Friday, February 13, 2004
How Do You Bitch-Slap A Bit...Uh, Ann Coulter
I'd intended to do some posting on how the right is handling the Kerry "rumors," and Bush's National Guard "problems," and I'll be back to do so, but this caught my eye.
Tired of gnashing you teeth at another Coulter outrage? Tired of talking back to your computer screen?
Someone's got a plan, an excellent adventure of a plan.
This, via the irrepressible Scoobic Davis, who pointed me to "George W. Bush, Will You Please Go Now, a blog new to me, where "Doug" is the guy with the plan.
Quick backgrounder: Ann Coulter has taken upon herself to savage Max Cleland, a man who is minus three limbs, which he lost in wartime. TBoggs has also been on the case. Coulter claims that Cleland's injuries occurred not in combat, and that he was injured when he picked up his own grenade. This time, the claim is not merely bogus because she's left something out, or mis-read meanings, or selectively quoted. This time she seems to have just made up a lie.
Doug, for whom Ann Coulter is something of an on-going project, has the actual story of what happened to Max Cleland, via email, and The Hammster, by someone who seems to know what he's talking about.
The difference between Cleland's actual experience and Coulter's lies is beyond grotesque.
What to do, what to do
The gist of the plan is to get serious about lodging protests with the media outlets that do business with Ms. Coulter. Doug calls it "Operation F$#! You, Ann Coulter".
He's gathered all the infomation you need to contact multiple media outlets where Coulter does business. He also suggests exactly the right tone the letters should have.
Be sure to go and read Doug's ground rules. They're exactly right. I would only amend one of his suggestions; perhaps asking for her to be forever blackballed will come too close to making the protest into a first amendment issue. At the least, though, these media outlets, and her publisher, owe Max Cleland an apology, as well as their viewers, readers, and they should be alert that she not be allowed to repeat this blatant lie unchallenged.
I would also add to the above, sending copies of your letters to Scarborough Country (joe@msnbc) and to Chris Matthews, (hardball@msnbc).
Also, let us know in comments if you do take pen in hand, or send an email; we'd like to measure, even crudely, what kind of response has been generated, don't worry if it takes you a while to get going, come back anyway and let us know you did something: let's see if we can raise the profile of this particular Coulter attack, and at the very least, make a lot of people who keep looking the other way, terribly uncomfortable.
Also, check out Scoobie on some good news about the state of Alan Colmes's spine, and take a look at all the stuff Doug has up at George Must Go; it's awfully good.
Tired of gnashing you teeth at another Coulter outrage? Tired of talking back to your computer screen?
Someone's got a plan, an excellent adventure of a plan.
This, via the irrepressible Scoobic Davis, who pointed me to "George W. Bush, Will You Please Go Now, a blog new to me, where "Doug" is the guy with the plan.
Quick backgrounder: Ann Coulter has taken upon herself to savage Max Cleland, a man who is minus three limbs, which he lost in wartime. TBoggs has also been on the case. Coulter claims that Cleland's injuries occurred not in combat, and that he was injured when he picked up his own grenade. This time, the claim is not merely bogus because she's left something out, or mis-read meanings, or selectively quoted. This time she seems to have just made up a lie.
Doug, for whom Ann Coulter is something of an on-going project, has the actual story of what happened to Max Cleland, via email, and The Hammster, by someone who seems to know what he's talking about.
The difference between Cleland's actual experience and Coulter's lies is beyond grotesque.
What to do, what to do
The gist of the plan is to get serious about lodging protests with the media outlets that do business with Ms. Coulter. Doug calls it "Operation F$#! You, Ann Coulter".
He's gathered all the infomation you need to contact multiple media outlets where Coulter does business. He also suggests exactly the right tone the letters should have.
We're going to send letters, e-mails, whatever we can to the media outlets and other companies that allow Ann to spew her hateful, dishonest crap about people like Cleland. Basically, the point of these correspondences should be this: This woman ridiculed not just a brave man but the sacrifice he made in Vietnam, and your company's stature is lowered simply by doing any business with her. If you consciously decide to maintain that association even after knowing what she did, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Some right-winger may try to spin this as a free-speech issue, which is baloney; Coulter does indeed have a first-amendment right to unload whatever garbage she wants, but we also have a right to disagree with it, and to express that disagreement with the people who enable her.
1. First, send a hand-written letter to the following address:
Random House, Inc.
1745 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
Remind them of Ann's lies about Max Cleland "dropping a grenade on himself," express your displeasure, and inform them that you won't be purchasing any more Random House-published books until she's no longer on their list of authors.
And, if you're so inclined, send one to Ann herself.
Ann Coulter
c/o Crown Forum Publicity
1745 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
2. Next contact Premiere Speakers, the group that sets up Ann's speaking engagements. Remind them, too, of Ann's dishonesty and disrespect, and point out how ironic it is that they have numerous soldiers and former POWs on their speakers list alongside Ann Coulter, someone who appears to be all too willing to ridicule and disparage their sacrifices.
Go ahead and send it to every single person who works there, just to be a nuisance. (If that "mailto:" link doesn't work for you, I'll throw the full list of addresses in the comments section below in just a second.)
3. E-mail her Webmaster (tom@anncoulter.org), the editors at Front Page Magazine (jglazov@rogers.com, ben@cspc.org) and Human Events (editors@humaneventsonline.com), and Crown Forum (crownpublicity@randomhouse.com) just for good measure. Also use Town Hall's e-mail submission form at www.townhall.com/about/contact.html. Concede that you have no problem with any political disagreements they might have with Sen. Cleland, but add that if they're willing to let Ann Coulter ridicule and spread lies about Cleland's war injury, not only should their journalistic integrity be called into question, but so should their respect for America's military.
4. If you run across a Coulter column in any newspaper or magazine you happen to pick up, write or e-mail them about Coulter's comments concerning Sen. Cleland, and inform them that you won't be purchasing or reading any future issues until you receive assurance that Coulter won't be published there again.
Be sure to go and read Doug's ground rules. They're exactly right. I would only amend one of his suggestions; perhaps asking for her to be forever blackballed will come too close to making the protest into a first amendment issue. At the least, though, these media outlets, and her publisher, owe Max Cleland an apology, as well as their viewers, readers, and they should be alert that she not be allowed to repeat this blatant lie unchallenged.
I would also add to the above, sending copies of your letters to Scarborough Country (joe@msnbc) and to Chris Matthews, (hardball@msnbc).
Also, let us know in comments if you do take pen in hand, or send an email; we'd like to measure, even crudely, what kind of response has been generated, don't worry if it takes you a while to get going, come back anyway and let us know you did something: let's see if we can raise the profile of this particular Coulter attack, and at the very least, make a lot of people who keep looking the other way, terribly uncomfortable.
Also, check out Scoobie on some good news about the state of Alan Colmes's spine, and take a look at all the stuff Doug has up at George Must Go; it's awfully good.
