Ann "Thrax" Coulter's interview with the New York Observer's George Gurly, in which she voiced regret that journalists at the NY Times have not been murdered by terrorists. In that interview, Thrax defends her rhetoric this way: "I know when I'm baiting them, it's so easy to bait them and they always bite. That is my signature style, to start with the wild, bald, McCarthyite overstatements -- seemingly --and then back it up with methodical and laborious research." True to form as liberals, we and others have bitten, responding with outrage and nausea to Thrax's expression of support for the the murder of journalists. (Or what reader John Feer has affectionately called her "girlish homicidal dementia.") So now that the liberals are sufficiently baited, it's time to move on to Phase Two of Thrax's special game. And we're extremely curious as to what her "methodical and laborious research" will yield here, as well as how she might use it to "back up" the idea that it's regrettable those working for the New York Times have not been killed by terrorists. We can't wait to hear Thrax's follow-up. In the meantime, why not help Ann "Thrax" Coulter methodically and laboriously research her argument? Readers: Send us examples of those historical figures whom top conservative thinkers like Thrax would like terrorists to emulate - those who have used extreme violence against journalists as an effective means of eliminating their viewpoints. Perhaps Thrax can then rely on some of your research to "back up" her view that it's regrettable the same has not happened to those journalists who work for the New York Times. As we also noted earlier, Ann Coulter is recommended/linked by Slate.com's Mickey Kaus. Another prominent conservative Mickey promotes and provides a permanent link is Lucianne Goldberg. Today's "Quote of the Day" at Lucianne.com: Quote of the day: "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building." -Ann Coulter in an interview with the New York Observer. Also from 'atticus.' MWO. "...Coulter, and the others on this list of pundits, would no doubt strenuously deny this argument, but replace the word 'liberals' or 'the left' in their writings with the word 'Jew or Jews,' and what kind of invective does this speech begin to resemble? Coulter et. al are quick to accuse their caricatured 'Left' of 'hate,' but I think what we now can see is that this clique of rightists have gone from creating the caricature to attack to believing the caricature to be real. In this sense, I think there is a real parallel to developments on the right in the US and disturbing tendencies in many countries prior to bouts of extreme violence and ethnic cleansing that is no longer rooted in politics. It is rooted, rather, in the irrational identification of a caricatured class of hated people with ones real fellow citizens. As we know, in the US, Germany, Italy, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Cambodia, all of Eastern Europe and the former USSR, in France, and even in England, the widespread belief in a caricatured evil doer (the 'Negro,' the 'Jew', the 'Communist', the 'Kulak') can quickly, and very unexpectedly, translate into widespread violence and socially sanctioned murder. It's a very bad fire to play with. I remember hearing two songs by Peter Gabriel in 1980 that really made me think. One, of course, was 'Biko,' the song Gabriel wrote to commemorate the murder of Steve Biko in Port Elizabeth, South Africa in 1977. The other was 'Games without Frontiers,' particularly the line: Adolph builds a bonfire and Enrico plays with it. I think the meaning is pretty clear, and that's the bonfire with which the pundits on your list are playing. They may like their monkey games now, but will they enjoy the fruits of the barbecue so well? Best regards as always, Atticus Finch MWO.
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Matthew X