Guilty Pleasure

Since my own personal political “inflection point,” somewhere around 1993, I’ve done my best to expose myself to various forms of conservative thought. From Rush Limbaugh to William F. Buckley, to the Conservative Chronicle, Newt, National Review, Sean Hannity, Jay Severin, Laura Ingraham, Weekly Standard, Dinesh Desouza, George Will, and the ever present wisdom of Ronald Reagan – I’ve covered a whole lot of the landscape. Living in Massachusetts, there have certainly been times (especially early on) when I felt the need to “cover up” my reading material, if only to avoid the occasional shocked look. (Note to self, when your boss ‘tsk tsks” your copy of The Fountainhead, you need a new boss).

Well, I’m way over that now. At work I’ll keep it under wraps, but in ‘real’ life I’m much more likely to overtly champion what I believe is the better way. Of course, even conservatives have their guilty pleasures and for a great deal of us that pleasure is the writing of Ann Coulter.

I’m certainly not afraid to tell people I love her books and her column, but I’m sure I’m not the only conservative that gets just a little bit uneasy admitting that. The reason is that Ann Coulter is the conservative equivalent of a buzz saw. She is just a little bit over the top, just a little bit past the limits of propriety that it at times gives you pause. At the same time she is so smart, and her writing is so….wickedly funny, that you can’t help but reading more. The best way I can describe it is that she has an uncanny knack for eviscerating liberalism’s sacred cows. She pulls no punches, has no fear, and damns the consequences.

Of course, this boldness makes her a lightning rod for left-wingers who try to stop her from speaking at every turn- most recently in Connecticut, as described in an article from the Associated Press. I always think it’s ironic that liberalism, a word that means tolerance for new ideas, has been hijacked by a group that attempts to squash speech that they do not agree with at every turn (look no further than “political correctness.”)

As might be expected, many liberals never take the time to listen to what you say. Once they hear you’re a conservative they just lump you all together as “Bible thumpers” or the “great Satan,” or in a dashing bit of liberal logic, both. But what liberals never bother to realize about Ann Coulter is that she is a bit of a pariah to Conservatives as well. Politicians can’t get near her. Because politics is the way it is, to have your picture taken with her, it would align you with her over-the-top comments across the board. Some of her comments are so brash (even if true) that I can’t really blame them. The people that I can call gutless when it comes to Coulter are the conservative press. Ann Coulter sells copy – she has four best selling books, and millions of readers of her weekly column on Townhall.com. But still, publications like National Review, Weekly Standard, WSJ, Washington Times, etc. all shy away from publishing her column.

The best mainstream exposure in a popular periodical she got from the other side of the aisle – JFK Jr. hired her to write a column in George Magazine years ago. She wrote a great tribute to him in her book “How to talk to a Liberal – if you must;” a great read. Today you can read her columns at Townhall.com or on her web site, Anncoulter.org. Also, there’s a great documentary about her on DVD entitled, “Is it true what they say about Ann?”