Coulter shock

As a self-proclaimed "college liberal," having Ann Coulter visit my campus makes me a little nervous.

Consider this proclamation from a speech she gave in 2002:

"When contemplating college liberals, you really regret once again that John Walker is not getting the death penalty. We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too. Otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors."

Reading that quote, which stinks of fascism, is scary enough on its own. It's even more scary when you consider those remarks, delivered at a conference in Washington, were applauded by Condoleezza Rice, Lynne Cheney and other members of Bush's cabinet.

It's surprising that people like Rice would applaud Coulter's comments - not so much because of the shocking content, but because Coulter is hurting their cause. She is blowing their cover.

Bush and his administration have made unprecedented changes in our country in the past four years, all of them very stealthily. How quickly half the country is willing to give up basic civil liberties in the name of a war on terror; how quickly the American public accepts mass slaughter of civilians in two different wars; how quickly our country and our Congress approve budgets that gut domestic spending at the expense of a wildly strong military.

These radical changes have come so quickly because Bush never comes out and says what he wants to do - often times, he'll say one thing and do the opposite. His policies are accepted because people believe what he says and don't realize what's really happening.

Coulter will tell us, though.

For example, Bush said a lot about respecting Islam and its adherents, and spreading peace and democracy through the Middle East.

He proceeded to bomb the hell out of two Muslim countries, killing people by the tens of thousands, and put General William Boykin in high command - a general who, in his spare time, lectures in America about our "Christian nation" currently being engaged in a holy war against Satan.

Clearly, Bush has not actually stated his administration's real goals for the Middle East. Leave that to Coulter.

"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity," Coulter opined after September 11. "We carpet-bombed German cities, we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war."

If I were Bush, I'd want Coulter to shut up, and fast. When he introduces the "Clean Air Act" and says he cares about the environment, people buy it and accept laws that radically reduce many of our environmental standards.

Nice little scheme, until Coulter comes along and opens her mouth.

"We have dominion over the plants, the animals, the trees," she once said. "God says, 'Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It's yours.' "

One thing I can say about Ann Coulter: she does not beat around the bush. She puts the Republican ideology out on the table with no politically correct dressing.

It seems Bush might want her to be quiet, but being an open-minded college liberal, I don't want Coulter to shut up. Coulter has a right to come here and speak next week as part of the Distinguished Speakers series, although I do have a few questions for the Office of Special Events.

What exactly qualifies Coulter as distinguished? She was part of the team of lawyers to bring down Bill Clinton, and since then has accomplished nothing else than saying and writing sensational things.

So why is Coulter debating Janet Reno? Like her or not, Reno is certainly distinguished, having served as Attorney General for eight years. Why are these two women on the same stage, debating as equals?

This goes to the heart of the problem with debate-style political discussion in this country, on our cable news stations and now our university stages: it's not about substance, but style.

Coulter has no experience, no background and no substance. She's just attractive, sensational and makes good sound bites. She's not about the facts - she recently got into a heated debate on Canadian television, boldly and repeatedly asserting Canada had troops in Vietnam - instead, Coulter's all about style. She's about looking sexy and delivering one-liners that make people say, "take that, liberals!"

On stage with Reno, a stern, unattractive woman who will stick to the facts, Coulter may come off as the winner. Or she may come off as the hysterical loser. Either way, the true loser will be the audience - for insightful political discussion, it's going to be very one-sided.