Every time Ann Coulter says something outrageous enough to get attention from people who don’t normally pay any attention to what she says — i.e. this little bon mot yesterday:
“By the way, Republicans don’t have a problem with women,” Coulter opined. “They have a problem with unmarried women who think, ‘No, we don’t need national defense, we need our birth control paid for.'”
“And why? Because single women look at the government as their husbands,” she added. “Please provide for me, please take care of me.”
— the usual reaction from progressives and liberals is to say, “Oh, well, she’s just doing that to get attention, to scatter the pigeons, and it’s all an act,” as if being a right-wing pundit was some Vegas gig and in reality she’s not really that extreme. She’s the Andrew Dice Clay of politics.
The same goes for Rush Limbaugh. All that stuff he said about slut-shaming Sandra Fluke in 2012 that generated so much backlash was just for ratings even if it did get some advertisers to drop his show; there were plenty more waiting in line to buy the time. But he can’t really be that crude and misogynistic can he? In this day and age?
It’s not an act. They really believe what they say and they say it all the time. It’s not just to sell books or ads — although being hard-core capitalists, I’m sure they know that each outraged reaction from the left is ka-ching in their bank account.
Denial on the part of the liberals — no one can be that mean and really mean it — just furthers their cause. By the way, punching back by calling Rush Limbaugh fat or noting that Ann Coulter doesn’t look feminine enough is irrelevant and brings the level of discussion down to the gutter. There’s plenty enough wrong with what they say to leave personal appearance and objectification out of it. It doesn’t belong there in the first place.
Doubting their sincerity just glosses over the reality that there are people out there who can articulate this kind of mindset and dispense it in an entertaining manner. They’re the shiny version of the seething hate and bigotry that lies beneath the surface and only emerges when the less artful venture out into the daylight (see below).
So, yeah, they really mean what they say. And a bunch of people listen to them.
Let’s focus, class, on the phrase: she wants the government to …. please take care of me. “to ACT LIKE A HUSBAND”. I wonder who takes care of little orphan Annie. Here’s where the deep divide dwells, between those who respect women and those who think of them as dependents of men.