By Brad Friedman on 4/2/2006, 1:21am PT  

Ann Coulter and Al Franken had a high-priced debate out here in Los Angeles this week. Here's a bit of coverage of the event from Rob Eshman in The Jewish Journal. Haven't seen much other coverage out there, though I haven't looked too terribly hard. Please feel free to post links in comments if anything else of note on it out there.

Otherwise, Ryan M. McCaffrey, publisher of the conservative Harvard Salient takes down Coulter from a more academic perspective in an article titled "Ann Coulter's Treason:
Killing the future of the conservative movement"
as published a few weeks ago. It followed on the heels of her infamous "Ragheads Speech" embarrassment at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in DC. Not that any of those in attendance who greeted her with a standing ovation were embarrassed in the least. Neither were the pols who shared the limelight with her like Cheney, Frist, Santorum, and other America Haters of the same ilk.

The title of McCaffrey's piece should give you an idea where he --- a seemingly real conservative (versus the phony Coulter et al) --- stands on the Republican Rockstar, but here's a few quick licks:

If this lady, who embodies almost all that is wrong with contemporary political discourse, is one of the most admired conservative leaders, what does that say about the conservative movement as a whole?
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Miss Coulter's obnoxious simplicity makes conservatism into a parody of itself, at least for any educated audience that listens to her.
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Coulter uses contempt for other people as her motivating factor, rather than contempt for a priori principles in general. Notice how almost all of her rhetoric involves an "us versus them" mentality. Miss Coulter is essentially rallying people behind the demonization of other human beings---a dire sin.
...
Ann Coulter's attempts to use simple abstractions to promote a quasi-conservatism are only dimly connected to reason, and her use of the tool of contempt is a violation of truth. In the end, they will likely result in the strengthening of the liberal movement, rather than a weakening.

Both links come courtesy of Dan Borchers of Citizens of Principled Conservatism, and our our resident Conservative Coulter-o-phile who covered her CPAC appearance for The BRAD BLOG last February.

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