Forgetting the silliness of this whole Ann Coulter-NBC-Matt Drudge spectacle (I agree with Ace on the possible middle ground of it all), the self-proclaimed polemicist appeared on the Today Show with Matt Lauer this morning. Despite her seemingly outrageous methods, Ann always seems to speak with sense and clarity on a lot of the left’s sacred cows. Here’s the video:
Ed Morrissey has thoughts on her appearance, and one comment grabbed my attention:
Lauer asks Coulter if she didn’t get the sense that people want to focus on the issues rather than what divides us — as if the issues and the potential solutions aren’t what divide us. Coulter rips the media in return, noting that Obama rarely got challenged on issues, instead getting softball questions on his feelings while “Sarah Palin had to memorize the last seven kings of Swaziland”. Obama certainly never had to explain the Bush Doctrine on national television.
This is a meme that continues to bother me, that some folks want to really “talk about the issues” instead of being divisive. Ed’s right: The issues are what divides us. And that’s okay! That’s what makes a democracy. Perhaps it’s my current collegiate atmosphere that makes me more inclined to praise our disagreements as proof we have a healthy system, but I really do believe it is important to recognize that we really are divided on a number of issues.
What Ann bemoans is the assumption liberals in the media often have that Americans just want all of us to get along so that the folks in charge (read: our parental federal government) can get to work tackling the issues. Conservatives and righties like Ann still deserve a chance to sound off against policies or ideas with which they disagree (hopefully they will still have the freedom to do so). Ann may toe the line of what is extreme, but what good and fun are tempered and moderate political opinions by themselves?
