Ann Coulter's new book: ABC News (via
Good Morning America) has a substantial excerpt
posted. Guess what?
It's got plenty of footnotes!
HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? In the interview on GMA, Diane Sawyer remarked that "Republicans censured McCarthy". Ann Coulter - if she knew the history her book is supposed to chronicle - should have said "Some did, but not a majority of Republicans." Which would have been technically true since the Senate vote was 67 -22, but Republicans were split evenly, 22 - 22. Instead, Coulter gave a peculiar response (if memory serves, about not impeaching Ken Starr). Talk about not knowing your material.
FOOTNOTE MADNESS: Here is how those footnotes can really add up. From the book: (these are all consecutive sentences in the book, where there were paragraph breaks)While journalists assailed Bush for creating an atmosphere of intolerance for those who "object to patriotic oaths," they didn't mind creating an atmosphere of intolerance toward those who support patriotic oaths.6
Later, while campaigning at a naval base, Bush said of Dukakis, "I wouldn't be surprised if he thinks a naval exercise is something you find in the Jane Fonda Workout Book."7 Again, there were wails of "McCarthyism" all around. Showing the left's renowned ability to get a joke, one reporter earnestly demanded to know: "Did Bush mean to imply that Dukakis is anti-military?"8 Bush responded to the hysteria over his Jane Fonda joke, saying, "Was that funny? Reasonably funny? A naval exercise -- I thought that was pretty funny."9
Historians claimed they had not seen "patriotism used with such cynical force" since the fifties. It was "disturbing," historians and political analysts said, for Bush to manipulate symbols to "raise doubts about the Democratic nominee's patriotism."10 Historian William Leuchtenburger, at the University of North Carolina, said, "I don't recall anything like this before. I don't think there has been an issue like this -- an issue so irrelevant to the powers of the presidency."11
6. Phil Gailey, "Bush Campaign Takes a Disturbing Turn with Attacks on Patriotism," St. Petersburg Times.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
UPDATE: Guess what? No mention today of Coulter in the National Review Online's The Corner. What is the world coming to?
posted by Quiddity at 6/24/2003 08:33:00 AM 
