Call Good Morning America at 212-456-5900 and complain. Call Hardball w Chris Matthews at 202-783-2615 EMAIL ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/ban_coulter.php
"Bill Maher was not joking and saying he wished Dick Cheney had been killed in a terrorist attack. So I've learned my lesson. If I'm gonna say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot."
In the first place, Bill Maher did NOT say that he "wished" any such thing, a typical Coulter distortion. But leaving that aside for a moment (and we will return to it in just a moment), is there any doubt that if you had made such a statement, substituting the name of ANY Republican, is there any doubt in your mind that you would be in handcuffs right now. Is there any doubt if you had made such a statement about a Republican running for office higher than county dog catcher, that they would be convening a grand jury to indict you for the crime of threatening violence in the media.
There is no defense for Buddhi's remarks, the only question is are they criminally actionable. But if a man is to be indicted and convicted for making such a statement in an obscure blog post certainly seen by few, why should not Coulter be prosecuted in just the same way, for saying what she did to a mainstream live national audience of millions?
41 USC 875(c) provides that:
"Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both."
Courts reviewing the application of this statute have established a standard that such a threat must be a "true" threat to be actionable. Factors in consideration of that test would be 1) the intent of the speaker, and 2) whether the statement was in fact threatening. Coulter would argue that she was just making a funny joke. There is NOTHING funny about joking about taking the life of a presidential candidate. Indeed, Barack Obama was given secret service two months ago, because of unspecified threats against him, the earliest in a campaign cycle for president this has ever happened.
Judging intent in a criminal case often turns on a pattern of behavior. And here the record is not friendly to Ms. Coulter's stance. She has a HISTORY of such statements, having previously cracked these other "jokes", targeted at those she disagrees with politically:
"We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens' creme brulee."
"My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building."
"We need to execute people like (John Walker Lindh) in order to physically intimidate liberals."
The last quote is especially significant in the climate of fear which has deliberately been inflamed by the Cheney administration and the vast right wing echo chamber that the corporate media has become. We are constantly bullied with name-calling of the most offensive sort, for the sin of having a differing political opinions. And people like Coulter well know that their physical threats are a form of intimidation.
But of course there is another name for this political tactic . . . terrorism. Would it be unfair to say then when it comes to her political opponents, Ann Coulter is WITH the terrorists? There is NO place for threats of violence in our political discourse. THAT is what the terrorists do. That is NOT what upstanding participants in our representative democracy do.
is unconsciencable, the thing I find more disturbing is that she in still employed, and that many people still listen to her. What does THAT say about the state of the union?
by
Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments)
on Monday, July 2, 2007 at 3:37:36 PM
I think Ann Coulter is a guy with long blond hair and boobs. Just look at that adams apple and those ugly pencil lead legs. Andy Coulter would be a more fitting name.
by
calwellander (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments)
on Monday, July 2, 2007 at 9:59:46 PM
"Sustituting the name of any Repubolican, is there any doubt that if you said that, you would be in handcuffs right now..."
May 2004: Air America's Randi Rhodes "joked" about how President Bush should be treated just like Fredo in "The Godfather, Part II" - i.e., take him out on a fishing boat and shoot him. Randi was never charged with anything. And she is still on the air.
Truth be told, I am also sick of Ann Coulter's mouth. But if you try to boycott/pressure TV stations or papers who carry her, will you be consistent and try to keep Randi Rhodes off the air, or any other Air America yakker? How about Ted Rall? Amanda Marcotte?
Besides, if any boycott is attempted, the supporters of Coulter (or any other loudmouth on the right or left) can counteract it by telling the sponsors they willl double and triple their support. Such a boycott could turn into a cash cow.
by
Scott (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 586 comments)
on Monday, July 2, 2007 at 11:19:57 PM
This is to express disappointment over your apparent readiness to propose that a person be banned from the media. There is no excuse for such a proposal. By making it - and you should have realized this - you not only lower your discourse to the Coulter lever but you also attempt to remove from others their choice in the matter. Censorship is the refuge of the weak. Scott Griffith.
by
Scott Griffith (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 18 comments)
on Tuesday, July 3, 2007 at 5:14:28 AM
"is there any doubt that if you had made such a statement, substituting the name of ANY Republican, is there any doubt in your mind that you would be in handcuffs right now. Is there any doubt if you had made such a statement about a Republican running for office higher than county dog catcher, that they would be convening a grand jury to indict you for the crime of threatening violence in the media."
It is sad that Ann Coulter's point is apparently too subtle for most of us. Her f-word comment raised a considerable controversy; Bill Maher's 'maybe if the bomb had worked it might not have been a bad thing" didn't. That is an interesting comparison, I think. Perhaps you don't. Then we disagree. But I don't think you should therefore be run out of town on a rail.
Ann Coulter truly says quite a lot of things that one can argue with. Why don't we argue with those?
by
tim bristol (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 28 comments)
on Tuesday, July 3, 2007 at 8:28:01 AM
The fact that ann c gets air time is truly beyond belief and says a huge amount about the state of the union. Seem like america has become one angry place.
An X pat
by
davy (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 240 comments)
on Wednesday, July 4, 2007 at 1:38:40 AM
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