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Estrich on Coulter: Sympathy for the Mean Girl
I loved this article by Susan Estrich (here at Fox.com). Just to whet your appetite, here is a little taste of one conservative woman's view of what a woman must do to get a little attention paid to her views here at the turn of the century:
In Ann's case, because I do respect her intelligence, I am forever trying to bring her in from the edge and her response is to point out that it is only because of where she stands that anyone sees her at all. If she weren't outrageous---if she didn't take those extra steps---"no one" wouuld pay attention.
That is the thesis of Ann's life.
If she were not a thin, gun-toting, half-naked, over-the-line arch-conservative, long blonde haired bombshell-- that is, if she were just a size 4, well-suited, TV coiffed conservative woman-- she'd go nowhere. And she always laughs at me because I, of all people, know that. It isn't just ideology, stupid. It's gender, too.
And here's the test of it: Show me a more moderate Ann. Show me a more moderate version of Ann who has made it by taking the essence of Ann's ideas and eating more and going to fewer extremes
Quoted from Ann Coulter and Me, Tipper and Hillary.
So. “The thesis of Ann’s life”: she's the nasty child who sits in the front row and torments the other children to get the “negative” attention she so desperately needs. Her disastrous recent comments about the 9-11 widows don't reflect her true views; she just said it to make people pay attention to her. It's nice to have my opinion of Coulter confirmed by people on her team.
I love it that conservatives think of her as “intellectual” and “over the top” rather than a self-serving right wing Barbie doll whose opinions are never more than half baked. I love it that this is the best that Estrich (who can’t “bury” Ann because she is "all about giving women a voice") can come up with in her defense: Coulter says what she says to get attention. She's a mean girl because otherwise no one would listen to her.
At the end of the day, I've ended up feeling a bit sympathetic to Coulter. Even conservatives are spinning out of control to distance themselves from her recent statements. It's really so unfair and do you know why? Because I will bet you anything you like that she was only saying in public what many of them have said to her in private about the 9-11 widows. She bravely said out loud and in public what many hardliners have doubtless said among themselves in private about the 9-11 widows: "Ignore them; they just want attention." Now everyone on the playground is running away from her as fast as their little legs can carry them. Now even her friends won't play with her!
Poor Coulter, though; could any amount of scorn be more humiliating than the defense that she's the mean girl of the playground because it's the only way anyone would look at her otherwise? Because no matter what she says here, Estrich can't possibly believe that the only way a woman--even a conservative woman--can get people to listen to her is by saying things that she doesn't really mean. (Or does she mean that conservatives will only listen to a woman who is strident and a provocateur? Hmmmmm....)
Liberals who really want Coulter to go away should just laugh indulgently at her antics and get on with the more important business of calling public attention to issues that really require the public's attention. I personally am not sure I do want her to go away; her playground taunts don't make me feel ashamed or victimized in the least and watching her pals spinning out of control to distance themselves amuses the hell out of me.
If I were like Ann Coulter I might engage in speculation about why she is so apparently angry all the time, but I'm just not that interested (and as my mother used to say, "Don't you stoop to her level!").
So I am completely satisfied with Estrich's apologetics: Coulter fears that if she weren't a superficially "glamorous" ---I guess Estrich means "appealing to Republican men"---and stridently offensive, nobody would ever pay attention to her at all! Since she is what she is, everyone gets crazy every time she screams "Neener Neener Neener! Democrats suck, I hate you all and so does Jesus! I wish you would all die!""
To Democrats everywhere: Calm down. Calm down. Just because Ann Coulter wishes we would all die painfully doesn't mean we are going to. It doesn't mean that all Republicans/conservatives wish we would die; it's increasingly clear that Coulter speaks for Coulter.
But if you don't secretly enjoy watching Ann Coulter make a spectacle of herself (as I've recently admitted to myself I do), and if you want her to go away, give her taunting the response it merits and ignore it. You can't shame people who don't have any shame and you can't reason with people whose attitudes aren't based on reason. And fighting back just gives her exactly what she wants: more people looking at her.
As for Estrich, does she even know what century this is? It's demonstrably not the case that women, even conservative women, can only get a hearing, or a book deal, by being perpetually on the attack or scrawny harridans with age-inappropriate hair and clothing. Just for example, there are the two women (Hillary and Tipper) Estrich takes on in the rest of her article. Whatever you think of them, you can't deny that they have made themselves noticed and that HC has made herself noticed big-time, as a potential presidential candidate. Or---if you must---take Condoleeza Rice. I won't say "Take Susan Estrich herself" because she knows better than I do whether people pay attention to her...
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Image drawn by Mr. Tenniel; painted by Damozel!
10:00:00 AM 
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