E-mail a friendAnn Coulter
original airdate September 2, 2004
Political analyst, attorney and author, Ann Coulter likes to stir up the pot. She's the legal correspondent for the conservative weekly, Human Events, and a frequent guest on political talk shows. Coulter is an outspoken critic of many liberal and Democrat Party movements. She began her media career as a legal correspondent with MSNBC and gained prominence as a lawyer who helped Paula Jones sue President Clinton.
Video of Ann Coulter.
Ann Coulter
Tavis: You know, I see David of course, on the 'NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.' I know some people are looking right now, as this camera moves over to Ann Coulter, and saying, "What? Tavis has Ann Coulter on his show? Not that conservative best-selling 'New York Times'...' How many 'New York Times,' about three or four now?
Ann Coulter: Thank you, three.
Tavis: Three? I said three or four. And now a new one coming out in October.
Coulter: Yes.
Tavis: I love this title, 'How to Talk to a Liberal if You Must'.
Coulter: Yes.
Tavis: 'How to Talk to a Liberal if You Must' coming out October 5th. We'll talk about the book in just a second. First of all, you're in New York, you live here in New York. How have you enjoyed having all these Republicans in town for a whole week?
Coulter: It's magnificent. It's unbelievable. We've got to have all of our conventions here. All the liberals are in the Hamptons and we've got 50,000 Republicans in town.
Tavis: All right, so what have you made of the Republican Convention this week? Do you think it was effective, have they accomplished anything here this week?
Coulter: I think so, I mean, I think there's so much energy out there. I mean, it's always easier when you didn't have a primary fight first. But this is nothing like the 2000 convention. I haven't seen a convention like this. There is so much enthusiasm, and enthusiasm for the issues. I mean, the Democrats keep saying, 'No, don't talk about the Swift Boat veterans, we want to talk about issues,' and it's always in there, jobs, jobs. You know, we're all for jobs. That's like saying let's talk about motherhood and apple pie. There actually are differences between the two Parties. And we're talking about them. We are for preemptive attacks to ward off another 9/11. We are against gay marriage. They are for it. We are against abortion. They are for it. And as far as I can tell, that is, when we talk about these issues we get accused of being, you know, hate mongers and so on, but we really are talking about issues.
Tavis: I'm not mad at anybody on the right for talking about those issues if those are the issues that America wants to talk about. What I do have concern about is why we are spending so much time talking about the Swift Boat issue, something that happened 30 plus years ago. Why talk about a war 30 years ago as opposed to the war that we're in now?
Coulter: No, well, I agree with you, but I agreed with you back when Kerry was using that as the sole platform he was running on.
Tavis: Right.
Coulter: And he--
Tavis: Was that a mistake on his part, to hitch his wagon to that issue?
Coulter: It turns out to be now. He's stepped on a rake and the rake hit him in the face.
Tavis: Stepped on a land mine, no pun intended.
Coulter: Right, right. No and I think, I mean, I was watching all the Democratic Primaries and you know, there's some speeches. And I have to say, I was sitting back thinking, how did this guy beat the other guys? And it was because of the fact that he was a Vietnam veteran and he really wore it on his sleeve and Rassman, James Rassman, came forward. He would not be the nominee but for having served in Vietnam.
Tavis: Unless something has changed since the last time you and I were hanging out at a bar somewhere, you're still single?
Coulter: Yes I am.
Tavis: Why should a single mother, single woman, why should a woman vote for George Bush?
Coulter: Because we don't want Arabs flying planes into our skyscrapers anymore. If you want to be safe, I mean, it's a cliché but it's a cliché that's true. We're going to fight the war here or we're going to fight the war there. And I'd just as soon not be fighting it in this city, in this country.
Tavis: But this notion, this notion, Ann, you have to admit. This notion of preemptive strike though, something we've never done before, is dangerous. It does not make us liked around the globe. That's dangerous isn't it? You travel around the world.
Coulter: Well, two things. One is we were apparently not being loved before 9/11.
Tavis: But what--
Coulter: Or we wouldn't have had 9/11.
Tavis: But a whole lot worse now with the way we've handled this war.
Coulter: No, I don't think so, I mean, the French are snippy with us but they never really like us and by the way, we have had preemptive attacks before. I mean, we had a preemptive attack on Slobodan Milosevic, solely for the purpose of regime change. Without the approval of the UN and Slobodan Milosevic posed absolutely no threat to the United States. I mean, I tend to agree with--
Tavis: Did Saddam? We still haven't found any weapons yet, Ann. What threat did he pose?
Coulter: Well, I was going to say, I mean, I tend to agree with Pat Buchanan that I don't think we should be sending American troops around the world, as liberals have reminded us, war is hell, I don't want to be the world's Mother Teresa or the world's policeman. But we're talking about with Saddam Hussein is, well for one thing, a man who was funding, harboring, sheltering terrorists. We weren't attacked by a single country on 9/11. We were attacked by, you know, basically an Islamic mafia that's in a lot of countries. We had to get on the ground. We need a friendly government. We basically need an Arab Israel over there. Um...So in the worst, case scenario, if he wasn't a threat to us, and I think he was, but if he was not a threat, the worst case scenario is we're being the world's Mother Teresa. We took out a really bad guy. I mean, nobody is saying, oh, we may have taken the Iraqi Abraham Lincoln.
Tavis: But shouldn't the American people deserve to have the facts laid out to them straight before we make a decision that that's what we're going to do? Don't tell us, I mean, I ain't mad at the President, but don't tell me you're going in for one reason and then say afterwards, well, that ain't really why we went in, but at least we got rid of a bad guy. I mean, come on, that's likea used car salesman, that's like buying, that's like a used car salesman. Come on now.
Coulter: No, I agree with you but I was making this argument before we went, before the war began, when President Bush gave his speech, the State of the Union Address, before we went to war. This is precisely the article I wrote. At worst, this is what we're doing and, in fact, I thought Bush was talking, and he was being honest. It was honest what the intelligence was, as we know. I thought he was talking, if anything, a little bit too much about the rape rooms because, like I say, I don't want to be the Mother Teresa.
Tavis: We've got about a minute and a half to go. So give me a little insight on what this next, I am certain, 'New York Times' best selling book from Ann Coulter is going to be about. I love the title even though I'm sure I'll hate the book, 'How to Talk to a Liberal (if You Must)'.
Coulter: No, you're going to love it.
Tavis: I always love your books. I'm being funny. So what's in this one?
Coulter: It's a little funnier than the rest of them because part of it is a greatest hits collection, about a third of it I'd say. And I picked out my favorite columns solely on the basis of the ones that made me laugh.
Tavis: Right.
Coulter: And also, I could put my jokes back in because, you know, sometimes,with a word cut limit,you have to cut a joke and it's heart breaking.
Tavis: All right.
Coulter: So those are back in. I've one entire chapter on the columns that were too hot for anyone to ever publish, still among my favorites.
Tavis: Except for the company that's publishing it now, obviously.
Coulter: Right. But these were columns I wrote, for example, for 'Good Housekeeping,' 'Cigar Aficionado' oh no--
Tavis: We don't want that, yeah.
Coulter: We can't publish this. So this is the Ann Coulter Director's Cut.
Tavis: Well, I'm not even waiting for the book company to send me a copy. I want to pay for this. I want to pay to read anything that Ann Coulter wrote that somebody would not publish; I'll pay for that. The book is called again, 'How to Talk to a Liberal (if You Must),' coming out October 5th. Her name Ann Coulter, as you well know. Ann, nice to see you.
Coulter: Nice to see you.
Tavis: Nice to be in your town.
Coulter: Oh, great to have you here.
Tavis: Thanks for being so hospitable. That's our show for tonight. Thanks for watching. Good night from New York and as always, keep the faith.
Back to September 2, 2004