rice failed to be sufficiently clairvoyant to predict the events of Sept. 11, 2001. Columnist Bob Herbert sneered of Rice’s nomination in the New York Times: “Competence has never been highly regarded by the fantasists of the George W. Bush administration.” For example, these are the bumbling nitwits who conquered Afghanistan, the “graveyard of empires,” and toppled Baghdad in less time than your average Jennifer Lopez marriage lasts. (Wait, I can’t remember: Was it the Bush administration that hired Jayson Blair?) So far, Dr. Rice has demonstrated her abundant competence only in academia, geopolitics, history, government, college administration, classical music and athletics. I eagerly await the Bob Herbert column in which he lists the subjects and pursuits he’s mastered. If only Rice talked about her accessorizing like Clinton’s Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, she might impress the sort of fellow who writes for the New York Times. Liberals at least give white Republicans credit for being evil. Rumsfeld is a dangerous warmonger, Paul Wolfowitz is part of an international Jewish conspiracy, Dick Cheney is “Dr. No.” But Dr. Rice? She’s a dummy. In fact, after spending the last four years telling us that President Bush was an empty suit, a vessel for neoconservative fantasies of perpetual war, liberals have now found someone who is Bush’s puppet: the black chick. It’s all so eerily familiar. The late Mary McGrory, a white liberal, called Scalia “a brilliant and compelling extremist” – as opposed to McGrory herself, a garden-variety extremist of average intelligence. But Thomas she dismissed as “Scalia’s puppet,” quoting another white liberal, Alvin J. Bronstein of the American Civil Liberties Union, to make the point. This is the kind of rhetoric liberals are reduced to when they just can’t bring themselves to use the n-word. Most recently – at least as we go to press – last Sunday Harry Reid, the Democratic leader in the Senate, had this to say about Justice Clarence Thomas: “I think that he has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court. I think that his opinions are poorly written.” You’d think Thomas’ opinions were written in ebonics. In the same interview, Reid called Justice Antonin Scalia “one smart guy.” He said that although he disagreed with Scalia, his reasoning is “very hard to dispute.” Scalia is “one smart guy”; Thomas is the janitor. If Democrats are all going to read from the same talking points, they might want to get someone other than David Duke to write them. On the Sean Hannity radio show, Democratic pundit Pat Halpin defended Sen. Reid’s laughable attack on Thomas by citing Bob Woodward’s book “The Brethren,” which – according to Halpin – vividly portrays Thomas as a nincompoop. I return to my standing point that liberals don’t read. Harry Reid clearly hasn’t read any of the decisions Justice Thomas has written, and Pat Halpin clearly hasn’t read “The Brethren.” “The Brethren” came out a decade before Thomas was even nominated to the Supreme Court. The only black Supreme Court justice discussed in “The Brethren” is Thurgood Marshall. That’s one we haven’t heard in a while: I just can’t tell you guys apart. How many black justices have there been on the Supreme Court again? Oh yes: two. It’s one thing to confuse Potter Stewart with Lewis Powell. After all, there have been a lot of white guys on the court. But there have been only two black justices – and Democrats can’t keep them straight. Two! That’s like getting your mother and father confused. I can name every black guy on a current National Hockey League roster: Is it asking Democrats too much to remember the names of the only two black Supreme Court justices? In “America (The Book),” by Jon Stewart and the writers of Comedy Central’s “Daily Show,” the section on the judiciary describes how to make a sock puppet of Clarence Thomas and then says, “Ta-da! You’re Antonin Scalia!” On grounds of originality alone, Mr. Stewart, I want my money back. But reviewing the book in the New York Times, Caryn James called the sock puppet joke one of the book’s “gems of pointed political humor.” Funny how the liberal punditocracy all parrot this same “sock puppet” line about Thomas year after year, almost as if they were sock pu-- oh, never mind. Curiously, of all the liberals launching racist attacks on black conservatives I’ve quoted above, only two are themselves black: the two who write for the New York Times. So I guess there are still a couple of blacks taking orders from the Democrats. Isn’t there an expression for that? I think it begins with “Uncle” and ends with “Tom.”

Oh, you stepped in it now. Better get the flak and a kevlar and hunker down.

This is the kind of stuff from Coulter that annoys me. She is very bright. She grabs her facts correctly. Then she hones them into one liners and strings them together in a venomous fashion.

I heard the interview with Halpin. I couldn’t believe the comment about Woodward’s book and Thomas. She correctly nailed him on it in the interview, and he acknowledged the error. But to then go on to generalize that “Democrats” can’t keep Marshall and Thomas straight, rather than one lame talking head, is a bit of an over generalization.

Frankly, I continue to be disappointed by her and Hannity. They have picked up the slash and burn approach of liberals rather than take on the harder task of persuading with sound arguments. They are bright and talented and capable of much better. Instead, they take the easy route and parlay it to fame and fortune. I guess I can’t blame them, but they are real disappointments.

Art,

I agree with you on Hannity. I used to really like him but he is getting more and more like Bill O’Reilly, not letting anyone get two words in. I appreciate what he is trying to do but think he is losing some credibility with his abrasiveness and condescending attitude. I do still listen to his show though because I like his variety of guests.

Bob

I have to disagree on O’Reilly. He used to be as you describe, but in the last year or two he really has gotten the fair and balanced thing down. I think it might have to do with the fact that his radio show forces him to interact with “the folks” more and has helped him raise his game.

He does have no tolerance for spin though, but his guests can hardly say that they aren’t forewarned.

Hannity and Combs has become another Crossfire. Everyone talking at once, not getting past their talking points, and trying to get off their one liners. All talk, no on listening.

That bitch has man-hands. Wish I had a picture showing those meat-hooks. Shallow of me, I know.

I think the deeper issue here is the concerted effort by a liberal elite to administer a “death from a thousand cuts”, when it comes minorities in the Bush administration. And someone please enlighten me if there’s been a Democratic administration in which more minorities have served in higher capacities than have those in the present and next Bush administration.

Coulter is abrasive and churlish sometimes, and that abrasiveness obscures some things which need to be looked at, namely the fact of Democratic hysteria when minorities start “going off the reservation” and start thinking for themselves, instead of just marching in lockstep with liberal orthodoxy. Amazing.

Tony

the deeper issue here is the concerted effort by a liberal elite to administer a “death from a thousand cuts”, when it comes minorities in the Bush administration.

So they’re not allowed to criticize members of the Bush administration if they’re black? Give me a break.

Do *you *think Thomas has been the same intellectual force on the Supreme Court that Scalia has? I don’t. I don’t know if Thomas’ decisions are poorly written or not, but I’m under the impression that he doesn’t write nearly as many of them as Scalia does in the first place, or ask many questions from the bench. Which is fine with me. And I think he usually votes correctly, which is all I really care about. But to claim that he doesn’t inhabit Scalia’s shadow is to deny reality.

As for the competence of Rice, that’s obviously a matter of debate. But I don’t think anbody remotely connected with the war in Iraq should be all that twitchy when their competence gets questioned. She doesn’t get a free pass because she’s a black woman with a good degree.

Well I am no judicial scholar, but Thomas writes a lot better than Ginsberg or O’Connor. The point is that Reid has probably never even read an opinion of Thomas’, never said any opinion he was referring to, and it is hard to ignore the fact that he went after the black guy instead of some other justice.

Not many compare to Scalia, so I can’t comment on that comparison.

If the definition of intellectual firepower is the ability to create tortured reasoning of the Constitution to achieve the result you are looking for then, no, Thomas does not go to the head of the class. His reasoning is too clear.

Just for fun, find the right to abortion in the Constitution. I will give you a hint in that it has to do with emanations and penumbras. We need fewer brilliant scholars finding fewer emanations and penumbras.

Thomas writes a lot better than Ginsberg or O’Connor.

Maybe he does, but their names aren’t being bandied about for Chief Justice, so . . . so what?

it is hard to ignore the fact that he went after the black guy instead of some other justice.

Well, no it isn’t. Thomas is being talked about for Chief Justice. Other than Scalia, I don’t think any other of the current Justices have been mentioned in that role yet, so it seems pretty fair to make the comparison.

**We need fewer brilliant scholars finding fewer emanations and penumbras. **

I agree. But that’s not the argument at hand.

Well, I actually think it is exactly the argument at hand. I have had my gut full of a lifetime of “brilliant” SC Justices that are brilliant only at perverting the law. Thomas doesn’t do that. If that is stupid in Reid’s eyes, we need more stupid justices.

Going to your original point, I didn’t see anything in Reid’s comments that rise to what I would consider a criticism. All I saw was a personal attack. Had he elaborated and shown that he actually knew of any particular opinion that had writing or reasoning flaws, that would amount to a criticism. I will wager Reid couldn’t tell you what opinions Thomas wrote, hasn’t read any of them, and can’t offer any constructive criticism of them. He has had all this week to so elaborate, but has taken a pass. I can guess the reason.

It is unlike Russert to let something like that go by without follow up. Very disappointing. He is a better journalist than that.

Coulter’s article is as full of generalizations and right-wing anti-liberal hatred as anything you might see coming from the left. However, she’s kind of hot.

I stand corrected. I had meant to point that out in my original response. I got distracted by substance or something. Not a good sign.

For even more fun, find the right to privacy.

I only read about half of it; finding no substance, I gave up. Her defense of Rice seems to be to attack the critic (“what has Bob Herbert mastered?”), rather than actually demonstrating Rice’s competence. To say that we have conquered Afghanistan (when the reality is that the majority of the country is under the control of the warlords, over whom we have no control) is wrong. To say that Rice is not incompetent because she didn’t predict 9/11 is utterly illogical. On that point, she demonstrated her incompetence during her 9/11 testimony by indicating that she did nothing to follow up on ensuring that the airlines increase their security (before 9/11) in the face of threatened hijacking (that’s part of her job). Her defense of the criticism that Rice is inexperienced in the politics of the world is to say that the same things were said about Bush, and heck, he’s done a great job (just ask most of the rest of the world).

She tosses the race card around because she can’t actually defend the targets of the critics. None of the critics are basing their criticisms of Rice and Thomas on race, but that’s all she can muster in their defense. “Eerily familiar”? Sure is. Reminds me of Clarence Thomas’ famous “high tech lynching” comment; attack the critics, not their arguments.

I have had my gut full of a lifetime of “brilliant” SC Justices that are brilliant only at perverting the law. Thomas doesn’t do that.

I agree with that 100%. I’d be perfectly happy to have seven more justices just like Thomas. But, honestly, does he seem like the best person for Chief Justice? Not to me.

**If that is stupid in Reid’s eyes, we need more stupid justices. **

I don’t think that was the basis of Reid’s argument, such as it was. He’s saying that Thomas hasn’t shown the intellectual rigor we want in a Chief Justice, and I frankly agree. That’s not the same thing as saying I think Thomas is a bad justice. (Although that bit about him being an “embarassment” to the court is ridiculous, I agree.)

For even more fun, find the right to privacy.

Isn’t that what it means to be free from unreasonable search and seizure?

Got anything tougher?

For even more fun, find the right to privacy.

Heh, heh. That privacy right always makes me chuckle. Hey, it’s found in the “penumbras and emenations” in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, because the Constitution is a “living document”, don’tcha know?

Thus was born that right, and the main argument buttressing the decision in Roe v. Wade (a right to privacy) and a whole raft of other tortured decisions rendered by The Court.

Ah, well…like someone else said, “brilliant jurists”? I find it amusing that someone like a Ginsburg gets fawning attention from the Left and yet Thomas is nothing more than a “Stepin’ Fetchit” for Scalia, when I’ll lay dollars-to-donuts that Thomas’ supporting opinions or opinions in dissent are at least as well thought-out and reasoned as anyone else who’s ever served on The Court.

Tony

Sorry but the majority of Afghanistan is not under control of warlords. Not saying they do not exist. They do. They are no different than the Crips or Bloods right here in our own country fighting for their “turf”. Not much we can or have done about them either. I do believe there was an election over there recently.

She tosses the race card around because she can’t actually defend the targets of the critics. None of the critics are basing their criticisms of Rice and Thomas on race, but that’s all she can muster in their defense.

From what her article contains, this is bang on the money. THe only references to racism I could find in her article were those in the second two lines of the first paragraph, which (a) were apparently directed at Rice, and (b) were attributed to “Democrats”.

It seems to me that her tactic, which is neither subtle nor subtly deployed, is to assert that any Democrat who criticises Clarence Thomas for the role Chief Justice is doing so on the grounds of racism. It’s a neat trick if you can pull it off, because it makes him pretty much immune to criticism.

By way of a disclaimer, I can’t claim to know anything about the respective qualities of the SC Js. But what is the big deal about being CJ? As I understand it, the SC always sits as a nine man court. The CJ is as likely to be the decider in a 5-4 split as any other Justice. It’s a lifetime appointment for everyone. What’s the cachet?