The disservice to the country is done by those who give Ann Coulter a public stage to parade her infamies. Need a ratings boost? Focus on Paris Hilton

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Desperate TV producers, caught in a competition for ratings, are clearly without shame.

Chris Matthews, a knowledgeable and experienced commentator, is under ratings pressure at MSNBC. The result is a descent into the foulest gutter available -- inviting on Tuesday the ignorant, vile, garbage-mouthed Ann Coulter for an interview.

Ann Coulter offers nothing -- no insight, no knowledge, no wit -- except vapid invective. She's a political Brittney Spears without the glimmer of talent -- an unhinged spectacle. When it comes to former Sen. John Edwards, she's simply deranged. She calls him a "faggot." She once said, "I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot." The tragic death of Edwards' teenage son elicits Coulter's scornful claim that he parades the death on a bumper sticker.

Matthews got the attention he craves. Elizabeth Edwards called in to challenge Coulter's "language of hate."

"I'm the mother of that boy who died," she said. "These young people behind you, you're asking them to participate in a dialogue that is based on hatefulness and ugliness instead of on the issues, and I don't think that's serving them or this country very well."

Great stuff. But Coulter is a windup defecating doll. The disservice to the country is done by those who give her a public stage to parade her infamies. Need a ratings boost? Focus on Paris Hilton, she's out of control. Ship in Ann Coulter, she's likely to say something obscene. There are no limits, no shame. OK. But lie in the bed you make.

Think of Chris Mathews and Ann Coulter as inextricably linked. And don't call it "Hardball." Hardball is played hard to win, but has rules and style. Call it "Animal House" or "Garbage Dump." At least, viewers would know what they are getting.

 

Authors Website: http://www.ourfuture.org

Authors Bio:

Robert L. Borosage is the president of the Institute for America's Future and co-director of its sister organization, the Campaign for America's Future. The organizations were launched by 100 prominent Americans to challenge the rightward drift in U.S. politics, and to develop the policies, message and issue campaigns to help forge an enduring majority for progressive change in America. Most recently, Borosage spearheaded the Campaign's 2006 issues book, StraightTalk 2006, providing activists and candidates with distilled messages on kitchen table concerns, from jobs to affordable health care. Borosage also helped to found and chairs the Progressive Majority Political Action Committee, developing a national base of small donors and skilled activists. Progressive Majority recruits, staffs, and funds progressive candidates for political office.


Mr. Borosage writes widely on political, economic and national security issues for a range of publications including The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is a Contributing Editor at The Nation magazine, and a regular contributor to The American Prospect magazine. He is a frequent commentator on television and radio, including Fox Morning News, RadioNation, National Public Radio, C-SPAN and Pacifica Radio. He teaches on presidential power and national security as an adjunct professor at American University's Washington School of Law.


A graduate of Yale Law School, with a graduate degree in International Affairs from George Washington University, Borosage left the practice of law to found the Center for National Security Studies in 1974. The Center focused on the tension between civil rights and the national security powers and prerogatives of the executive branch. It played a leading role in the efforts to investigate the intelligence agencies in the 1970s, curb their abuses, and hold them accountable in the future. At the Center, he helped to write and edit two books, The CIA File and The Lawless State.


In 1979, Borosage became Director of the Institute for Policy Studies, a research institute that drew its inspiration and fellowship from the major democratic movements of our time -- anti-war, women's, environmental and civil rights movements. Borosage helped to found and guide Countdown 88, which succeeded in winning the congressional ban on covert action against Nicaragua. Under Borosage's direction, the Institute expanded its fellowship, launched a successful publications program, and developed a new Washington School for congressional aides and public interest advocates.


In 1988, Borosage left the Institute to serve as senior issues advisor to the presidential campaign of the Reverend Jesse Jackson. He traveled the country with Jackson, writing speeches, framing policy responses, and providing debate preparation and assistance. He went on to advise a range of progressive political campaigns, including those of Senator Carol Moseley-Braun, Barbara Boxer and Paul Wellstone. "