Black Box Report

Ann Coulter has new book to sell; Ann Coulter says something teh outrayyygeous to drum up publicity for said book.

If we took away women's right to vote, we'd never have to worry about another Democrat president. It's kind of a pipe dream, it's a personal fantasy of mine, but I don't think it's going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women.

Speaking of single women voting stupidly...

Now, slamming Ann Coulter for saying something offensive and just...stupid is like shooting comatose fish in s very small barrel. But because she is still embraced by conservatives, her rantings are a telling insight into their mindset (if you want to call it that):

If we were to subscribe to Ms. Coulter's theory - that single women be left out of the political process - and further assume that given the leading GOP presidential candidates decision to skip Hispanic and African American forums, those Americans be left out as well, we could very well believe that conservatives want the elections decided by married white men.

Somewhere, Pat Buchanan is pumping his fist and shouting YESSS!

I tried to find some non-amoeba-level rightwing bloggers to jump on this bandwagon and come to Coulter's defense, but....pppbbbtt!!! Nada. So I had to resort to wingnut radio host Neal Boortz's website for that pre-1900 mentality:

Coulter is exactly right. Don't take her word for it, just read "Freedomnomics" by John Lott. Here we have a renowned economist going all the way back to the late 1980s to see what happens when women get the vote. His findings? In every single case, when women were given the right to vote the cost of government immediately began to rise as women, particularly single women, started voting for the candidates who would create more government spending programs designed to provide women with security. That magic word...security.

Lott found that young single women overwhelmingly vote liberal. When they marry and start a family they start voting more conservatively. That would be because their sense of security is provided by their family, and they don't want government to interfere in their accumulation of wealth. Then, if that very same woman starts to feel that her marriage is threatened ... or if she becomes divorced ... she right back there voting for liberals again. Why? Security .. this time from the government instead of her husband.

Coulter is right. Deal with it.

As Atrios says, "The stupid...it burns"

It's not just that Coulter's statement is inherantly antithetical to very premise of Democracy - she's bent out of shape because she can't force people to agree with her, we all get that. But Coulter is advocating the kind of anti-democratic sentiment that was so popular with Saddam Hussein, who made it illegal to vote for anyone but him, because that was the right way to vote. And since we can't kill people for voting for Democrats 9 yet, anyway, although I'm sure she'd love to talk to Dick Cheney about fixing that), she'll settle for taking away their right to vote.

Who says Republicans want to disenfranchise voters? Only Republicans that actually want to disenfranchise voters.

Actions speak louder than words - or lapel pins. Being patriotic is more important than just looking patriotic, no matter how tightly you wrap yourself in the flag. I can't believe something as meaningless as a flag pin on your lapel is actually a campaign issue. Are we that shallow? Are we that easily fooled by the trappings of patriotism? In short, are we that stupid? Obviously some people are. It's not like Barack Obama defaced his pin, wore it upside down or denounced it. He just decided not to wear it. And THIS is what gets the Right into their latest tizzy? News Flash: Wearing a flag pin don't mean a thing if it ain't got that constitutional swing:

Someone can oppose American civil liberties, prefer to stifle dissent, support un-American policies like torture and the elimination of habeas corpus, but so long as the stars and stripes are on his or her lapel, their patriotism should be considered unimpeachable. What nonsense.

Nonsense indeed. If I wear a t-shirt that says "Los Angeles," does that mean I'm from L.A.? If I wear a Boston Red Sox cap, does that automatically make me a fan? Similarly, if I go to Yankee stadium and don't wear multiple pieces of team merchandise, am I not a fan? And before anyone thinks this is a left vs right issue, it's not. It's substance vs style:

I'd have more respect for Obama if he had just left it at "lapel pins don't solve problems," but this is hardly worth the attention…wearing a flag pin on his lapel wouldn't convince me to vote for Obama, and a bare lapel on a candidate who matches up with my point of view best won't stop my support.

That some people can't grasp this simple equation is frightening. But for some on the right, a love of conformity and authoritarianism cause them to feel superior to those who don't wear their hearts on their sleeve, or the flag on their lapel. And the results are pretty unhinged:

This is how he catches the attention of a media aligned with the terror force? This useful tool won't wear an American flag pin? Talk about pandering to the radical base, he ought to run against Ahmadinejad...What's Obama Hussein's new campaign slogan, "America Sucks!" ?

What Pam Oshry lacks in coherant logic she makes up for in stupidity. But the reaction of Fox's Sean Hannity was the best, explaining we wear pins because...we're under attack! Believe it or not, that's not just a stupid non-sequitor:

And that, my fellow Americans, is what will get you through the dreaded day when you’re faced with an enraged suicide bomber, reaching for the detonator. The knowledge that Sean Hannity stands ready to intercede and spare your life, attacking them with the two inch hat pin that he uses to keep his brain from falling out of his cranium.

So the next time you see Sean Hannity or anyone from FOX News, any of the GOP presidential candidates, or really, any of your neighbors or anyone you see on the street, and they're NOT wearing their flag pin, you know they're a jihadist, terrorist-lovin', anti-American scumbag. You may have them arrested immediately, or if you're in Florida, shot on sight. [/sarcasm]

(Obviously Sean does not love this country)

To paraphrase George Carlin, symbols are for the symbol-minded.