Coulter calls 9/11 widows "witches"

[whitesoxfan101]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060607/ts_nm/life_coulter_dc

 

Coulter calls 9/11 widows "witches"

 

By Claudia Parsons

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Conservative author Ann Coulter sparked a storm on Wednesday after describing a group of September 11 widows who backed the Democratic Party as millionaire "witches" reveling in their status as celebrities.

 

"I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much," Coulter writes in her book "Godless: The Church of Liberalism," published on Tuesday, referring to four women who headed a campaign that resulted in the creation of the September 11 Commission that investigated the hijacked plane attacks.

 

Coulter wrote that the women were millionaires as a result of compensation settlements and were "reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by grief-arazzis."

 

A spokeswoman for publisher Crown Forum said it had set a first print run of 1 million copies of "Godless" and there were 1.5 million copies of Coulter's previous four books in print.

 

The four women, Kristen Breitweiser, Patty Casazza, Mindy Kleinberg and Lorie Van Auken, declined to discuss the book in detail but issued a statement saying they had been slandered.

 

"There was no joy in watching men that we loved burn alive. There was no happiness in telling our children that their fathers were never coming home again," said the statement signed by the four, along with a fifth woman, Monica Gabrielle.

 

The four women, who live in or around East Brunswick, New Jersey, became friends after September 11 and formed a group that agitated for the investigation. "Our only motivation ever was to make our nation safer," they said.

 

Coulter, whose books include the bestseller "How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)," argues in the new book the women she dubs "the Witches of East Brunswick" wanted to blame President George W. Bush for not preventing the attacks.

 

She criticized them for making a campaign advertisement for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry in 2004, and added: "By the way, how do we know their husbands weren't planning to divorce these harpies? Now that their shelf life is dwindling, they'd better hurry up and appear in Playboy."

 

PERSONAL ATTACKS

 

Asked by Reuters why she made such personal comments, Coulter said by e-mail, "I am tired of victims being used as billboards for untenable liberal political beliefs."

 

"A lot of Americans have been seething over the inanities of these professional victims for some time," she added.

 

Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg (news, bio, voting record) of New Jersey said Coulter's "shameless attack" on the widows sparked disgust. "Her bookselling antics and accompanying vulgarity deserve our deepest contempt," he said in a statement.

 

The New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News. Corp., slammed the comments in an article on Wednesday headlined: "Righty writer Coulter hurls nasty gibes at 9/11 gals."

 

Coulter, a regular television commentator who is hugely popular among some conservatives, was challenged on NBC's "Today" show on Tuesday over what host Matt Lauer called "dramatic" remarks, prompting her to say, "You are getting testy with me."

 

Coulter is known for a combative column after September 11 saying, "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." In one book, she wrote, "Even Islamic terrorists don't hate America like liberals do."

 

Her latest comments were quoted on radio stations in New York on Wednesday and the book was the subject of debate on Web sites such as www.salon.com. The Daily News newspaper's front-page headline was "Coulter the Cruel."

 

The controversy appeared to be doing no harm to sales of Coulter's latest book, which was listed as the second-best seller of the day at online retailer Amazon.com on Wednesday afternoon.

 

I don't wish death on people, but in Man Coulter's case it might be for the best if she suffered it....

[Balta1701]

911 Widows, NY Papers respond

 

We did not choose to become widowed on September 11, 2001. The attack, which tore our families apart and destroyed our former lives, caused us to ask some serious questions regarding the systems that our country has in place to protect its citizens.

 

Through our constant research, we came to learn how the protocols were supposed to have worked. Thus, we asked for an independent commission to investigate the loopholes which obviously existed and allowed us to be so utterly vulnerable to terrorists. Our only motivation ever was to make our Nation safer. Could we learn from this tragedy so that it would not be repeated?

 

We are forced to respond to Ms. Coulter’s accusations to set the record straight because we have been slandered.

 

Contrary to Ms. Coulter’s statements, there was no joy in watching men that we loved burn alive. There was no happiness in telling our children that their fathers were never coming home again. We adored these men and miss them every day.

 

It is in their honor and memory, that we will once again refocus the Nation’s attention to the real issues at hand: our lack of security, leadership and progress in the five years since 9/11.

 

We are continuously reminded that we are still a nation at risk. Therefore, the following is a partial list of areas still desperately in need of attention and public outcry. We should continuously be holding the feet of our elected officials to the fire to fix these shortcomings.

 

1. Homeland Security Funding based on risk. Inattention to this area causes police officers, firefighters and other emergency/first responder personnel to be ill equipped in emergencies. Fixing this will save lives on the day of the next attack.

 

2. Intelligence Community Oversight. Without proper oversight, there exists no one joint, bicameral intelligence panel with power to both authorize and appropriate funding for intelligence activities. Without such funding we are unable to capitalize on all intelligence community resources and abilities to thwart potential terrorist attacks. Fixing this will save lives on the day of the next attack.

 

3. Transportation Security. There has been no concerted effort to harden mass transportation security. Our planes, buses, subways, and railways remain under-protected and highly vulnerable. These are all identifiable soft targets of potential terrorist attack. The terror attacks in Spain and London attest to this fact. Fixing our transportation systems may save lives on the day of the next attack.

 

4. Information Sharing among Intelligence Agencies. Information sharing among intelligence agencies has not improved since 9/11. The attacks on 9/11 could have been prevented had information been shared among intelligence agencies. On the day of the next attack, more lives may be saved if our intelligence agencies work together.

 

5. Loose Nukes. A concerted effort has not been made to secure the thousands of loose nukes scattered around the world – particularly in the former Soviet Union. Securing these loose nukes could make it less likely for a terrorist group to use this method in an attack, thereby saving lives.

 

6. Security at Chemical Plants, Nuclear Plants, Ports. We must, as a nation, secure these known and identifiable soft targets of Terrorism. Doing so will save many lives.

 

7. Border Security. We continue to have porous borders and INS and Customs systems in shambles. We need a concerted effort to integrate our border security into the larger national security apparatus.

 

8. Civil Liberties Oversight Board. Given the President’s NSA Surveillance Program and the re-instatement of the Patriot Act, this Nation is in dire need of a Civil Liberties Oversight Board to insure that a proper balance is found between national security versus the protection of our constitutional rights.

 

-- September 11th Advocates

 

Kristen Breitweiser

Patty Casazza

Monica Gabrielle

Mindy Kleinberg

Lorie Van Auken

[FlaSoxxJim]

Ann Coulter is a waste of skin.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

Gotta admire Coulter having her book released on a date that is an homage to her father. /obscure?

[YASNY]

Colter is one of those conservatives that conservatives wish would just stfu.

[kapkomet]

Colter is one of those conservatives that conservatives wish would just stfu.

[southsider2k5]

Colter is one of those conservatives that conservatives wish would just stfu.

 

No doubt about that...

[YASNY]

No doubt about that...

 

The thing I hate about Colter, is the very thing I hate about a multitude of the liberal media. Viciousness.

[WCSox]

I don't wish death on people, but in Man Coulter's case it might be for the best if she suffered it....

 

But I thought that you libs were the champions of free speech? :rolly

 

Colter is one of those conservatives that conservatives wish would just stfu.

 

^^^

 

It's unfortunate that she tends to stoop to this level, as she often makes very intelligent points. This type of inflammatory rhetoric destroys her credibility.

Edited June 8, 2006 by WCSox

[whitesoxfan101]

But I thought that you libs were the champions of free speech? :rolly

^^^

 

I'm a moderate righty who currently despises both parties and almost everybody in politics regardless of party, but thanks for playing.

[WCSox]

I'm a moderate righty who currently despises both parties and almost everybody in politics regardless of party, but thanks for playing.

 

Wow, I never guessed that a "righty" would bring racism into 50% of his posts.

[southsideirish71]

Coulter is a skag. She needs some self loathing human being to give her a jump from time to time to keep her inner b**** at bay.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

But I thought that you libs were the champions of free speech? :rolly

^^^

 

It's unfortunate that she tends to stoop to this level, as she often makes very intelligent points. This type of inflammatory rhetoric destroys her credibility.

In her book Treason, Coulter put events of the 1940s and 1950s into the wrong years, so she could blame Democrats. Now, that's just asinine and f***ing stupid to do -- and something easily avoidable.

 

I don't care what she says because she's got the right to say it -- however, she also has to expect getting owned in debates when somebody calls her on her incoherent, factless, baseless s*** smears.

 

This is almost as classic as when she wished that Tim McVeigh would have blown up the NY Times building and said it was a tragedy that he didn't.

 

This kind of stuff is her claim to fame -- throwing s*** at a wall and seeing what sticks...even if it is devoid of facts, logic and reason.

[NorthSideSox72]

This kind of stuff is her claim to fame -- throwing s*** at a wall and seeing what sticks...even if it is devoid of facts, logic and reason.

Kind of like a Jay Mariotti of the politico set.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

Kind of like a Jay Mariotti of the politico set.

Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!

[tealeafreaderii]

:puke

[Balta1701]

Kind of like a Jay Mariotti of the politico set.

Except if everyone agreed with Mariotti, people wouldn't wind up dead.

[WCSox]

Except if everyone agreed with Mariotti, people wouldn't wind up dead.

 

:headshake

 

 

I don't care what she says because she's got the right to say it -- however, she also has to expect getting owned in debates when somebody calls her on her incoherent, factless, baseless s*** smears.

 

You're preaching to the choir.

 

This is almost as classic as when she wished that Tim McVeigh would have blown up the NY Times building and said it was a tragedy that he didn't.

 

That's called sarcasm and is intended to piss off people like you. And apparetly it's working. If you'd ignore her (like Mariotti), she'd lose her notoriety and eventually go away.

 

It's too bad that Coulter feels the need to act like an asshat so often. Some of her columns are actually very good.

[SleepyWhiteSox]

 

Usually makes me chuckle...

[whitesoxfan101]

Wow, I never guessed that a "righty" would bring racism into 50% of his posts.

 

My political affiliation doesn't change obvious facts and things that exist.

[mr_genius]

 

Usually makes me chuckle...

 

haha

 

she/he is messed up

[WCSox]

My political affiliation doesn't change obvious facts and things that exist.

 

Funny, I had a gun stuck in my face years ago because of the color of my skin, yet I manage to not b**** about racism ad nauseam here.

[MSHAWKS]

Ann Coulter is a (EDITED) Actually, her uncaring attitude is pretty emblematic of the political party she champions.

 

Edit - that was just plain unnecessary. Don't do it again.

Edited June 9, 2006 by kapkomet

[minors]

Colter is one of those conservatives that conservatives wish would just stfu.

 

Yes I do. Just like I wish Cindy Sheehan would do the same but neither will.

[Balta1701]

Yes I do. Just like I wish Cindy Sheehan would do the same but neither will.

Cindy Sheehan gets more publicity these days from the right wing attacking her than from anything else she does. A lot of us stopped caring about her a long time ago.