Would Coulter Exclude Lesley Ann Downey's Mother from a National debate?

In this blog I have always made a conscious effort to avoid the ramblings of Ann Coulter as I think it cheap to attack the mentally unstable.

I have never understood why anyone would allow this slightly unhinged person even a modicum of credibility when it so obvious that she is simply saying the most scandalous things she can think of in the hope of creating outrage.

Often what she is saying can be dismissed by even the most cursory examination of the facts.

For instance in one of her previous books, "Treason" she alleged - as a central premise to her work - that, "Everyone says liberals love America, too. No they don't. Whenever the nation is under attack, from within or without, liberals side with the enemy. This is their essence."

A central tenet to her argument was the work of McCarthy in rooting out Communists, which she implied was opposed by Liberals and "the elite". This, of course, ignores the fact that McCarthy was greatly aided by Robert Kennedy, one of the country's leading Liberal lights.

And this is often the case with Coulter. Scratch the surface and you find that it's all smoke and mirrors wrapped up in heaps of bile and faux outrage.

However, after her latest ramblings I do think her central theme needs to be addressed, as the hypocrisy of her statements are off the Richter scale.

She has chosen now to attack the widows of men who died on 9-11 by stating that:

"These self-obsessed women seem genuinely unaware that 9-11 was an attack on our nation and acted like as if the terrorist attack only happened to them. They believe the entire country was required to marinate in their exquisite personal agony. Apparently, denouncing bush was part of the closure process. These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by griefparrazies. I have never seen people enjoying their husband’s death so much."

When challenged about this she responded by saying:

"To speak out using the fact they are widows. This is the left's doctrine of infallibility. If they have a point to make about the 9-11 commission, about how to fight the war on terrorism, how about sending in somebody we are allowed to respond to. No-No-No. We have to respond to someone who had a family member die. Because then if we respond, oh you are questioning their authenticity."

This appears to me to be reversing Republican philosophy, where previously Republicans have sought to give redress to the families of victims. Indeed, I'm sure even Coulter would have no problem with the notion taking hold that victims and their families should be allowed to address a court in order that they may explain the impact that a crime has had upon them.

She would probably be the loudest person in the room to demand that the family of murdered man should be allowed to speak out regarding how the death of their loved one affected them, especially if them speaking out would suggest that the murderer might get a heavier sentence.

So what she's objecting to isn't actually the concept of victims families demanding that their voice be heard. She's simply furious that anyone - even the families who lost loved ones on 9-11 - could ever dare be critical of President Bush. Make no mistake, that's what's annoyed her.

Her argument, that no-one is allowed to criticise the families of 9-11 victims is, of course, undermined by the fact that she is engaging in the very act that she claims is banned.

She is loudly and vociferously criticising them, but doing so in a manner that exceeds all bounds of taste.

Nor is the concept of victims families speaking out a recent phenomenon. In Britain, every time there was talk of releasing Myra Hindley - one of this country's infamous Moors murderers - the press would inevitably talk to the mother of Lesley Ann Downey, a child murdered by the infamous pair.

I never quite understood what the press expected her to say other than that Hindley should never, ever, be released. One could hardly expect the mother of a murdered child to say anything else.

But the important point was that there were people still hurting from Hindley's crimes and the press were reflecting that as a genuine part of the overall debate.

Would Coulter exclude Lesley Ann Downey's mother from a national debate over whether Hindley, who had served longer in prison than the sentence passed to her by the judge at her trial, should be released?

After all, few us could criticise Mrs Downey, the charge that Coulter now levels at the 9-11 widows.

I'm sure Coulter would be all for Mrs Downey being allowed to speak.

What's she's fulminating against isn't the fact that the victims of crime are in some way impossible to criticise, she's simply enraged at who they've chosen as their target.

That's why she's a hypocrite.

I now vow never to mention this insane person again.

Crooks and Liars have the video.

Tags: Ann, Coulter, 9-11, victims, families, widows,