Mediaboss Marketing

The head of a top Indian-American advocacy group on Wednesday condemned Ann Coulters comments that South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley doesnt understand America because shes an immigrant with roots in India.

Its a demographic death march that the Republican Party is on. This is a country of immigrants, said Sanjay Puri, chairman and founder of the U.S.-India Political Action Committee.

Story Continued Below

Puri noted that not only was Haley born in America to immigrant parents, but Coulters ancestors were likely also immigrants to the United States. He said that the comments are offensive for presuming that immigrants dont understand American history.

On Tuesday, Coulter appeared on the Fox Business Network and condemned Haley for calling for the Confederate battle flag to be taken down from outside the State Capitol. I would really like to like Nikki Haley since she is a Republican, Coulter said, but added that the South Carolina governor is an immigrant and does not understand Americas history.

Haley was, in fact, born in South Carolina in 1972. Her parents immigrated to the U.S. from the Indian state of Punjab.

Coulters comments were a sharp departure from the views of fellow Republicans such as Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Donald Trump, all of whom have agreed with the governor that its time for the flag to come down.

She emphasized that, though she is from Connecticut, she believes the flag is an important part of Southern history.

The Confederate flag were talking about never flew over an official Confederate building, Coulter said. It was a battle flag. It is to honor Robert E. Lee. And anyone who knows the first thing about military history knows that there is no greater army that ever took the field than the Confederate Army.

Coulter said the fact that Dylann Roof, the alleged killer of nine African Americans in last weeks attack in South Carolina, showcased the flag in photos is irrelevant. The shooting, she said, had nothing to do with the Confederate flag. He was also wearing a Golds Gym T-shirt.

The conservative pundit appeared on the show to promote her new book Adios, America: The Lefts Plan to Turn Our Country into a Third World Hellhole, which was published June 1.

Adam B. Lerner is a reporter forPolitico.

View original post here:
Indian-American group condemns Ann Coulter's swipe at ...

Ann Coulter said in an interview set to air Tuesday night that immigrants to the United States are to be feared more than the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIS.

Appearing on the TV network Fusion, Coulter told host Jorge Ramos, If you dont want to be killed by ISIS, dont go to Syria. If you dont want to be killed by a Mexican, theres nothing I can tell you.

Story Continued Below

When asked whether she thinks Latino immigrants are biologically predisposed to crime, the conservative writer and activist said, I think there are cultures that are obviously deficient. And if they werent deficient, you wouldnt be sitting in America interviewing me Id be sitting in Mexico.

You fled that culture because there are a lot of problems with that culture, Coulter told Ramos. We can share our culture with other nations without bringing all of their people here. When you bring the people here, you bring those cultures here. That includes honor killings, it includes uncles raping their nieces, it includes dumping litter all over, it includes not paying your taxes, it includes paying bribes to government officials. That isnt our culture.

America is the best in the world, and were about to lose it, said Coulter. She appeared on the show to promote her new book Adios, America! The Lefts Plan to Turn Our Country Into a Third World Hellhole.

No country has ever had the sort of respect for women that Anglo-America has had, and that is going out the door, Coulter added.

Ramos did not respond directly to Coulters comments in the video clips available online.

Later in the broadcast, during a question-and-answer session, an undocumented immigrant who has lived in the United States asked Coulter for a hug, as a sign of my humanity and yours.

At first Coulter turned her down because she said she was getting over the flu, but then when the questioner said she didnt mind, the conservative writer again turned her down and asked her to get on with the question.

The comments were first reported by TV Newser.

Adam B. Lerner is a reporter forPolitico.

Continued here:
Ann Coulter: Immigrants are worse than ISIL - POLITICO

During the course of the second Republican presidential debate, Ann Coulter, the well-known commentator, writer, speaker and provocateur, tweeted:

How many fing Jews do these people think there are in the United States?

Her explanation was that she had grown frustrated with the candidates remarks that concentrated on things nearly all Republicans agree on admiration of Ronald Reagan, opposition to abortion and support for Israel and ignored what she considers the biggest domestic problem facing America: immigration, both legal (under current law) and illegal. She regarded the candidates remarks as pandering to various Republican constituencies and tweeted out a series of critical and angry comments, including the one about Jews, in response to repeated pledges to support Israel.

She was rightly condemned by Republicans and Democrats alike for the tweet. How could she not be? It was indefensible. And it did damage to Republicans, conservatives and supporters of Israel.

But that should not be the end of the discussion.

The tweet raises a number of important questions. These include whether Ann Coulter is an anti-Semite, who we should label an anti-Semite and who the enemies of Jews are in America today.

The first is the easiest. Ann Coulter is not an anti-Semite. Those Jews who think she is point to two pieces of evidence: the recent tweet and something she said in a 2007 interview with Donny Deutsch, a TV personality who happens to be Jewish.

In that interview, she said that America (and presumably the world) would be better if everybody were a Christian. Deutsch asked if that meant all Jews should become Christian. Coulter said yes and Deutsch was offended. He was further offended when she labeled Christians, including herself, and Jews who became Christians perfected Jews.

Against this is a lifetime of defending Jews and Israel. Every mention of Jews or Israel Ive read in any of her books is a spirited defense of Jews and Israel, or an attack on those who attack Jews and Israel. I should add, for what its worth, she has been to my home twice for Shabbat dinner. Indeed, she has said that experiencing Shabbat and reading the explanation for it in my book, The Ten Commandments: Still the Best Moral Code, have moved her to start observing a Sabbath. I guess you can say she might become a perfected Christian.

Her remarks to Deutsch were hardly anti-Semitic.

First, both common sense and Judaism demand that we judge people by their behavior, not by their religious beliefs. Believing that the world would be better if everyone were a Christian hardly renders one a bigot, let alone a Jew hater. Everyone who holds a doctrine believes the world be better if everyone embraced their doctrine. Dont secular liberals believe that the world would be better if everyone were a secular liberal?

Second, if theological beliefs render one a hater, most religious Jews would have to be considered haters. That would include all those Orthodox Jews who consider Christianity idol worship and therefore wont enter a church. And it would include all Jews who believe, as I do, that the Jews are the chosen people.

We need to be very careful before labeling people anti-Semites. This is especially so with regard to Christians who believe that the only way to salvation is through belief in Christ. The fact is that the Jews and Israels best friends in America are largely those evangelical Christians who believe that only faith in Jesus saves.

I have worked with evangelical Christians for 20 years, regularly speak at their conventions and churches, and can attest to the sincerity of their support for Jews - its all the more remarkable given how much contempt many Jews heap on them.

And no, they dont support Israel in order to hasten the apocalypse and the Second Coming. People who dislike the Christian right have simply made that up in order to discredit their support. There is nothing in the New Testament that suggests this. Evangelical leaders such as Pastor John Hagee, the founder of Christians United for Israel, have said repeatedly that the timing of the New Testament prediction of Armageddon is solely in Gods hands. It is impossible for Christians to do anything to hasten the return of Jesus.

Evangelicals support Israel primarily because they believe Gods promise to Abraham in Genesis that He will bless those who bless the Jews and curse those who curse the Jews. They also believe that Israel is the morally superior side in the Middle East conflict.

I might add, however, that even if the reason evangelicals supported the Jews and Israel were to hasten the Second Coming so what? If tens of millions of Christians will support Jews until Jesus returns, isnt that a good thing?

In addition, epithets are not always a good indicator of who our enemies are. Harry Truman wrote home when he visited New York City that he was in kike town and wrote very disparaging things about the Jews in his diary. Yet, as president, he became the man who had America recognize the newly formed state of Israel within minutes of its declaration of independence against the advice of his entire State Department.

Likewise, when Hillary Clinton was accused of calling a campaign aide a fing Jew bastard an account attested to by three witnesses I wrote a column for The Wall Street Journal defending her against the charge of anti-Semitism. There was simply nothing in her behavior to suggest that she is an anti-Semite.

We are very right to be worried about hatred of Jews and Israel. But Israel hatred and anti-Zionism todays expressions of anti-Semitism arent coming from Ann Coulter or her side of the political spectrum. They are almost always to be found on the left in America and everywhere else outside the Muslim world. Our universities, for example, are the center of Israel hatred in America.

Thoughtful Jews on the left should be experiencing cognitive dissonance these days. The institutions they most revere the universities are the most anti-Israel institutions in America, and the groups they most fear conservatives and Christians are Israels and the Jews best friends.

Ann Coulter aimed her famously provocative rhetorical gun at her intended target the GOP candidates and instead hit an innocent bystander, Americas Jews. When you harm someone, even accidentally, you owe an apology. Her tweet hurt her, her cause and the Republican Party as well as Jews, and she should say shes sorry. But she is not an anti-Semite.

Jews shouldnt accuse people of this when it isnt true whether it is Ann Coulter or Hillary Clinton.

Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated talk show host heard on 140 radio stations across America, a New York Times best-selling author of six books and a contributing editor at the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles.

Here is the original post:
Comment: Ann Coulter is not an anti-Semite - Opinion ...

Outspoken conservative author Ann Coulter stopped in The Villages Saturday to sign copies of her latest book, drawing both fans and protesters who objected to comments she made about Israel during a recent Republican presidential debate.

Coulter's eleventh book, "Adios, America: The Left's Plan to Turn Our Country into a Third World Hellhole," focuses on immigration since 1970, particularly from Latin American countries.

In the book, Coulter attributes societal problems from children in poverty to Medicare fraud, terrorism and high school dropout rates to what she calls "unchecked immigration."

"She's a really smart lady," said Wanda Richards, of The Villages, who attended the book signing at the local Barnes & Noble on Old Camp Road. "And of course, she's conservative, and I'm conservative. I'm just really concerned about the direction the country's going in right now. I'm just hoping we get a good leader and get this country back where we used to be."

Coulter greeted people in line with smiles, posed for pictures and chatted with them about their hometowns, family members and preferred 2016 Republican presidential candidates.

Coulter is a Donald Trump supporter, she said, in large part because of his stance on illegal immigration.

Hank Smith, who bought seven signed copies of the book, said he enjoyed meeting Coulter and chatting with others standing in line with him.

He plans to give the autographed books to his friends as Christmas presents.

"It's clear, it's direct, she's to the point." Smith said. "And she does a very good job of explaining a lot about our country and our politics, and the people that are involved with it in a clear manner that makes it easy to understand."

As a line of Coulter's fans formed inside the bookstore, dozens of protesters gathered outside, waving American and white-and-blue Israeli flags.

They focused not on the book, but on a series of Tweets she wrote during the Sept. 16 Republican presidential debate.

Some candidates, she wrote, "Cruz, Huckabee, Rubio all mentioned ISRAEL in their response to: What will AMERICA look like after you are president."

"How many [expletive] Jews do these people think there are in the United States?" she tweeted, accusing candidates of pandering. That message garnered more than 2,000 retweets.

Coulter, who is accustomed to protesters, called them "phonies." She said she'd rather talk about immigration and other topics laid out in her book.

Steve Lowe, president of Temple Shalom of Central Florida, said a group of community leaders in The Villages read about the tweets and decided to protest Coulter's book signing.

"We just don't feel that we can tolerate any more of the incendiary racial and religious remarks, because they're so divisive to people," he said. "We, as Jews, will not accept it anymore."

Helene Ziegler, a member of The Villages' local Tea Party group, also was among the protesters.

"I am not a progressive liberal, I am a conservative," she said. "But I am a Jew, and I am an American. And both Jews and Americans won't stand for this kind of thing."

glotan@orlandosentinel.com

Originally posted here:
Ann Coulter signs "Adios, America" books at The Villages ...

Its so hard to be a paid right-wing provocateur these days, what with presidential frontrunners like Donald Trump out there calling Mexicans rapists and criminals and Ben Carson declaring that Muslims should be banned from the presidency. When the mainstream Republicans are talking like Ann Coulter, where can Ann Coulter go to get a rise out of people?

There was a time whensaying somethinglike we should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity was a shocking sentiment fit only for the farthest right fringe. Her mind-bogglingpronouncementthat Congress could pass a law tomorrow requiring that all aliens from Arabic countries leave and suggesting that authorities detain any swarthy looking males were greeted with gasps a decade ago. Today, it doesnt sound far out at all. Listen today to Lindsey Grahams shrieking about the need to invade half the Middle East because theyre coming here if we dont, or Ben Carson going on about forcing Muslims to renounce their faith, and its clear that these ideas have certainly gained some mainstream conservative currency over the years.

Coulter, a yuuuuuge Donald Trump supporter, has basically written hiscampaign agenda with her book Adios America. Saying that Americans should fear Mexicans more than ISIS is one of the less controversial comments in it. (The rapists charge is lifted directly from her screed.)I wrote about her fall from gracea few months back and called her political white noise, suggesting that her act is no longer salient after all these years because nobody finds itshocking anymore. But that doesnt mean she wonttry. After all, her paycheck depends upon it. And to be fair, I have never thought Coulter was the cynical phony so may beltway wags thought she was. Sure, shes theatrical but there is no reason to doubt her authenticity. She should be accorded the respect of taking her at her word that the malevolent worldview she espouses is sincerely held.

And lets be serious: Coulter was way ahead of her time with the immigrant and Muslim bashing and took the heat for it. Now even establishment favorites like Jeb Bush, the man whoseown childrenare the product of a multicultural upbringing, is decrying multiculturalism in a vain attempt to attract the xenophobes who loathe the fact that hes married to a Mexican-American woman. And Marco Rubio this week ruled out a path to citizenship for undocumented workers forever. Her influence is profound.

So its a good idea to check in with whats shes saying today so that we might have an idea where the GOP will be goingtomorrow. Lo and behold, she is once again pushing the boundaries in ways that seem so shocking and un-American that you can hardly believe anyone who is accepted into polite company would go there in 2015.

It all started at the last Republican debate when Coulter tweeted, How many fing Jews do these people think there are in the United States? It was jarring even for her if there is a GOP sacred cow these days, it is Israel, and Coulter started hacking away at it in public with a metaphorical machete. (Its not that there is no precedent forRepublican hostility toward Jewish people, but we havent seen it in a long time.)

By way of explanation, Coulter told The Daily Beast:

Im accusing Republicans of thinking the Jews have so much power. Theyre the ones who are comedically acting out this play where Jews control everything,

My point was this whole culture of virtue-signaling where debates are about nothing. Look, Republicans all agree 100 percent that we are pro-Israel, pro-Life, pro-gun. So why do we spend so much time on these issues? Its just pandering, so who are they pandering to?

Ina follow uptweet to her comment about the fing Jews, she pondered whether the GOPs focus on Israelwas really a ploy to kiss up to evangelicals, thus proving that she has finally caught up with the conventional wisdom every pundit this side of Honolulu has known for decades. She later told the Daily Beast, I dont think the Republicans understand evangelicals. We dont need to be coddled to constantlywere not Democrats. There is no doubt that the Republican Party is the party of Israel and of Life. So why keep sucking up on Israel?

Its still unclear why she cares so much about this, other than thatperhapsshe doesnt like Jewish people any better than she likes Asians, Latinos, or any other group outside her own racial, ethnic and religious identity. Just yesterday she went on a twitter tirade rattling off numbers of immigrants who come to the U.S. from from countries like Mexico, China, Vietnam etc., than come from England. There is no explanation offered for why she felt this was important to share with her followers, but it doesnt take a mind reader to figure it out. (No word on why more Brits arent trying to emigrate here, but it might be because they dont want to live in a country that turns bigots like Coulter into highly paid celebrities.)

But Coulter wasnt content to slam the Republicans for pandering to the fing Jews. With the Popes visit this week, she has gone on a tear against Catholics too. Not that she is the only right winger criticizing Francis. They are nearly apoplectic about his preaching on behalf ofthe poor and climate change. In fact, they have taken it upon themselves to dictate what issues the Pope is entitled to address and it appears that in their view his role is solely that of vagina policeman. (The papacy has certainly diminished since the days it rules over all Christendom.) Conservative commentator David Limbaugh admittedly not even a Catholic, which means his knowledge of Catholic theology is likely confined to binge watching re-runs of The Flying Nun on Netflix put it this way in a tweet yesterday:

Case closed. Coulter piled on:

Oddly, American Catholics have not yet been informed of their official separation with the Roman Catholic church. Youd think this would be bigger news. And its going to be a heck of a surprise to the citizens of Marylandto learnthat the Catholic founders of their state werent allowed to be American citizens.

But the bigger picture here is that while we all know its a right wing prerogative to attack Islam, Coulter has also attacked Jews and Catholics in the space of a week. And attacking any of the Judeo-Christian religious traditions had been off limits at least since Nixon was insulting every religion known to man. Surely she knows that the religious right is one of the GOPs most valuable constituencies,and that most certainly includes conservative Jews and Catholics. Its causing some of herfellow Republicans to recoil.

But maybe thats the point. Trump is as disdainful of Republican leadership as he is of the Democrats. Carson and Fiorina are total outsiders who have never held office before. Ted Cruz is accusing the GOP ofsurrender politics.And a large number of Republican votersloathe and despise their own leaders. Perhaps Coulter, as is often the case, is simply out front in the next phase of the Republican party crack-up: Shes signaling an impulse to discipline religious factions in the Party which may deviate from or otherwise compromise the central mission of the conservative movement to preserve the (white) American way of life. Its obvious that she believes the partys extreme fealty to Israel and its vulnerability to the social justice teachings of the Catholic Church are threats to that project.

There used to be many people like Coulter who wanted to make America pure and believed that Mexicans and Asians and Jews and Catholics were cultural pollutants. But they mostly died out in the last century after the world fought a couple of historys bloodiest wars. Her comments are anachronistic and strange to a modern persons ears, even many modern conservatives. But then so are Donald Trumps. They are both arousing a subterranean strain of American political culture thats been quiescent for a while.

Perhaps Ann Coulters influence on the conservative movement is more powerful than I gave her credit for. If she is, in fact, a vanguard figure who is clearing the path for conservatisms next step, then fasten your sea belts. A religious war within the conservative movement is bound to be epic.

And no matter what happens, you can be sure that Ann Coulter will be making a profit at it.

Read the original post:
How Ann Coulter became the harbinger of the GOPs extremist ...