Even after condemnations of Coulter by NBC staff, will network again help her sell books?
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SUMMARY: On Hannity & Colmes, Ann Coulter announced that she will appear on the January 6, 2009, edition of NBC's Today show to promote the release of her new book. NBC has repeatedly provided Coulter a platform to spew her inflammatory rhetoric even as NBC-affiliated hosts and anchors have expressed disapproval of Coulter's statements or criticized the media for promoting her.
On the December 15 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, during a segment in which she called President-elect Barack Obama an "atheist" and asked if "we could get all of his aliases before he's sworn in on the Quran," author and syndicated columnist Ann Coulter announced that she is scheduled to appear on the January 6, 2009, edition of NBC's Today show to promote the release of her new book, Guilty: Liberal "Victims" and Their Assault on America (Crown Forum, January 2009). As Media Matters for America documented, NBC has repeatedly provided Coulter a platform to spew her inflammatory rhetoric even as NBC-affiliated hosts and anchors -- including Today co-hosts Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer, Tonight Show host Jay Leno, Hardball host Chris Matthews, Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, and CNBC's The Big Idea host Donny Deutsch -- have expressed disapproval of, in Leno's words, Coulter's "harsh" and "nasty" statements, or criticized the media for promoting her.
For instance, discussing Coulter's October 8, 2007, appearance on The Big Idea -- during which Coulter asserted that "we" Christians "just want Jews to be perfected" -- Deutsch said on the October 12, 2007, edition of Today: "And I think that's what -- we're playing dangerous with words in our society that there's no accountability. There's a glibness that we in the media kind of elevate, and I'm here to kind of say I'm personally tired of it, and I think America is tired of it also." Deutsch later told Today co-host Meredith Vieira that someone might ask, "Aren't we part of the problem?" Vieira responded: "Of course we are. We're perpetuating it."
On Hannity & Colmes, Coulter said to co-hosts Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes: "I have a new book coming out in two weeks, and this will be my first evening interview, January 6, and this is the last time you'll see me on TV until then," adding, "And the Today show that morning, hopefully with Matt Lauer." Later in the segment, discussing Obama's reported statement that he will use his full name -- Barack Hussein Obama -- when taking the presidential oath of office on January 20, 2009, Coulter asked: "Do you think we could get all of his aliases before he's sworn in on the Quran, I imagine?" Later, Coulter stated of Obama: "I think he's an atheist." After Colmes asked, "He's not a Christian?" Coulter stated, "Like all liberals, yeah. Of course he's an atheist." Obama's presidential campaign website states that Obama is "a committed Christian."
As Media Matters has extensively documented, Coulter has made a number of highly controversial remarks during her appearances on NBC-owned channels. On NBC programs alone, Coulter has called former Vice President Al Gore a "total fag" and has called former President Bill Clinton a "latent homosexual." Elsewhere, Coulter repeatedly likened Obama to Adolf Hitler in media appearances and in her syndicated column in 2008 and written that, without affirmative action, African-American Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) couldn't get a job "that didn't involve wearing a paper hat." She has also said of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens: "We need somebody to put rat poison in Justice Stevens' créme brulée." Indeed, Coulter has repeatedly mused about potential acts of violence against people she doesn't like or with whom she disagrees.
According to a Media Matters review, Coulter was interviewed at least 194 times on at least 13 individual programs on MSNBC, CNBC, and NBC from April 28, 1997, to October 1, 2007.
From the December 15 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:
COLMES: Governor Blagojevich left his house today apologizing to reporters for not catching the Saturday Night Live parody of him this weekend, but the governor is not apologizing to anybody for the accusations brought against him and is continuing to ignore pleas for his resignation. Joining us now for more on this is former Democratic pollster Pat Caddell; author of If Democrats Had Brains, syndicated columnist Ann Coulter.
COULTER: That's kind of an abbreviated version of the title.
COLMES: Oh, is there more to the title? If Democrats Had Brains, but they already do.
COULTER: If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans.
COLMES: Oh, I thought --
HANNITY: Yeah, but you have a new book coming out in a week.
COULTER: I have a new book coming out in two weeks, and this will be my first evening interview, January 6 --
COLMES: And do I need a --
COULTER: -- and this is the last time you'll see me on TV until then.
COLMES: Do I need an attorney for this one?
COULTER: And the Today show that morning, hopefully with Matt Lauer.
COLMES: You gonna say something bad about me in this book? Yeah, so do you want to expand upon that?
COULTER: You are in this book.
COLMES: I am?
HANNITY: Do you -- do you not like Meredith Vieira?
COLMES: Do I have a -- do I have a role in this book?
COULTER: You do -- you do have a role.
COLMES: And I need an attorney?
COULTER: And I'm going to add a pocket part, because the news came out you were leaving the show since I wrote the book, that I just want to tell you, Sean, you know, John Lennon always thought he'd be better without Paul McCartney. And Keith Richards always thought he'd be better without Mick Jagger.
COLMES: Yeah.
HANNITY: He abandoned me. Don't blame me. He --
COULTER: It never works. You could be George Michael, because he left, and it worked.
COLMES: Let me -- let's get to some actual --
COULTER: I don't think you want to be George Michael.
COLMES: Let's get to some actual material, here. I know you'd rather schmooze.
[...]
CADDELL: When Jimmy Carter ran, he ran as Jimmy Carter. And when he was sworn in, he was sworn in as James Earl Carter Jr.
COLMES: Right.
CADDELL: The -- and, so that --
COULTER: He didn't say that was going to reboot relations with the South --
COLMES: Let my friend Pat Caddell speak. Go ahead, Pat.
CADDELL: Let me finish, Ann.
COLMES: Let him finish.
CADDELL: But let me say, I think it is going to be a shock to a lot of people, though, on Inauguration Day, because I tried it today, once I heard everyone discuss it. I asked five people whether they knew what his middle name was, and no one knew. And when I told them, three of them were kind of surprised, to say the least.
COULTER: How is it going to be a shock, Pat?
CADDELL: So a lot of people, you can say this -- no, no, I'm just saying there's nothing to it. I just say a lot of people are going to be surprised that they didn't know. That's all.
COULTER: Well, they weren't watching Fox.
CADDELL: [inaudible] on Inauguration Day.
COLMES: Conservatives have been all over the place trying to use his middle name for the purpose of scaring people, because he's got the --
CADDELL: Sure they were. Of course they were.
COLMES: -- same name of the guy we deposed in Iraq.
CADDELL: Of course they were.
COULTER: Do you think we could get all of his aliases before he's sworn in on the Quran, I imagine?
COLMES: Now, Ann.
CADDELL: Oh, God, Ann.
COLMES: Do you want to actually marginalize yourself by saying that?
CADDELL: No, no, no, no.
COLMES: Do you really believe that?
COULTER: Well, the last time you said that, it was when I was using his middle name, and he likes it.
COLMES: Well, you did marginalize yourself.
CADDELL: No, no.
COLMES: And by saying he'd be sworn in on the Quran is also marginalizing yourself --
COULTER: Or whatever.
COLMES: -- because you know that's not true.
COULTER: Can we get off --
COLMES: Do you believe he's a --
COULTER: No, 'cause I know he's an atheist.
COLMES: Do you believe he's a --
COULTER: No. I think he's an atheist.
COLMES: He's not Christian? He's not a Christian?
COULTER: Like all liberals, yeah.
COLMES: You don't believe he's accepted Jesus Christ --
COULTER: Of course he's an atheist.
COLMES: -- into his heart?
HANNITY: Let me ask --
COLMES: He goes to a Christian church.
HANNITY: -- let me ask Pat Caddell. Hang on a second. Let me ask Pat Caddell. Pat, is it now acceptable to say -- like we say George W. Bush, George Herbert Walker Bush, Ronald Wilson Reagan, Richard Milhous Nixon, Hillary Rodham Clinton, can we -- is it now acceptable to say Barack Hussein Obama?
CADDELL: Apparently so.
HANNITY: Is it OK now?
CADDELL: Apparently so. He made it OK, and now I'm sure the mainstream press will say it's OK.
Is Fox's Hag of Hostility trying to say that Sean is a Nancy Boy?
Hag of Hostility - what a perfect description of this horrible person.
Colmes should get a lawyer. And that lawyer should call the offices of everyone Coulter slanders and threatens in her new book and file a class-action suit.
Blech. How do people watch this stuff? I know several posters have said that Fox viewers are stupid, but I'm not sure that's the answer. The vile things that come out of Sean Hannity's mouth daily, let alone Ann Coulter's, kind of only leaves me to believe that their fans are vile, hateful creatures themselves. How you could listen to one of Ann Coulter's jokes without your stomach turning, let alone be able to laugh, is beyond me...
Too bad her jaw wasn't wired shut. I hope she pays outrageous fees for her security screen.
I don't agree with Ann Coulter's comments about Jews but she lives in a free country and has the right to say what she wants. I believe that liberal networks like NBC are smart to give her a platform to satisfy their conservative audience. And let's face it, she does bring ratings. Otherwise NBC will continue to be accused of being a part of the "Liberal Media." NBC should not be in the business of censorship!
Noodle/Zoolander/PanFliedRibwalls/McCarthyist/Commies Smell/Hezbollah Killa/Great American
They can find other conservatives to put on besides Coulter, so that audience should be satisfied that way. Her specific presence isn't necessary to prevent cries of "liberal media", and in fact her presence hasn't prevented people from saying that anyway.
Free speech doesn't apply here, because a network is not obligated to give anyone a platform. It's not "censorship" to choose not to put someone on the air.
Are you a communist?
Are you a Taliban?
No. Show me the definition of censorship that validates your post.
Censorship is something done by a government, not by a corporation.
"Are you a communist?"
No... no communists here....
But you are one dumb SOB for coming in here and asking whether Brabantio is for his pointing out that not giving someone airtime to speak is not the same as not allowing them to speak... they still can.... just elsewhere!
Because if you want to go that route.... then FoxNoise is as communist as one can get... How many times has Al Franken or Keith Olbermann or Thom Hartmann ever been asked to appear on any Fox show?
By not ever offering them a chance to speak... by your idiotic logic... Fox is suppressing their speech... right?
Learn the differencre before you come in here again and type stupid talk...
NBC has never offered me air time either and I'm pretty ticked about that. ;>)
But the broader question is whether NBC is acting responsibly by giving air time to someone, for the purpose of shilling her book, with such a history of gratuitously hurtful and offensive comments and writings. Would they give air time to an unrepentant David Duke if he was pushing his memoirs?
Dude, what the show, Bill had to corner Al Franken to get him on his show. On every topic they have two sides of the story, just like MSNBC! haha!
NBC should not be in the business of censorship!
GA, check the definition of censorship before you start accusing others of it...
Mr. American
Your screen name seems to say you are a Glen Beck devotee. In seems you don't know hate speech is not protected by our right of freedom of speech and I feel that many of Ms. Coulter's past statements amount to hate speech. When she accused the widows of 9/11 of being glad their husbands were dead because they would collect an insurance settlement every responsible news outlet should have never invited her back on the air (she has a right to say what she wants but no right to spew lies and nonsense on the airways that belong to the people). Her publisher had to apoligize for numerous acts of plagerism. Her publisher had to apoligize for misleading footnotes in her books. Her publisher had to apoligize because this cultural warrior chose to hide from the media storm when she was found to be a cheater and a liar. I also think it is kind of funny that this "great american" is one of the few people in the US that has been convicted of voter (not voter registration) fraud.
I am proud that I have achieved the distinction of a lifetime ban from Ms. Coulter's web site. My crime: I politely pointed out the 5 factual errors in the FIRST PARAGRAPH of one of Ms. Couter's columns.
Peace
j
The collective IQ of the United States of America just dropped by about five points as a result of this conversation.
Makes me want to change my tag to Greater American, but that would be...wrong.
Then I get to be Greatest American
If you have to tell people you're a Great American, chances are, you're not a Great American.
p.s. - I know you were just being funny, JimmyCraghorn, nothing derisive pointed in your direction. :)
I'm surprised NBC doesn't have Ann Coulter in the booth at half-time at one of its Sunday night NFL games yukking it up with the announcers. This vemous creature is treated like just a benign, colorful character by NBC.
Some start as comics and become Conservative blow-hards, like whathisname; some, like Ann Coulter, probably started as a sincere woman who loved wearing her cocktail dress and turned into a great comic. I find her columns very funny. The more she makes people mad, the more money she makes. The more time you give her, the more she laughs. All the way to the bank. If she wants to be the big Christian, where is the ring? Where is the husband? Where are the children, hunny? It's okay you didn't make cheerleader, but the cocktail dress grows old, as do you. Good luck, Miss Coulter. I still read your column (which, by the way, has got to be the greatest writing gig in the WORLD -- speaking from a writer -- she writes a column like what? Once a month? ) Enjoy your life but please, Phillis Shlafly is waiting for you to reproduce and tick, tick, tick, hunny.
Ann Coulter is as much of a great comic as Dick Cheney is a compassionate humanitarian. I only wish I could be permitted free reign by the moderators to convey my impressions of Ms. Coulter's switchblade skankiness in order to counterbalance the romanticized version of her you convey and apparently admire. You are correct about one thing, with facilitators like NBC Ann Coulter is laughing all the way to the bank.
To IRONY 101 - sorry. Too much egg nog. I don't know what ELSE to call her but a commedienne. Certainly not a journalist, oui?
I'm convinced that if anyone were able to put this woman on a 72-hour hold, they would never release her. Why anyone would want to promote this hateful rhetoric is baffling. That said, she has the same First Amendment rights as the rest of us. If the Today show wants to giver her a platform, the best thing all of can do is not watch. Let them know you didn't and why you didn't. Let their advertisers know. Let her advertisers (on her web site) know what you think of her. As long as people buy her books and read her columns, she will always have a stage. Take away the stage.
Reading the transcript of the show reminded me why I hate shows like the Hannity/Colmes show. It is infuriatingly insipid.
Question: How does one reach the point of infuriation while enduring insipidness? Does one need be reminded of said event once undergone?
ANNTHRAX COULTER is irrelevent. No one with an ounce of common sense should pay any attention to her rantings andravings.