This article was published in the October 8, 2007, edition of The New York Observer.
Tea With Miss Coulter
by George Gurley
Ann Coulter, wearing black sunglasses, a white tank top and capri pants, was sitting on a couch in the Carlyle Hotelâs tea room. It was a few days before the publication of her book, If Democrats Had Any Brains, Theyâd Be Republicans.
I asked her if the war on terror was still the No. 1 issue.
âItâs the top nine of 10 issues. For Democrats, itâs about number 57. Weâll see, but I think Americans are smarter than we think. We think we know what Americans think as reflected in the mainstream mediaâwell, that has been wrong so many times. But what they ought to know is that this is a far more dangerous war than the Cold War. ⦠This enemy says, âWeâre willing to die for our cause.â They do commit suicides for their cause. So how do you deter someone like that? Itâs not, âCan we deter them?â Itâs, âDo they have the technology?â Because the moment they have it, they will use it. Thatâs terrifying. And you know who said that before he died, was Jerry Falwell. He said, Christians understand; we care about abortion and gay marriage and everything else, but we understand that the big issue is terrorism.â
So six years now without an attack on our soil?
âHow about that? Nothing. We did finally get numbers this week: For years now the government hasnât been releasing how many of them weâre killing. You think itâs just like this unending holocaust of Americans. At 3,000 dead, itâs the most tepid holocaust Iâve ever heard of. Weâve killed about 20,000 of them, of terrorists, of militants, of Al Qaeda members, and theyâve gotten a little over 3,000 of ours. That is where the war is being fought, in Iraq, that is where we are fighting Al Qaeda. Sorry we have to use your country, Iraqis, but you let Saddam come to power, ha-ha, and we are going to instill democracy in your country.â
How much blame does Bill Clinton deserve for 9/11?
âA lot. Jimmy Carter got the whole thing started, Bill Clinton let it build, build, build, build, build. He wouldnât deal with it, because he had no credibility on deploying the military. He was a pot-smoking draft dodger, and so when he was presented with credible evidence that this or that country was behind a terrorist attack, heâd just have to look the other way: âNo, donât let me hear that. Call in Monica!â⦠Jimmy Carter gave Islamic craziness its first real foothold. There was no state-sponsoredâthey were just living in the dirt hating us until they had Iran. How did that happen? Because Americans forgot what itâs like to put a Democrat in charge of national security. Then we have eight years of Bill Clinton ignoring, ignoring, ignoring, ignoringâtheyâre ginning themselves up, Osama is saying, âYou have six dead in Somalia and you pull out? We have boys lining up.â Now this isnât the Cold War, these arenât sane but evil white menâthese are crazy Islamists. This countryâpeople are under the impression that it could never change, that this can be taken for granted, it canât be taken away, and this is a terrifying time. I mean, itâs terrifying to think what could happen with a one-term Democrat, any of those Democrats.â
Why do some people believe the terrorist threat has been exaggerated?
âThereâs an element in this country that is rooting against America. ⦠These arenât people who are thinking about Americaâs interests, so their behavior seems inexplicable to normal, patriotic Americans, but once you realize they are rooting against America, well then, they want to tell people there is no threat, there is no enemy, do nothing, donât fight back. And they have a comfortable home in the Democratic Party.â
What are her thoughts on feminism?
âThis whole feminist movement has nothing to do with women. Until Bill Clinton, if a 70-year-old boss called his 60-year-old secretary âhoney,â theyâd be screaming about white male patriarchal oppression. But then they have an actual president molesting the help and credibly accused of raping women and suddenly we have a new definition of sexual harassment, to the point where Gloria Steinem wrote in The New York Times basically the âone free gropeâ rule. You get one free grope and if the woman says no, then youâre not supposed to keep dropping your pants and saying âkiss it.â But youâre allowed to drop your pants one time. ⦠And with me theyâve dropped their principles on everything. Theyâre debating whether itâs okay for a liberal male to fantasize about raping meâthatâs the state feminism has come to.â
Did she mean it recently when she said she wished there was a fatwa against her?
âActually, I canât get one. You can only get one if youâre a Muslim. And a Muslim friend of mine also pointed out to me, âThey donât particularly care in your case, because youâre just a girlâthey just want to kill you.ââ
Mahmoud Ahmadinejadâs speech at Columbia University?
âShocking. You know, I give a lot of college speeches, I know how colleges behave, and there is the least free speech on a college campus as any place in America. It is like Iranâso for them to be saying they are allowing this guy to speak because of free speech, you know, your head explodes. ⦠Ahmadinejad held the Holocaust cartoon contest; he is funding Shia militants. And if you watched the speech, he was wildly applauded for every anti-American remarkâthe only one that upset them was when he didnât endorse sodomy.â
Did Columbia inviting him give the Iranian president more legitimacy?
âAbsolutely. My point is that Americans have to wake up and realize that there are people who are trying to help the enemy. Itâs like Americans, or liberals, not believing that people like Ahmadinejad would be willing to commit suicide in order to destroy Israel and America. They say it, they do it, and yet Americans donât believe it. Liberals root for the other side consistently, they aid the other side consistently. ⦠These people root against America.â
Who would be a better president for New York City, Rudy Giuliani or Hillary Clinton?
âWell, since I think the main thing New Yorkers ought to be looking for is someone who will not allow the Muslims to put a dirty bomb in New York, definitely Rudy.â
How would she sum up Hillaryâs campaign strategy?
âAssume that the loony base secretly knows you are a Marxist, so that you can talk like a moderate Democrat, appeal to the DLC types, and people who are Democrats because their grandparents were Democrats.â
If Hillaryâs elected, does she think sheâllâ
âImpose communism in America? Yes. And I think itâs a little worse than that, because I think she has a chip on her shoulder and a âto doâ list. Ha-ha!â
If the Clintons are back in the White House, wonât there at least be some good drama and a safe, familiar feeling?
âThatâs like hoping for O.J. to kill again. I actually think theyâre a bore. We know everything about them now. Look how many books have been written about Hillary. The Don Van Natta and Jeff Gerth book, theyâre like the two best reporters in America or within the top five, and they turned up a few good stories, but donât you feel like you know everything about it? I wanted to go just to [the page about] Hillary listening to illegally wiretapped phone calls of Bill Clintonâs bimbos. Thatâs a pretty big story, and then I donât feel like I really have to read anything else. So I think it will be a bore. I mean, heâs not going to be around. Heâll be ambassador to Club Med. Heâll be out of the picture.â
Tea With Miss Coulter
by George Gurley
Ann Coulter, wearing black sunglasses, a white tank top and capri pants, was sitting on a couch in the Carlyle Hotelâs tea room. It was a few days before the publication of her book, If Democrats Had Any Brains, Theyâd Be Republicans.
I asked her if the war on terror was still the No. 1 issue.
âItâs the top nine of 10 issues. For Democrats, itâs about number 57. Weâll see, but I think Americans are smarter than we think. We think we know what Americans think as reflected in the mainstream mediaâwell, that has been wrong so many times. But what they ought to know is that this is a far more dangerous war than the Cold War. ⦠This enemy says, âWeâre willing to die for our cause.â They do commit suicides for their cause. So how do you deter someone like that? Itâs not, âCan we deter them?â Itâs, âDo they have the technology?â Because the moment they have it, they will use it. Thatâs terrifying. And you know who said that before he died, was Jerry Falwell. He said, Christians understand; we care about abortion and gay marriage and everything else, but we understand that the big issue is terrorism.â
So six years now without an attack on our soil?
âHow about that? Nothing. We did finally get numbers this week: For years now the government hasnât been releasing how many of them weâre killing. You think itâs just like this unending holocaust of Americans. At 3,000 dead, itâs the most tepid holocaust Iâve ever heard of. Weâve killed about 20,000 of them, of terrorists, of militants, of Al Qaeda members, and theyâve gotten a little over 3,000 of ours. That is where the war is being fought, in Iraq, that is where we are fighting Al Qaeda. Sorry we have to use your country, Iraqis, but you let Saddam come to power, ha-ha, and we are going to instill democracy in your country.â
How much blame does Bill Clinton deserve for 9/11?
âA lot. Jimmy Carter got the whole thing started, Bill Clinton let it build, build, build, build, build. He wouldnât deal with it, because he had no credibility on deploying the military. He was a pot-smoking draft dodger, and so when he was presented with credible evidence that this or that country was behind a terrorist attack, heâd just have to look the other way: âNo, donât let me hear that. Call in Monica!â⦠Jimmy Carter gave Islamic craziness its first real foothold. There was no state-sponsoredâthey were just living in the dirt hating us until they had Iran. How did that happen? Because Americans forgot what itâs like to put a Democrat in charge of national security. Then we have eight years of Bill Clinton ignoring, ignoring, ignoring, ignoringâtheyâre ginning themselves up, Osama is saying, âYou have six dead in Somalia and you pull out? We have boys lining up.â Now this isnât the Cold War, these arenât sane but evil white menâthese are crazy Islamists. This countryâpeople are under the impression that it could never change, that this can be taken for granted, it canât be taken away, and this is a terrifying time. I mean, itâs terrifying to think what could happen with a one-term Democrat, any of those Democrats.â
Why do some people believe the terrorist threat has been exaggerated?
âThereâs an element in this country that is rooting against America. ⦠These arenât people who are thinking about Americaâs interests, so their behavior seems inexplicable to normal, patriotic Americans, but once you realize they are rooting against America, well then, they want to tell people there is no threat, there is no enemy, do nothing, donât fight back. And they have a comfortable home in the Democratic Party.â
What are her thoughts on feminism?
âThis whole feminist movement has nothing to do with women. Until Bill Clinton, if a 70-year-old boss called his 60-year-old secretary âhoney,â theyâd be screaming about white male patriarchal oppression. But then they have an actual president molesting the help and credibly accused of raping women and suddenly we have a new definition of sexual harassment, to the point where Gloria Steinem wrote in The New York Times basically the âone free gropeâ rule. You get one free grope and if the woman says no, then youâre not supposed to keep dropping your pants and saying âkiss it.â But youâre allowed to drop your pants one time. ⦠And with me theyâve dropped their principles on everything. Theyâre debating whether itâs okay for a liberal male to fantasize about raping meâthatâs the state feminism has come to.â
Did she mean it recently when she said she wished there was a fatwa against her?
âActually, I canât get one. You can only get one if youâre a Muslim. And a Muslim friend of mine also pointed out to me, âThey donât particularly care in your case, because youâre just a girlâthey just want to kill you.ââ
Mahmoud Ahmadinejadâs speech at Columbia University?
âShocking. You know, I give a lot of college speeches, I know how colleges behave, and there is the least free speech on a college campus as any place in America. It is like Iranâso for them to be saying they are allowing this guy to speak because of free speech, you know, your head explodes. ⦠Ahmadinejad held the Holocaust cartoon contest; he is funding Shia militants. And if you watched the speech, he was wildly applauded for every anti-American remarkâthe only one that upset them was when he didnât endorse sodomy.â
Did Columbia inviting him give the Iranian president more legitimacy?
âAbsolutely. My point is that Americans have to wake up and realize that there are people who are trying to help the enemy. Itâs like Americans, or liberals, not believing that people like Ahmadinejad would be willing to commit suicide in order to destroy Israel and America. They say it, they do it, and yet Americans donât believe it. Liberals root for the other side consistently, they aid the other side consistently. ⦠These people root against America.â
Who would be a better president for New York City, Rudy Giuliani or Hillary Clinton?
âWell, since I think the main thing New Yorkers ought to be looking for is someone who will not allow the Muslims to put a dirty bomb in New York, definitely Rudy.â
How would she sum up Hillaryâs campaign strategy?
âAssume that the loony base secretly knows you are a Marxist, so that you can talk like a moderate Democrat, appeal to the DLC types, and people who are Democrats because their grandparents were Democrats.â
If Hillaryâs elected, does she think sheâllâ
âImpose communism in America? Yes. And I think itâs a little worse than that, because I think she has a chip on her shoulder and a âto doâ list. Ha-ha!â
If the Clintons are back in the White House, wonât there at least be some good drama and a safe, familiar feeling?
âThatâs like hoping for O.J. to kill again. I actually think theyâre a bore. We know everything about them now. Look how many books have been written about Hillary. The Don Van Natta and Jeff Gerth book, theyâre like the two best reporters in America or within the top five, and they turned up a few good stories, but donât you feel like you know everything about it? I wanted to go just to [the page about] Hillary listening to illegally wiretapped phone calls of Bill Clintonâs bimbos. Thatâs a pretty big story, and then I donât feel like I really have to read anything else. So I think it will be a bore. I mean, heâs not going to be around. Heâll be ambassador to Club Med. Heâll be out of the picture.â