POETIC JUSTICE: While I've learned over the years, unlike some people I know, to avoid referring to all who refer to themselves as "conservative" as "evil," I recognize there are quite a few on the right who still do deserve that label. And, these last couple weeks especially, the far, far right seems to be suffering some well-deserved ostracism.
First came the long-awaited death of Strom Thurmond, one of the final remnants of the segregationist, unapologetically racist Old Right. Then there's Ann Coulter, who has in recent years wrested the title of World's Most Hateful Pundit from David Horowitz (a man who, I once opined, "looks like he wants to kill Bill and rape Hillary"). Coulter has written a book, "Treason," with a premise that is historically, intellectually, and argumentitively indefensible: that all liberals throughout history have been guilty of treason against the United States of America.
After Ann was torn to shreds by Chris Matthews on his show last week, serious conservatives have begun to take Coultergeist to task for this nonsense, notably Andrew Sullivan. I agree with every word of Sullivan's critique, except for the first sentence- when he calls Ann "a babe." Huh? The woman is positively grotesque, if you ask me. Dorothy Rabinowitz also gets her licks in. If only bad books did for pundits what bad movies did for actors- "Treason" would be for Coulter what "Waterworld" was for Kevin Costner.
The other member of the Unholy Trinity to have a bad week is radio bloviator Michael Savage. Already off the air in New York and other markets due to a contract dispute, Savage was fired Monday from his TV gig on MSNBC, after he told a gay caller to "catch AIDS and die" after the caller expressed support for the Supreme Court's recent pro-sodomy decision.
I don't know what the worst thing was about Savage's show- the host's hatefulness, his childish, Maureen Dowd-like nicknames for his enemies ("Sean Penn-cilhead"?), the straw-man argumentation, or the cheeseball production values. At any rate, "The Savage Nation" should go down in history as the TV news version of "The Chevy Chase Show," or perhaps "The Magic Hour."
(A footnote: is Savage a closet fan of the band Oasis? Singer Noel Gallagher drew fire a few years ago for using the exact same insult- "catch AIDS and die"- to bait Blur frontman Damon Albarn).