On the July 3 edition of The Mike Rosen Show on Denver's Newsradio 850 KOA, right-wing pundit Ann Coulter told guest host Jon Caldara that he would have a “perfectly pleasant argument” if he discussed “Darwinism, gay marriage, abortion” or “anything” with “the most Bible-thumping, fundamentalist, born-again Jesus freak Christian, i.e., someone like myself.” By contrast, Coulter asserted: “Try talking with a liberal about a lit cigarette in a nonsmoking section if you want to see fanaticism.” Within moments of drawing that distinction, Coulter claimed that “health fanatics, when it comes to smoking, encourage every form of polymorphous perversity,” including “anal sex and fisting.”

As noted by blogger Atrios (Media Matters for America senior fellow Duncan Black), Coulter also mentions “fisting” on Pages 12, 175, and 251 of her latest book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism.

In addition, Coulter blasted The New York Times for reporting that the seven Miami men arrested in an alleged plot to attack Chicago's Sears Tower and the FBI building in Miami were “just dupes” who “didn't have the capacity to pull it off.” In fact, it was the U.S. government, not the Times, that first reached that conclusion. In announcing the indictments of the seven men, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales stated that the seven men represented “no immediate threat,” and Deputy FBI Director John Pistole agreed that the alleged plot was “aspirational rather than operational.”

From the July 3 edition of The Mike Rosen Show:

CALDARA: We were celebrating, among other things, Colorado's new smoking ban, which went into effect, let's see, two days ago now. Statewide smoking ban. Every restaurant, every bar, every tavern. Your [New York City] Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg would be so very, very happy.

COULTER: Yes. Yes. This is, you know, Example A of the religious fanaticism of the left. They're against smoking. You have a debate with the most Bible-thumping, fundamentalist, born-again Jesus freak Christian, i.e., someone like myself, about anything. Darwinism, gay marriage, abortion. Anything. You'll have a perfectly pleasant argument. Try talking with a liberal about a lit cigarette in a nonsmoking section, if you want to see fanaticism.

[...]

CALDARA: It's -- it's ridiculous. But even beyond that, particularly when it comes to secondhand smoke, let's just assume that all their studies are correct -- which by the way, they're not -- but let's assume that they are. Adults have the right of free association of the perks of adulthood, and they also have property rights. And if they want to run their business the way they want to run their business, and people want to come to their business and be part of it, that's freedom.

But the intolerance of the religion of the left says no, no, no, no. Free people cannot freely associate around the activities that -- the legal activities -- that they enjoy. Now, if we treated homosexuals the way we treat smokers, they would rightfully be rioting in the streets.

COULTER: Absolutely. Absolutely. It's a great comparison. Because meanwhile, these health fanatics, when it comes to smoking, encourage every form of polymorphous perversity, which, by the way, does have public health consequences -- but no, no, no, no. That -- that -- you know, anal sex and fisting, that's part of our deepest privacy rights.

[...]

COULTER: I promise you, if you go to the Supreme Court and say you have a deeply held belief that there should be no capital-gains tax, they are not going to say OK, we respect that. I promise you. No, I mean, he's right. It's goofy things like conscientious objector status, which is pretty much indistinguishable from the left right now --

CALDARA: But I've got tell you --

COULTER: Well, except that the left is actually helping Al Qaeda.

CALDARA: Let me jump in here. I believe that so strongly -- not so much with capital-gains tax. We could have a nice policy on that. But I believe so strongly, for instance, in smokers' rights, that a person who's running their own business must be allowed to run their business with any legal activity that they want. That people who don't want to wear a seat belt or who want to eat fatty food, that this bit of freedom is so important -- yeah, I'll say this -- this is a religion for me. This is my mission. It's why I do what I do every day.

[...]

CALDARA: It's 35 minutes after 10 o'clock. Our good friend, Ann Coulter with us again. 303-713-8585. I'm Jon Caldara. Ann, just a quick one -- there was an AP story that popped out and it was over what we should do with Iran. And there were stories coming out of -- I'm trying to find the story here. It was stories saying we can't bomb Iran and, in fact, we can't even find the nuclear facilities and deep sources within the Pentagon say that it would be a bad idea. Of course, those deep sources are unnamed sources.

COULTER: Right.

CALDARA: Which I always find pretty compelling. When Rumsfeld says, “Well, it's -- it's -- we can't do it,” then I'll agree. Here's the Reuters story: “Top Pentagon officers have told Bush administration that bombing Iranian nuclear facilities would probably fail to destroy that country's nuclear program.” This from The New Yorker magazine on Sunday.

COULTER: Right. I agree with you. “Top Pentagon authorities” generally means the cleaning lady who picked up the phone when we called. And whether or not it's true, I'm not sure, but I do think the issue it raises is a serious issue, and that is because of the left's culture of treason, because of their nay-saying of absolutely every defensive measure that the United States takes in the war on terrorism, it is a little hard to see how the United States could act here.

I mean, I really want liberals to tell us -- a Democrat -- an elected Democrat, when is the threat imminent? Because all I keep hearing is you know, Iraq wasn't imminent. Iran's not imminent. You have a lunatic who claims he has a nuke. But that's not an imminent threat. North Korea, I heard Joe Biden saying, “Well, that's not an imminent threat.” These Al Qaeda members in Miami were arrested. Oh, they're just dupes, according to The New York Times. According to the defense brief in The New York Times. Just dupes. They didn't have the capacity to pull it off.