Depraved Influence
by digby
Endless discussions of political penises should have alerted me to the fact that we have embarked on a little nostalgia tour of Village hypocricy but until Fareed Zakaria had Ann Coulter on his show this morning as a political analyst, (apparently as a balance to Elliot Spitzer)I hadn't fully realized how low we were going to go. She was typically incoherent and outrageous, turning the "discussion" into the usual clown show. I guess she makes for good television, but Jesus she's annoying. Her re-emergence for this book tour reveals, once again, the great gaping hole where the conservative movement's humanity should be.
Here's a bit of her contribution to today's discussion, helped along by a British conservative miscreant who says that David Cameron's austerity eventually works out it will prove that he was a great leader. (It was very reminiscent of Junior Bush's oft repeated statement that if peace eventually came to the middle east a hundred years from now it would prove that the invasion of Iraq was the right thing to do.)
COULTER: What business are you in? You're a governor. You've been in politics your whole life. You're haranguing us?
SPITZER: No, no. What I'm saying is that -
COULTER: If you're a businessman, that's the strangest conversation I've ever seen (ph).
SPITZER: No, Ann, you - because you're making statements that are so completely counterfactual.
ROBERTS: I'm a historian. I didn't live (ph) in Ancient Rome.
SPITZER: Well, you know, I've heard people say - yes -
(CROSSTALK)
SPITZER: Your statements about the economy are simply counterfactual, counter every piece of evidence about jobs -
COULTER: Right. You're right. The economy is just booming right now that Keynesian economics that Obama gave us has been a - ...
ZAKARIA: OK, let me ask - let me ask - we've got to go, but I have to ask Ann this, which is there's - there is a strong case that he has made - Obama has made, which is about Medicare. And, on that issue, I want to know whether you think it will work. Not - I know that you wish that he didn't say it and that the Democrats' took entitlement reform more seriously, and I happen to agree with you there.
But, when you ask the American people, should - are you willing to deal with the budget deficit by cutting Medicare, 78 percent say no. I mean, I don't think you can get 78 percent of Americans to agree on the time of day.
COULTER: Right.
ZAKARIA: Where do (ph) -
COULTER: It's the utter irresponsibility of former Democrats. It's hard to take treats away from people, and that's what we've done. And Democrats set up a Ponzi scheme with social security and Medicare, and it's running out now. And, yes, it's very hard to take the treats away once you start giving them away, which is why it was utterly irresponsible for Democrats long dead and gone to set up these systems that could never last.
But, you know, it would be very helpful -
ZAKARIA: But will it work? That's what I'm asking.
COULTER: -- if we could get Democrats to acknowledge the system's about to go bankrupt rather than showing commercials of Paul Ryan -
ZAKARIA: But will it - OK.
COULTER: -- pushing an old lady in a wheelchair off a cliff.
ZAKARIA: All right. We've got to go. Chrystia, last word on Medicare and the rest (ph).
FREELAND: The last word is you are absolutely right. I think this is the single strongest point for the Democrats, and what it shows, actually, is that Americans don't see successful government programs as treats, which they are childish for enjoying. They see successful government programs as what the government should be doing.
COULTER: A program that's about to go bankrupt is not successful.
Very edifying and informative, don't you think? Except for all the lies.
I had occasion to look up some Coulter quotes this morning and I have to say that when you see them all together you see a portrait of a sociopath. That this rhetorical terrorist is welcomed into serious civic discussions is the perfect illustration of this country's political depravity.
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