"Slander" - by Ann Coulter

TAP Book Review
Reviewed by Jennifer King, Managing Editor

November 25, 2002

"Slander" by Ann Coulter

Managing Editor Jennifer King Special Note to Our Readers: Since Oprah has shut down her book club, we thought we’d fill the gap. We herewith announce a new service - The TAP book review - in which a variety of our talented writers will review recent books that they have read in order to make recommendations to you, our intelligent and savvy TAP aficionados.

Our first book review will be Ann Coulter’s Slander, reviewed by Jennifer King.

Ann Coulter (right) combines all-American good looks with a rapier sharp wit. It is always fun to watch her on TV, fearlessly taking on the liberal Leftists and skewering them deftly with inescapable facts. Her new book is a good read. It’s funny and incisive, laden with hard-hitting political insights towards the liberal mindset. Coulter unerringly nails the liberal “catechism” as consisting of a “hatred of Christians, guns, the profit motive and political speech and an infatuation with abortion, the environment and race discrimination”. She goes on to detail, with painful precision, the awful “left-wing schlock” that permeates the mainstream media from Katie Couric (the “affable Eva Braun of daytime TV“) on down. Coulter exposes the close ties between the media and the Democratic Party, showing which liberal talking heads formerly worked for Democratic politicians, or ran for office themselves on a leftwing platform.

The liberal agenda, according to Coulter, consists of several truisms. First, they simply ignore things they find distasteful, such as books with a conservative slant. Such books are never given the same media treatment as books by leftwingers, who are feted on the mainstream morning shows and reviewed in the liberal papers. Humorously, Coulter shows which conservative books were on the New York Times’ bestseller list for weeks on end, but were never reviewed - or were reviewed negatively. Some booksellers chronicled by Coulter even take pride in hiding these bestsellers, preferring instead to feature “lesbian erotica” or some other PC cause-book in their windows.

Another trait of liberal-leftism is their demonization of conservatives. Ideas are rarely discussed logically. Instead, the conservative is deluged with an avalanche of invective - much of it personal. Thus, Katherine Harris is derided for her make-up and Rush Limbaugh is called, “a big, fat idiot”. Such is the quality of debate among liberals. The use of inflammatory ads such as the “James Byrd dragging” ad (taking a leaf out of the Bill Moyers inspired anti-Goldwater nuclear bomb ad) are par for the course for the libs.

Coulter herself is somewhat of a poster child for this technique - it was illustrated perfectly by the odious Lanny Davis when he “debated” her on Hannity and Colmes. The unctuous Clinton-apologist Davis outdid himself - shouting Ann down, personally vilifying her and acting in every way as ungentlemanly as possible. Ann, smiling beatifically, let Lanny make her point. Liberals are every bit as thuggish, mean and unmannerly as she has said in Slander.

The Left has perfected the technique of accusing the other side of what they, themselves, are doing. Conservatives, pro-Israeli Jews and Christians are routinely labeled “Nazis” and accused of wanting to impose a Puritanistic lifestyle on all others. In reality, the truth is that it is the Left who would like nothing better than to silence all opposition and force every American to walk in lockstep with their agenda. They rationalize this tyranny by assuring themselves that they are right, and that they are smarter than the rest of us.

Ann Coulter’s Slander demonstrates this perfectly, with humor and wit. ***

Photo of Jennifer King courtesy of staff files
Photo of Ann Coulter courtesy of Universal Press Syndicate