Ann Coulter's audience

[Theophylact]

isn't only American.

Although the Bush administration took pains to insist that "Muslims are not the enemy" and that it viewed Islam as a "religion of peace", it was unable to prevent a series of verbal attacks against Muslims that have occurred in the US following 9/11 - with some of the attacks coming from Bush's strongest supporters in the conservative movement. "This is no time to be precious about locating the exact individuals directly involved in this particular terrorist attack," wrote columnist Ann Coulter - now famously - two days after the attacks. "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."

Of course, Coulter's column does not reflect the mainstream of US opinion. But it offers a telling illustration of the way that fear can drive people to say and do things that make them feel brave and powerful while actually making them less safe by fanning the flames of intolerance and violence.

Shortly after Coulter's column appeared, it resurfaced on the website of the Mujahideen Lashkar-e-Taiba - one of the largest militant Islamist groups in Pakistan - which works closely with al-Qaida. At the time, the Lashkar-e-Taiba site was decorated with an image that depicted a hairy, monstrous hand with claws in place of fingernails, from which blood dripped on to a burning globe of planet earth. A star of David decorated the wrist of the hairy hand, and behind it stood an American flag. The reproduction of Coulter's column used bold, red letters to highlight the sentence that said to "invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity". To make the point even stronger, the webmaster added a comment: "We told you so. Is anyone listening out there? The noose is already around our necks. The preparation for genocide of ALL Muslims has begun ... The media is now doing its groundwork to create more hostility towards Islam and Muslims to the point that no one will oppose this mass murder which is about to take place. Mosques will be shut down, schools will be closed, Muslims will be arrested, and executed. There may even be special awards set up to kill Muslims. Millions and millions will be slaughtered like sheep. Remember these words because it is coming. The only safe refuge you have is Allah."

There's other interesting stuff in the piece.

[M_Six]

What a depressing read.

Ann Coulter is one of the most despicable human beings I have ever come across.

Even her face looks nasty.

[MTAtech]

This is what Al Franken said about Coulter:

"Coulter says that after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote an opinion contrary to a New York Times' position, the New York Times then responded with an editorial about Thomas called 'The Youngest, Cruelest Justice.' Coulter goes on to say that Thomas is called 'a colored lawn jockey for conservative white interests,' 'race trader,' 'black snake,' 'chicken and biscuit-eating Uncle Tom,' 'house Negro' and 'handkerchief head.'

"Now how many here," Franken asked the audience, "can guess that the New York Times did *not* call Clarence Thomas a 'chicken and biscuit-eating Uncle Tom' or a 'colored lawn jockey?' " The house lights came up and we saw the entire audience guffawing and holding up their hands.

"Right. Ann Coulter defends herself with a endnote that shows where these names for Clarence Thomas really came from, so she can say she's being honest. But what this really shows is her contempt for her readers. She thinks because of the way she writes that people are going to believe the New York Times has actually referred to a United States Supreme Court Justice as a 'handkerchief head.' "

Ann Coulter=Wacko