Politics is a very dirty game. In order for someone to run for any type of political office, you have to have a thick skin. Anyone who supports a candidate also has to have a thick skin. Over the course of a campaign, many negative things by many people will be said about your candidate. You can either fight back with your emotions and not respond rationally or you can take what is being said about you, gather the facts and respond in a cool and intelligent way. If you haven't guessed by now, I am a supporter of Barack Obama and before you even say it, no it's not just because he is black. Granted, I never thought I would see a black candidate in my lifetime to actually have a chance to win the White House, so this is historical. I also agree with many of his policies and ideas on how to change the stranglehold some politicians have on our political system. Not since John F. Kennedy has a candidate sparked so much interest in politics and galvanized so many people.
This has been a long primary between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, too long. Being the first black candidate with an actual chance for the White House, Obama has met with some reservations by many in the political arena and voters, which is understandable. We knew race would be an issue in this election, but I was hoping that analysts and voters would try to stick to the issues rather than tabloid garbage. His pastor Reverend Wright, not wearing a flag pin and other problems that have popped up during this campaign. In my opinion, he has handled them extremely well. It's kind of a no win situation for him, if he doesn't respond, he is the candidate that doesn't have any toughness, if he does stand up and fight, he's the angry black politician which is something he can't afford if he wants to attract the important blue collar vote.
So, how does Ann Coulter fit into all this you ask? Well, every night I watch MSNBC or CNN to hear all the so called political analysts views on the days events that pertain to the Democratic primary race. This particular night, I turned on a program hosted by Glenn Beck and Ann Coulter was the guest. For those of you that don't know her, she is a conservative political analyst and also a best selling author who has stirred up some controversy in the recent past, but we'll get to that. Now, I have no problem with these political "experts" opinions good or bad about Obama, as long as they stick with the issues and not tabloid garbage or hearsay. Ann was asked to give her opinion on Obama and his chances for the Presidency. She had stated weeks before if McCain won the Republican nomination, even though she is a Republican, she would vote for Clinton if she was the Democratic nominee. She has very different opinions than McCain and doesn't think he represents the "true" conservative. When asked what will you do if/when Obama gets the nomination, she says that I said I would vote for Clinton, not Obama. She then goes on to bash his campaign with rhetoric that had nothing to do with the issues and the part that bothered me most is that she kept calling him Barack Hussein Obama, emphasising his middle name. When she was asked basically not to do that and it wasn't fair, she said why not, that is his name. True, it is his name, but why use it to make it seem that he has some kind of connection to terrorists or Sadam. She knew exactly what she was doing and that really bothered me. In politics, perception is everything. Obama has had to deal with this off and on during the campaign, even as recently as a couple of days ago at a diner, he went up to shake a potential voters hand and the man would not shake it. Saying that he was a Muslim and his middle name was Hussein. I guess that guy must have been Joe Redneck. Tactics like this are trying to strike fear in the minds of people who really don't follow the news and truly follow what is going on in the race and I think it's disgraceful!
Why is Ann Coulter of all people asked to be an analyst on the campaign? She has had some really cruel things to say about people and here are just a few:
1) On Senator John Edwards when he ran with John Kerry for the White House..
"I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, but it turns out that you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot,' so I'm - so, kind of at an impasse, can't really talk about Edwards, so I think I'll just conclude here and take your questions"
2) Her comments on Muslims..
"Airports scrupulously apply the same laughably ineffective airport harassment to Suzy Chapstick as to Muslim hijackers. It is preposterous to assume every passenger is a potential crazed homicidal maniac. We know who the homicidal maniacs are. They are the ones cheering and dancing right now.
We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war"
We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war"
"Not all Muslims may be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims -- at least all terrorists capable of assembling a murderous plot against America that leaves 7,000 people dead in under two hours"
3) Her comments about Jews on the show The Big Idea hosted by Donny Deutsch...
DEUTSCH: You said — your exact words were, "Jews need to be perfected." Those are the words out of your mouth.[152]COULTER: No, I'm saying that's what a Christian is.DEUTSCH: But that's what you said — don't you see how hateful, how anti-Semitic—COULTER: No!DEUTSCH: How do you not see? You're an educated woman. How do you not see that?COULTER: That isn't hateful at all.DEUTSCH: But that's even a scarier thought. OK—COULTER: No, no, no, no, no. I don't want you being offended by this. This is what Christians consider themselves, because our testament is the continuation of your testament. You know that. So we think Jews go to heaven. I mean (Jerry) Falwell himself said that, but you have to follow laws. Ours is "Christ died for our sins." We consider ourselves perfected Christians. For me to say that for you to become a Christian is to become a perfected Christian(sic) is not offensive at all.
This is the kind of person you call on to give her opinion on what is happening with Obama and the Democratic primary? Are you serious? Again, if you have valid arguments against a candidate no matter who it is, more power to you, but to take it to gutter politics and to try and strike fear into people for no reason, that is just wrong.
I think Ann needs a sandwich and a hug.
Just my opinion.
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