THE WOMAN CPAC LOVES

I'm talking about Ann "hate speech" Coulter, the darling of the GOP's base. On ABC's Good Morning America of 6/25/07 she had this to say¹:


CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) All right. And joining us now is political commentator, Ann Coulter, whose book 'Godless: The Church of - Liberalism," what did I almost say there, liberalism, is out in paperback. There it is. A conservative's conservative, she's had some tough words lately for her own party.

GRAPHICS: COULTER'S TAKE

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) But to begin with the tough words, some tough words for you by the three top candidates in response to what you had said, some were calling it a homosexual slur, you said it was a taunt. They all came out when you were talking about John Edwards and said, 'This was wrong. We must deny it." Fair criticism of you or a shift towards the tolerant among the GOP?

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)No, no. There were, I was denounced all over. All over. I think the one that hurt the most was, was from I'mALittleGirlInAPinkPartyDress.com.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) Why?

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)Very upsetting.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) You...

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)Though about the same time Bill Maher said - and by the way, I did not call John Edwards the F-word. I said I couldn't talk about him because you go into rehab for using that word.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) You say you were you - you were joking.

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)About the - oh yeah. I wouldn't, I wouldn't insult gays by comparing them to John Edwards. Now, that would be mean. But about the same time, you know, Bill Maher was not joking and saying he wished Dick Cheney had been killed in a terrorist attack. So I've learned my lesson. If I'm gonna say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) So let's get off of you, but let's get your view on what's going on with the party right now. You hear what the speculation is. You know what the poll numbers are. The talk is, the party is in trouble. How do you see it?

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)I don't think so. I mean, it should be, I think, the Democrats do start with a little bit of an advantage in the next presidential election because you always do if you've been out of power for eight years. But I do sort of get the sense now that there's, you know, people reaching across the partisan divide, the country is unified, Bush really is a uniter because we're all just waiting for this nincompoop to be gone. I think we all finally are on the same page on that.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) Do you believe, if the war is the main issue, that the Republicans can win? Can you win if that dominates the election?

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)Yes. I mean, that's the one thing I think Bush has done well. I mean, he's like another president in that way, FDR. I think he's been magnificent on the war, and on domestic policy has been an embarrassment. We'll see what happens with this immigration bill, but that's, that's causing a lot of troubles, not just among his base, as you always hear, but among Democrats and independents. The whole country is on a rage about this, this amnesty for illegals, and Bush and some number of senators and congressmen are just, you know, 'Let them eat cake," pushing this through.

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)And that's causing troubles. But I do think what he's done on the war on terrorism remains spectacular. As FDR fought Hitler, and you must give him credit for that, though he nearly wrecked the country with the New Deal and various socialist policies.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) You don't hear a lot of comparing George Bush to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Is that something new? Are you, are you trying something out here?

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)That's why you invite me on the program,
Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) Is that, is that - so Bush is FDR? That's, that's what you think?

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)I really think it is the, the accurate historical comparison. I mean, if you look at what's going on with Social Security now, we have, have completely mortgaged our future. Bush did try to do something about it, and I give him credit for that. Our grandchildren and great grandchildren will be paying for all of these huge (inaudible) scheme socialist programs that FDR put in place. Most economists agree that the Depression would have been over by around '36 if there had been no government intervention. But the one thing you have to say about FDR is, he fought World War II.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) All right. So let's, I still don't get it. But you can tell me afterwards. Let's get into who you have to carry the flag here. Giuliani does not seem like a Republican's Republican. Pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-gun control, but the early frontrunner. What does that mean? Is the party changing or does the party just not have a good leader?

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)Well, it has been at least a couple of years since Rudy has appeared on 'Saturday Night Live" in drag, so, so that's good. He has - only one ex-wife who's appeared in the 'Vagina Monologues." So those are the pros. I mean, we'll see what happens. I think it is so early right now.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Voiceover) It is. It is.

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)I don't really trust the polls.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) It is. Now, who do you like this early on? You have Rudy, you have John McCain, maybe Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney...

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)Right.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) ...trying to get out of his own way. But who do you like in the field?

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)My favorite candidate is Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) Can he run when he's in France?

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)Actually, my favorite candidate is Duncan Hunter. And he is magnificent. The problem is, most people say, 'Who is Duncan Hunter?"

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) Mmm.

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)He's a genuine war hero.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) Mmm.

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)He, he has one son, I think, in Iraq, one in Afghanistan. He is good on every single issue. He has been out front on building a wall. He did build a wall at, at San Diego. He's very good on, on the life issue. He's good on every issue.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) But he's not there. Pick from one of these. Do you think Fred comes in and takes it? Do you think it's McCain?

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)Well, then I'm back to Nicolas - Sarkozy.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) It can't be him. He's not an American. You must be an American, and he is not.

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)Oh, drat.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) Do you think Fred comes in and champions the day? Do you think John McCain holds it?

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)I think he is kind of our Obama, which is to say...

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) Yeah. Interesting.

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)...it just shows how unhappy we are with McCain, Giuliani and Romney that, that Thompson steps in. People know very little about him, and, 'Oh, he's our guy."

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Voiceover) Mmm.

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)And it's sort of like that with Obama that the Democrats aren't happy with their leading candidate, Hillary, so they gravitate to Obama, knowing nothing about him and him being, you know, 14 years old.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) But as we both know, we like to play with the names because that's the candy. But really, it comes down to the message. The GOP, the Democrats are gonna have to have a message to persuade the American people, especially in these tough times, abroad and at home. Interestingly, GOP candidates are talking about a president, not Bush, even though he's in office, Reagan. Let's take a listen.

RUDOLPH GIULIANI (REPUBLICAN We have the moral strength to be able to explain it to them in the way Ronald Reagan was able to do with communism.
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN (REPUBLICAN And as Ronald Reagan said, 'A shining city on the Hill."
MITT ROMNEY (REPUBLICAN The, the model for how the Republican Party wins is who? Ronald Reagan.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan. Separating from Bush, moving toward Reagan. What's the strategy?

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)As irritated as I am with George Bush for this amnesty plan, I do have to point out, I looked this up because I had heard people pointing out everybody citing Reagan and not Bush. I looked up who people were citing, who the Republicans were citing in 1988.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) Okay.

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)They were not citing Ronald Reagan then. Everyone was, you know, the mainstream media was so ginned up about the sleaze, the sleaze, the sleaze factor...

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) Mmm.

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)...and on (inaudible) and Iran Contra, and so I think the lesson of this is, just do the right thing, be a right winger, and in 10 years they'll be citing you.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) And the message for you is, you believe the party has got to stay true to its roots even if the candidates are a little, let's say, unorthodox with the party. Stick to what the main message is, that's what'll get you home.

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)Yes. I mean, the 'New York Times" this weekend had an up-ed piece with a woman - Melissa Hennenberger I think it is, saying the Democrats have got to stop being pro-choice. You are losing as long as you keep making abortion your big issue. I hope Democrats don't listen to her, but I hope Republicans notice. This is a winning issue for us, protecting little babies.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) If Rudy's your frontrunner though, that'll be a nice fight in the House.

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)I think he might not be the frontrunner for that reason. I mean, we'll see. But I think that's gonna be a tough one.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) Ann Coulter, always appreciate having you in the chair.

ANN COULTER (POLITICAL COMMENTATOR)Thank you. Great to be here.

CHRIS CUOMO (ABC NEWS)(Off-camera) Thank you for coming here. To read an excerpt from Ann Coulter's book, go to our website at ABCNEWS.com. It is now time for the weather. That means Sam Champion. Sam?

¹ABC News Transcript
SHOW: GOOD MORNING AMERICA 7:30 AM EST
June 25, 2007 Monday
LENGTH: 2164 words
HEADLINE: THE RACE FOR '08: REPUBLICANS LOSING GROUND?;
IS INFIGHTING LOWERING POLL NUMBERS?
ANCHORS: CHRIS CUOMO, JUJU CHANG
REPORTERS: CHRIS CUOMO (NEW YORK, NY USA), JAKE TAPPER (WASHINGTON, DC USA)