Commentary
The ugly face of bigotry
By Linda S. Heard
Online Journal Contributing Writer


Oct 17, 2007, 00:12

I�ve long believed that Fox News contributor, author, and slash-and-burn right-wing columnist Ann Coulter was either a nut job or a calculating avaricious alligator-skinned prima donna, who would say just about anything to get her books on the best-seller list. Others have put her in the category of a harmless loud-mouthed prankster, whose malicious outpourings should be taken with a shovel of salt.

Lest you�ve forgotten, this is what Coulter had to say in her Sept. 12, 2001 column: �We know who the homicidal maniacs are. They are the ones cheering and dancing right now. We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren�t punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers; we carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That�s war. And this is war."

Seems Ms. Coulter is either an insider or clairvoyant.

She was later to say: �If only we could get Muslims to boycott all airlines we could dispense with airport security altogether.�

Coulter has also pressed law enforcement to racially profile Muslims and has used blatantly racist comments to depict Arabs and Muslims that are too offensive to be reproduced here.

It is, therefore, incredible that instead of being ostracized for her verbal detritus, until recently Coulter has been a regular guest on Fox News and has been invited to speak on college campuses and at evangelical meetings.

But now the emaciated plastic blonde with the serpentine tongue may have crossed a line too red even for right-wing, Bible-thumping America to swallow.

Coulter has taken on the Jews.

Her latest despicable attack poured forth during an appearance on CNBC�s �The Big Idea," hosted by Donny Deutsch.

When asked about her vision of a perfect America, she said it would �look like New York City during the Republican National Convention." So far so good, but when pressed to expand, she said, �People were happy. They�re Christian. They�re tolerant. They defend America, they . . ."

Naturally, this made Donny Deutsch, a self-confessed practicing Jew, sit up and take notice. �Christian -- so we should be Christian. It would be better if we were all Christian,� he asked. �Yes," answered Coulter before inviting her disbelieving host to attend church.

Things then went from bad to worse.

Deutsch: "So I should not be a Jew, I should be a Christian, and this would be a better place?"

Coulter: "Well, you could be a practicing Jew, but you�re not."

Deutsch: "I actually am. That�s not true. I really am. But -- so we would be better if we were -- if people -- if there were no Jews, no Buddhists . . ."

�We just want Jews to be perfected . . ." Coulter explained.

�Wow, you didn�t really say that, did you?� responded an incredulous Deutsch who was later to say he was personally offended by remarks he considered anti-Semitic.

�Don�t you see how hateful, how anti-Semitic?� asked Deutsch.

Coulter: "No!"

Deutsch: "How do you not see? You�re an educated woman. How do you not see that?"

Coulter: "That isn�t hateful at all."

�I don�t want you being offended by this,� she went on shoving her feet even further down her mouth. �This is what Christians consider themselves . . . We consider ourselves perfected Jews. For me to say that for you to become a Christian is to become a perfected Jew is not offensive at all."

The Lobby is up in arms. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a press release condemning Coulter�s �anti-Semitic comment that Christians �want Jews to be perfected.��

�Coulter�s remarks are outrageous, offensive and a throwback to the centuries-old teaching of contempt for Jews and Judaism. The notion that Jews are religiously inferior or imperfect because they do not accept Christian beliefs was the basis for 2,000 years of church-based anti-Semitism,� went the missive. �Clearly, Ann Coulter needs a wake-up call about the power of words to injure others and fuel hatred.�

Exactly! But where was the ADL when her target was Muslims and Arabs?

Richard Sideman, the president of the American Jewish Committee said: �Ms. Coulter�s assertion that Jews are somehow religiously imperfect smacks of the most odious anti-Jewish sentiment.� The National Jewish Democratic Council has called on �mainstream media outlets� to quit inviting Coulter on their programs.

In Israel, the media reaction to Coulter�s comments is less griping and more analytical. It seems the penny may have finally dropped as to the weird Zionist-evangelical buddy-buddy relationship.

Here�s what Penina Taylor has to say in her column �Thank you, Ann Coulter," published in Aretz Sheva: �Help me out here. I�m a little confused. The entire Jewish world is up in arms about what Ann Coulter said . . . Ann was caught saying out loud what every evangelical Christian has been saying behind our back (and not behind our back) for two thousand years.

�What gets me isn�t that Ms. Coulter thinks that all Jews need to be Christians -- I could have told you that. What gets me is that the Jewish world has convinced itself that the evangelical Christian right doesn�t really want us all to convert to Christianity. Hello? Is anyone home out there?�

Ha�aretz columnist Bradley Burston appears to have experienced an epiphany in his column �Ann Coulter�s dream of a Jew-free America."

He points out that Coulter has �waded into the mess first made by Republican White House hopeful John McCain when he referred to America as a nation founded on the principles of Christianity, indicating that he would like to see a fellow Christian in the White House."

Burston then says his mea culpas: �I was wrong to write off as mere stand-up racism her advice after the September 11 attacks� concerning Coulter�s comments about �swarthy-looking males."

He also admits he was wrong to write-off her suggestion that John Edwards should have been assassinated and her disgusting depiction of Islam.

�I was wrong to see her as some highly intelligent, well-educated, perversely gifted panderer to the lower common denominator. I should have taken her seriously,� he said.

�I�ll never underestimate her again,� he promises. �Ann Coulter has a plan for the Jews. She has one for Muslims as well. And it�s her people who are exactly the kind of Americans who could find the way to carry it out."

Couldn�t have said it better myself! If you come to Cairo, Bradley, I might even offer to buy you a fuul sandwich.

Coulter has emerged as an unintentional whistle-blower. The next time groups of messianic evangelicals decide to tour the Holy Land bearing fistfuls of dollars for the �poor, downtrodden Israelis� who need to get on with building their temple as a prerequisite to the Second Coming -- their welcome may not be quite as warm.