Coulter: New York Firefighters aren't really New Yorkers
On The Radio Factor, right-wing pundit Ann Coulter opined that New York firefighters are "Americans" not New Yorkers and that citing them as an example of New Yorkers helping out victims of Hurricane Katrina is like "citing the Christian Club at Harvard." In making the claim, Coulter was defending claims she made earlier on the show to guest host Al Rantel that "I'm waiting to see if New Yorkers will run to support the suffering victims of Katrina," and that she had doubts because "New Yorkers don't consider themselves a part of the rest of America." A caller challenged her remarks as "just flat-out hateful, divisive, and contribut[ing] to the politicizing of a tragedy," adding that New York firefighters had begun sending supplies and personnel to the Gulf Coast, to "reciprocate the outpouring of support they received and aid that they received after 9-11." Coulter responded, "I mean, to be citing firemen who are from New York, no, they are Americans," and then said, "New York firemen are a completely different breed. I mean, that's like citing the Christian Club at Harvard."
From the August 31 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:
RANTEL: I was telling the audience this morning, you know I don't like to compare anything to September the 11th because it was a unique thing, but I have to tell that, as I am watching the video, the television coverage of the suffering that's going on in Biloxi and Mobile and Gulfport [Mississippi], all of our great Gulf Coast cities, emotionally, I think I feel about the same way, it's frightening and it's horrible to watch this. What's your feeling about it?
COULTER: Yes. No, I know, I thought the exact same thing. And in the same way the rest of the country ran to support New York, I'm waiting to see if New Yorkers will run to support the suffering victims of Katrina.
RANTEL: Do you have doubts?
COULTER: New Yorkers don't really consider themselves a part of the rest of America.
RANTEL: [laughs] Well, I hope that's not true. We've got --
COULTER: You've heard of Manhattan?
RANTEL: I have. I have. I've been there many times. You have some doubts as to whether there'll be an outpour -- I mean do you think this is political, because these are red states?
COULTER: No. I just think New Yorkers think of themselves as their own country.
[...]
RANTEL: Let's take a call here. [Caller] is in St. Louis, Missouri. [Caller], welcome to The Radio Factor. How are you?
CALLER: I'm fine, thank you for taking my call.
RANTEL: You're welcome.
CALLER: I wanted to make a comment on Ann's comment that I think is just flat-out hateful, divisive, and contributes to the politicizing of a tragedy -- when she remarked about being surprised that New York would come to the aid of the victims of Katrina. I just watched this morning, on Fox News, they were covering the aftermath of the storm and the response to it. And they did a segment highlighting New York firefighters loading trucks preparing to send not only supplies but personnel to the affected area. And they commented that the reason they were doing it was to reciprocate the outpouring of support they received and aid that they received after 9-11. I think that it adds to the divisiveness; it adds to the extremism for her to make a remark like that --
RANTEL: All right.
CALLER: -- that's completely unfounded.
COULTER: Of course, New York firefighters, they're Americans.
RANTEL: [laugh]
CALLER: It was New York firefighters responding and your comment --
COULTER: Right, and I just said -- Of course they did. Of course they did. Surprisingly enough, eight million people are not monolithic.
RANTEL: Right, so in other words, Ann, what are you saying? You're not surprised that firefighters would help, that others would help, but you want to see --
COULTER: Yes, of course. New York firemen are a completely different breed. I mean, that's like citing the Christian Club at Harvard.
RANTEL: Right, so you want the liberals on the Upper West Side to do what?
COULTER: To respond the way people in Louisiana did when New York came under attack. I mean, there is the feeling that this isn't something that just happened to New Yorkers, and oh, well this is because you guys elected [Sen.] Hillary [Rodham] Clinton [D-NY], and that is what we're getting from liberals on the hurricane. It's because of their primitive religion. It's because of a memo [Mississippi Gov.] Haley Barbour wrote. It's the wrath of God. This isn't seen as something that has happened to their fellow Americans --
RANTEL: Let's go down south --
COULTER: -- Yeah, I mean to be citing firemen who are from New York, no, they are Americans.
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The Harpie Queen must have caught some flak about her earlier comment that New Yorkers were cowards. It's hard to justify calling firefighters and policemen cowards, even when you make your living telling lies.
Why do the talking head shows give this woman air time?
Who is paying her to vomit these intentionally inflamatory fabrications?
Every time she backtracks (which she seems to have been doing a lot of lately) we win.
Very, very good question. Saddest, though, is the fact that anyone takes her seriously. (I got e-mail from a right wing activist who said Coulter is the only one in this country who makes sense!)
Doesn't it sound quite a bit like Germany in, say, the 1930s?
Isn't Ann from the tony Connecticut suburbs? Pot, meet kettle.
Ann is probably one of the most elite snob pundits out there. I find it ironic that she so frequently projects the worst aspects of her own personality onto the entire left. Why isn't she down in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana commiserating and helping out her beloved, but unwashed fellow Red-Staters during one of the greatest catastrophes of our time?
It is interesting to see what Sydney Blumenthal has to say in regards to 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina as opposed to Ann Coulter's nonsense. Interesting read.
Why isn't she (Ann Coulter) down in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana commiserating and helping out her beloved, but unwashed fellow Red-Staters during one of the greatest catastrophes of our time?
Because they already have enough raw sewage in the streets. Stay home, Ann! You're not helping!
Thanks! Ann equals sewage. Did you get that, Ann?
The countless acts of bravery at the twin towers on 9/11 doesnt fit their worldview/propaganda, hence the hyperbole. New York is supposed to be filled with tree huggers and metrosexuals. If they could they would surgically remove New York from our consciousness with any connection with 9/11. I used to laugh at this woman. These latests comments are disturbing. Perhaps its the constant exploitation of issues that divide us instead of trying to unite us in light of the horrors after Katrina.
She's just doing what she does - making the country even more divisive.
If they could they would surgically remove New York from our consciousness with any connection with 9/11.
by mb
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These people would have to go after the District too-it's not known for being a bastion of conservatism.
Hey glass-salmon...lighten up! She's just being funny. Where's your sense of humor? This is just a little more good natured commentary from the right's number one stand-up comedienne.
Or maybe even though she said Firefighters aren't really New Yorkers, she didn't really mean it. Or maybe by tomorrow it could turn out that she never even said it in the first place.
Or maybe all you lefties should just quit whining. After all you lost the last two elections, you anti-American commie bastards.
And what about Bill Clinton? He was really bad and, like, should have been impeached or shot or something.
Just trying to beat the apologists to the punch.
Ann Coulter is slowly slipping into obscurity with silly comments like these, she is seen by many as a wacko already and it appears that she is becoming increasingly irrelevant in any substantive debate.
Continuing to highlight her outrageous statements only legitimizes her even further. Have at her if it makes you feel good or something, I find her pathetic and unworthy.
Fair and Balanced Fox disagrees with you.
Obviously, she appeals to viewers of that "news" organization otherwise they wouldn't have her on all of their programs.
What "Fair and Balanced Fox"?
She's just being funny. Where's your sense of humor? This is just a little more good natured commentary from the right's number one stand-up comedienne.
y rufus t firefly
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New York Figherfighters Aren't really New Yorkers-who said Anne Coulter was a female?
Wow! Somehow, Ann has apparently gotten hold of the lists of contributors to all aid organizations and knows that no Big Applers appear on those lists.
And, Double Wow! Since Ann lumps us together with New Yorkers, does this mean that I'm the only non-fire fighter from the Left Coast who's made a contribution to Habitat for Humanity's [link to www.habitat.org] Katrina Fund?
How idiotic of me! What was I thinking?
Hoo boy...as someone who's been living here in NYC for over ten years now, I'd sure like to see Coulter go to one of our firehouses and say that!!! She'd get her bony li'l backside kicked from here to Poughkeepsie...
Aesop said it best in his fable about the wolf and the kid -- "it's easy to be brave from a safe distance."
---Aesop said it best in his fable about the wolf and the kid -- "it's easy to be brave from a safe distance."
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I think you may have stumbled on the unofficial motto of the neoconservative chickenhawks.
How about;
"Blame everything and anything on Bush"
The unofficial motto of the far left liberals on this site.
"How about;
"Blame everything and anything on Bush"
"How about;
"Blame everything and anything on Bush"
The unofficial motto of the far left liberals on this site." -Tommy
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I agree. It is just as stupid for many on the far left to blame everything on Bush as it was for many on the far right to blame everything on Clinton when he was in office (and for many years afterward). The far-left and the far-right extremists and partisans are much more like each other than either would care to admit.
It is equally extreme and partisan to be deluded into thinking vaunted leaders bear no responsibility at all for the consequences of their choices. The buck needs to stop somewhere.
I agree. It is just as stupid for many on the far left to blame everything on Bush as it was for many on the far right to blame everything on Clinton when he was in office (and for many years afterward). The far-left and the far-right extremists and partisans are much more like each other than either would care to admit.
It is equally extreme and partisan to be deluded into thinking vaunted leaders bear no responsibility at all for the consequences of their choices. The buck needs to stop somewhere.
by open_mind xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I don't understand open mind, who is the president right now? bush, not Clinton. Tommy want's everyone to ignore the "leader" and pretend he's doing a good job. I asked this question before, I'll ask again, What has bush done in the time he's been president that's benefited the entire country? What happened during Clinton that compares to this disaster-in-charge. bush is a lifetime failure, read his resume, there's nothing he's ever done that's turned out right.
The only way to stop the scurrilous Annbeast is to cut off her means of communication. But because many right wing "think" groups fund bulk orders of her barely readable books (and make them temporary best sellers), she is considered part of the mainstream punditry.
Since publishing is greatly controlled by the New York money it would behoove them to cut her off, given her precious biting of the hand. But since she "sells" books, they endure the chomping (although, in their defense, you can dismiss it for lack of wit).
Keep fading, Annie. You are so wispy I can't see you any more.
"Barely readable"? In all fairness, I haven't read her books. Had a chance to download one for free (what does that tell you about the con best-seller con game) but declined to do so. Have read columns, though, or would have had they been readable.
Right-O, ash, I should have said "indecipherable books."
My response to Coulter would be that she isn't really a conservative, or even a neo-conservative. At most, she's a political groupie. I have never seen any evidence that she has the faintest understanding of any political ideology. She strikes me as someone who turned on the radio one day and heard one of Rush's tirades against homeless people or feminists, and thought, "You know, I bet I could be meaner than that."
She made up an enemies list, stole The Book Of Insult Humor from the public library, and cozied up to Bob Guccione, Bill Maher, and anyone else she thought could get her publicity or a TV spot. It's too bad Bill Hicks and Sam Kinison were dead by the time she came into the spotlight; they could have shown her a thing or too about slinging vitriol, and probably made her run screaming for her mommy.
"Raw sewage..." "I could be meaner..." You guys or gals are funnier and more clever than Coulter could dream of!
dbarber I agree completely. What is amazing to me is how the conservatives are so quick to lump any comment or act by any group with all liberals, but say that her comments are her own. That is such hypocrisy. They love to have her on, let her make her insensitive comments, never ask her to prove any veil that she spews and never lay any claim. How is it that I keep seeing every damn day. Can you imagine if the liberals had someone who was making these kind of comments, the conservatives would be racking them over the coals? Wow
rove must have issued her a set of different talking points on accident
Well, Ann's being the best ally the "left" could get.
Maybe all the NYC firefighters should be assasinated too, huh, Ann?
How to have you cake and eat it too.
Recall the talking point wherein New England=John Kerry= out of touch Liberal Elite? Hannity and Limbaugh ranted on and on about this.
Democrats and liberals are latte-drinking, Saab-driving big city liberals. Hmmm which city might they be talking about?
In light of Hillary and '08, it's shifted some to the Big Apple. New England / New York =the Clintons= amoral, afraid to fight liberal elitistswant to reach out and listen and understand terrorists (recently repeated by Rove & Limbo too).
The spin cycle continues:
Democrats and liberals are ivy-tower / elite, out-of-touch east coast intellectuals who don't care about the little folk, that they are destroying the country's moral and patriotic soul.
Ann's binary brain was faced with two competing forces, this winged monkey New England elitist claim and our nation's wholehearted adoration of the NYFD. The problem for her being the NY in NYPD.
So... OK says Ann, they're not New Yorkers. Presto!
So . . . when Coulter says New Yorkers, she means "all New Yorkers except the people who I arbitrarily define as not New Yorkers, regardless of whether or not they live in New York."
If that sounds incoherent, well, I find that oddly appropriate given the topic.
Does this remind anyone else of some bigot who jabbers on about all (word beginning with n) being lazy, criminal, promiscuous and incapable of holding down a job . . . and then, when confronted with examples to the contrary, says that naturally he didn't mean them. I've found that if one is masochistic enough to continue this conversation, you eventually end up with a definition of (racial slur) that includes anyone who acts like the bigot's preconceived notion of the group. Likewise, Ann Coulter's definition of "New Yorker" means, "Anyone from New York who seems to act in the cowardly or uncharitable way I think New Yorkers are going to act."
I find this a strange and stupid use of words.
Irene
This woman constantly spews nonsensical vomit from her mouth that makes Rush seem like a nice level-headed guy. Why does anyone pay any attention to either of them!
I am an American and a New Yorker, and I made my donation to the Red Cross the first day after the hurricane. What has this shrill, filthy, she-male whore done? I detest this hateful creature, and anyone who gives this piece of trash airtime. Stay out of New York, Annie!
"New Yorkers don't really consider themselves a part of the rest of America."
two seconds later ...
"Surprisingly enough, eight million people are not monolithic."
Alrighty then. And you got this gig how?
if you read the end of the transcript this women is just babbling. i tried to figure out what her point was about hillary and she might as well be talking a foreign language.
Really watch her the next time Faux gives her some air-time. If you can draw your attention away from her huge bobbing Adams apple for a couple of seconds, watch her eyes. They dart back and forth in an animal-like fashion reminiscent of a cornered alley cat. She is clearly psychotic. Yes, here is the poster child of the right rugged individualism. She was a pampered little rich girl from CT of a union busting lawyer/lobbyist father. She knew from the time children understand such things that no matter what she did in life, she would be provided for. Undergrad at an ivy league school (Cornell) and then on Unv of Mich where she bunked w/ Cindy A. Cohn – do you reckon there was some rug munching that greased the skids in this timeframe? And do you think she worked nights busing tables at the local pizza joints to put herself through school? On to a NYC law firm (again nepotism) and then one of the gnomes working on the Paula Jones case. Then the bone crushing life of hack writer where her books are given away to the brainless and sick. Yep, that Annie, she sure did pull herself up by her bootstraps. I can understand how she has such contempt and distain for the poor and unfortunate.
Appreciate that synopsis. Any ideas on psychopathology? Like an eating disorder, or an origin of the anger/hate she projects with such vehemence? Has she ever admitted to any sort of abuse?
The woman ("the jury is still out on this") is off her freaking nut. Are people like she/he/it the best the republicans have to offer??
Why do anyone listen to this crazy ass bitch. she's a total nut job.