Civility on Fox: Coulter to president, ‘Screw you!’
Posted by Joel Connelly, February 5, 2013
Omnipresent conservative pundit Ann Coulter, in a “Hannity” appearance Monday night on Fox News, accused President Obama of doing something that Sean Hannity and other right-thinking Fox pundits do on a nightly basis — demonizing those who disagree.
The “Coulter-geist” targeted one gun-violence proposal that has garnered 90 percent support in recent national polls, namely universal background checks for those purchasing firearms. It will, she argued — without producing a shred of supporting evidence — eventually lead to “universal confiscation” of guns and “extermination” of gun owners’ rights.
Hannity sought to interrupt, only to be overridden by Coulter:
“Wait, that’s an important point, which for some reason Wayne LaPierre is not making, so you’re gonna have to hear it from me.” (LaPierre is executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, and a man who once touted universal background checks in testimony before Congress. The gun-lobby group now opposes background checks.)
What set off the “Coulter-geist” was a campaign-style appearance by President Obama in Minneapolis, at which the 44th president pushed his agenda to curb gun violence.
The president met with local police officers and gun victims “to hear their ideas about how we can protect our kids and address the broader epidemic of gun violence.” Minneapolis has used youth initiatives that have reduced by 40 percent the number of young people injured by gun violence. Obama noted, too, polls showing that gun owners overwhelmingly support background checks.
The president’s touting of background checks, along with the prospect of “universal confiscation,” apparently got to Coulter, who declared:
“Not only that . . . It’s not just that they’re talking about it, it’s that they must demonize people who are legal gun owners. And Obama, ‘Oh look at him, he cares about the children.’ Screw you, you’re the one who won’t do anything about the mentally ill.”
During his Minneapolis speech, in fact, Obama spoke specifically of an urgent need to “make it easier for young people to get access to mental health treatment.”
On Fox, however, facts rarely get in the way of rants. Civility is out the window when the objective is stoking fear and resentment.
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