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#639071 - 11/16/06 08:48 PM Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
Bimmer Offline
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Wherever the plane lands
by Ann Coulter

In the past week, there are 476 documents on Nexis heralding the magnificent achievement of Nancy Pelosi becoming the FIRST WOMAN speaker of the House.

I thought we had moved beyond such multicultural milestones.

The media yawned when Condoleezza Rice became the first black female secretary of state (and when Lincoln Chafee became the first developmentally disabled senator).

There were only 77 documents noting that Rice was the first black woman to be the secretary of state, and half of them were issues of Jet, Essence, Ebony or Black Entrepreneur magazine.

A New York Times profile of Rice at the time waited until the last sentence to note in passing that Rice was "only the second woman, and the first black woman, to hold the job." (In a separate column by me, it was noted that Rice was the "first competent woman" to hold the job.)

Not everyone ignored Secretary Rice's achievement. Gore's campaign manager, Donna Brazile — the last black person to hold a prominent role in any Democratic presidential campaign — told Newsweek that when she watched President Bush nominate Rice, "I had chills up and down my spine." Brazile said: "I never thought in my lifetime I'd see an African-American woman being nominated as secretary of state. George Bush made that happen."

On MSNBC's "Hardball," even Al Sharpton said of Rice's appointment, "I don't think you can sneeze at the fact that she has made a tremendous achievement as the first black woman in history to be a State Department head."

Rice was not the first black secretary of state because Bush had already made Colin Powell the first black secretary of state. That was back during Bush's first term, when Rice was the first female national security adviser.

Bush also named Alberto Gonzales the first Hispanic attorney general. He made an Arab-American, Spencer Abraham, secretary of energy; a Cuban-American, Carlos Gutierrez, secretary of commerce; an Asian-American, Elaine Chao, secretary of labor; and a retarded-American, Norman Mineta, secretary of transportation. It was as if Mariah Carey and Tiger Woods had children and they all joined the Bush Cabinet.

The whole place has been lousy with women since the first Bush term, including Gale Ann Norton, secretary of the interior, Ann Veneman, secretary of agriculture, and Margaret Spellings, secretary of education. For a while there, it looked as if Bush might become the first president whose entire Cabinet's menstrual cycles were synchronized.

In a rare article taking note of Bush's "Benetton-ad presidency," Time magazine's Joe Klein said of Bush's second-term appointments: "It took Bush a month before he named a standard-issue white male."

By contrast, John Kerry hired only white males for top positions in his presidential campaign, a fact so embarrassing that even the media eventually took notice. In Kerry's defense, almost all of his and Teresa's domestic servants appear to have been people of color, although we still don't have a final head count on the place in Aspen.

But when Nancy Pelosi — another Democrat who married a multimillionaire — achieves the minor distinction of becoming the first female speaker of the House, The New York Times acts like she's invented cold fusion.

There were two major articles breathlessly reporting Pelosi's magnificent achievement as first female speaker and an op-ed by Bob Herbert, titled "Ms. Speaker and Other Trends." Beatifying Pelosi as "the most powerful woman ever to sit in Congress," Herbert began: "Sometimes you can actually feel the winds of history blowing." There was a major Times profile of Pelosi, gushing that Pelosi was "on the brink of becoming the first female speaker." (Isn't she just the most independent little gal?)

So in addition to bringing back a cut-and-run national security strategy, tax-and-spend domestic policy and a no-enforcement immigration policy, the new Democratic Congress is apparently ushering in a return to feminist milestones.

I warned you people about what might happen if "Take Your Daughter to Work Day" ever caught on, and now you've got no one but yourselves to blame. Happy now?
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#639072 - 11/16/06 09:14 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
straw Offline
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When I read Ann Coulter, I too tend to wish fondly for a return to the days when women were seen and not heard.

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#639073 - 11/16/06 09:18 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
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Amen Straw...I have no problem "seeing" Ann Coulter...but I honestly think there is something askew with her when I hear her speak.

We're all entitled to our opinions, and I wish I could get paid to write them down and appear on TV and college campuses like Ann, but there is just something unrighteous in how she deals with the differing of opinions.

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#639074 - 11/16/06 09:22 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
straw Offline
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She is jsut an example of shrillness that has infiltrated the talking heads on both sides of the aisle. She is just better at creating controversy to sell something than others.

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#639075 - 11/16/06 10:12 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
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Ok, now that we've trashed the messenger, and disparaged the manner in which the message was delivered, what do we have to say about the content of the message?

Just wondering.
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#639076 - 11/16/06 10:22 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
straw Offline
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Quote:

Ok, now that we've trashed the messenger, and disparaged the manner in which the message was delivered, what do we have to say about the content of the message?

Just wondering.




You go first

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#639077 - 11/16/06 10:34 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
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So the gist is that Ann Coulter is pissed that a woman other than her is getting lauded by the press?

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#639078 - 11/16/06 11:29 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
Fraudman CFCI Offline
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Just more of the drive-by media bias showing.

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#639079 - 11/16/06 11:39 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
straw Offline
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Quote:

Just more of the drive-by media bias showing.




Nothing like the Fox memo circulating. I guess you have to give Fox credit in that they don't try to hide the bias.

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#639080 - 11/16/06 11:49 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
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I think Ann's grasping for straws a little bit. I think the significance of this event is that for the first time in U.S. history, a woman is two heartbeats away from the Presidency. I guess that's just more incentive for the President and Vice President to stay away from each other as much as possible.
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#639081 - 11/17/06 12:47 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
Hrothgar Geiger Offline
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Quote:

Just more of the drive-by media bias showing.




media bias being shown by publishing Ann Coulter's article? or some other bias.

She certainly established a high moral tone by referring to Norman Mineta as 'a retarded-American' and Lincoln Chafee as 'the first developmentally disabled senator.'

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#639082 - 11/17/06 01:05 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
Retired DQ Offline
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Quote:

by Ann Coulter


I thought we had moved beyond such multicultural milestones.

The media yawned when Condoleezza Rice became the first black female secretary of state




I take issue with her whole stance, I believe that most women were extremely proud of what C. Rice has accomplished. I may not like what Condi purports, but I am duly impressed with her ambition and intelligence. That said, no, America has not "moved beyond such multicultural milestones", or else she wouldn't need to comment on it at all.

Ann Coulter may be charming to some right wing bible thumpers, I think she is a pompous a$$.
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#639083 - 11/17/06 01:10 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
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Quote:

Ok, now that we've trashed the messenger, and disparaged the manner in which the message was delivered, what do we have to say about the content of the message?





I'm not sure I understand what 'the message' is. Complaining that too many people are writing about Nancy Pelosi (which also counts as writing about Nancy Pelosi.)?
Asking that Bush get credit for his hiring policies? (well, he does deserve kissy-points for them.)

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#639084 - 11/17/06 02:01 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
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I think what she was saying was that the media is overreacting to the idea of a woman becoming Speaker of the House, and pointing out the gender and ethnic diversity of Bush's cabinet appointments, particularly in contrast to the lack of such diversity among Kerry's inner circle. If that's what she is saying, she has a point.

She does get a little strange toward the end of the article. To me, she almost seems to be denigrating the idea of women in high government office. But having read almost none of her writing, I don't know if she's being facetious for a reason or just running laps.
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#639085 - 11/17/06 02:12 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
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Quote:

lack of such diversity among Kerry's inner circle



please explain the relevance. is kerry the new kennedy?

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#639086 - 11/17/06 02:16 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
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The smart-mouth remarks about Senator Chaffee and Secretary Mineta detract from her message, which appears to be that the mainstream media is biased. This is, of course true. Whether we are talking about the New York Times of Fox News, the national media seems incapable of recognizing that it is slanted.

So what else is new?

I may not agree with Ms. Pelosi's politics (and I don't), but it is good for the country when the available gene pool for our leaders includes both x and y chromosomes.

President Bush deserves more credit for diversity in his Cabinet appointments than he has received, as well.
Last edited by redsfan; 11/17/06 02:20 PM.
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#639087 - 11/17/06 03:48 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
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Quote:

Quote:

lack of such diversity among Kerry's inner circle



please explain the relevance. is kerry the new kennedy?




Coulter was the one who made this comparison; I simply made reference to it. You'll have to ask her to explain the relevance.
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#639088 - 11/17/06 03:59 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
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steve, the comment was meant to be in general. i wasn't asking it of you, just using what you said to pose a general question.

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#639089 - 11/17/06 05:17 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
Fraudman CFCI Offline
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DQ, I think we need to read between the lilnes here. Of course women should be proud of what she accomplished as should all Americans. The issue raised by Coulter is that despite all she accomplished, to the mainstream media it was a non-event. Yet the affair Pelosi, another female accomplihment and milestone event, became front page news from the right coast to the left coast.

IMHO, had CR been a democrat and rose to the office, she would have received the same welcome that has been extended to NP by the national media.

Also, DQ, I got my butt kicked royally (and I might add justifiably)for a reference I made about NP last week. I would like to add I agree with you that pompous is an excellent adjective to describe her. I will the it at that.

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#639090 - 11/17/06 05:23 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
Retired DQ Offline
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I don't know Fraudman. I thought that Condi received well-deserved praise on her rise to office, not only for being a female but African American as well. I think that memories dull in 6 years.
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#639091 - 11/17/06 05:30 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
Non Ron anon Offline
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Quote:

I thought that Condi received well-deserved praise on her rise to office




Well of course she did. This is just more of the whining and intellectual dishonesty that is Coulter's stock in trade.

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#639092 - 11/17/06 06:14 PM Re: Desperate Congresswoman of Hysteria Lane
Fraudman CFCI Offline
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Oh, I agree with you but with NP the event is being heralded as the next coming of sliced bread!

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