COULTER DEFENDED: Last week I cited criticism of Ann Coulter from Outside the Beltway, and wondered why I never hear from Ms. Coulter's defenders. Reader John Salmon responds:
Okay, I'll pick up her tattered banner and defend Ann Coulter on her abortion article.....what she is saying in her piece, rather clearly, if too starkly for some, is that there is a moral equivalence between killing an abortionist and performing an abortion. You may disagree with this belief, but it's hardly "kooky": Polls consistently show that a majority of Americans believe abortion should only be allowed in the most extreme of circumstances, as it is believed to involve the taking of innocent human life. (Among other things, a majority believes life begins at conception-a pretty "kooky" view to the bulk of the out-of-the-cultural-mainstream press: CNN, CBS, and the like).
In truth, Coulter's article does a considerable service to ideological balance on this issue, given that the pro-abortion media make it seem as if every abortionist's life is at risk for his line of work. If you saw the numbers in percentage terms, the lack of real risk to abortionists might be clearer-a baby carried by his/her mother into an abortion clinic has a nearly 100% risk of being killed, while seven murdered abortionists divided by some number in the thousands would be some small fraction of one percent.
These are numbers that most of the press would rather ignore, especially the total number of abortions since '73-when do you ever see that?
It may seem crude or inept or offensive to make the point as bluntly as Coulter does, but people who consider the question honestly may be persuaded by her argument, which, again, assumes that the abortionist's life and the aborted baby's life are equally valuable. If one assumes otherwise, it's not surprising that offense is taken.
| Author/ Affiliation |
Title/ Date |
words | PI | Partisan References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mona Charen Creators Syndicate |
Saddam's hole -- and the Democrats' 19 December 2003 |
870 | 82 | 7D-: Democrats, Howard Dean, Democratic, Kerry, Dean, Kerry, Democrats 3R+: President Bush, Bush administration, Bush administration 1R-: Reagan administration |
| Paul Krugman New York Times |
Telling It Right 19 December 2003 |
826 | 67 | 1R+: Thomas Kean 7R-: Bush administration, administration, administration, administration, administration, Dick Cheney, Bush administration 1R= |
| Michael Kinsley Washington Post |
Good-News Dilemma 19 December 2003 |
1108 | 56 | 1D+: Dean 7D-: Democratic, Dean, Dean, Dennis Kucinich, Democratic, Dean, John Kerry 4R+: administration, Bush, Bush, President Bush 1R-: Bush 1D=, 2R= |
| Daniel Henninger WSJ OpinionJournal |
Escape From Unreality 19 December 2003 |
1186 | 46 | 2D+: Sam Nunn, Democrat 3D-: Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, Democratic 5R+: George Bush, Bush, the president, George Bush, Bush 1D=, 2R= |
| E. J. Dionne Jr. Washington Post |
The Politics of Positive Thinking 19 December 2003 |
1073 | 15 | 11D+: Dean, Clark, Clark, Clark, Edwards, Edwards, Franklin Roosevelt, Edwards, FDR, Edwards, Edwards 3D-: Dean, Dean, Dean 39D=, 2R= |
| Charles Krauthammer Washington Post |
Killing Him Softly 19 December 2003 |
871 | 0 | |
| Bob Herbert Inactive |
Change the Channel 19 December 2003 |
801 | 0 | 1R= |
| Robert Kagan Inactive |
Divided on the War? Not Really 19 December 2003 |
1073 | 0 | 15D=, 5R= |