'Anti-soccer evidence pours in!' she tweeted.
By Sarah Smith
07/01/14 06:12 AM EDT
Updated 07/02/14 11:31 AM EDT
Theres one person and maybe the only person who was not happy about the United States run in the World Cup: Ann Coulter.
Before the U.S. team fell to Belgium on Tuesday, the conservative columnist was getting kicked around even by her fellow travelers on the right for her anti-soccer tweets and a column she wrote headlined: Any growing interest in soccer a sign of moral decay.
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If more Americans are watching soccer today, its only because of the demographic switch effected by Teddy Kennedys 1965 immigration law, Coulter wrote. I promise you: No American whose great-grandfather was born here is watching soccer. One can only hope that, in addition to learning English, these new Americans will drop their soccer fetish with time.
Coulter doubled down on Wednesday after the U.S. loss to Belgium that knocked the Americans out of contention as she continued dissing her countrys team without even acknowledging the defeat.
( PHOTOS: World leaders watch the 2014 World Cup)
Doing the job Americans just wont do: Immigrants fill up roster of U.S. soccer team, she tweeted, linking to an article that detailed the U.S. teams connections to other countries. Another tweet cited a Washington Post story with the statistic that only 17 percent of Americans closely watched the World Cup. Coulter contended that of those 17 percent, 100% R unatheletic [sic] journalists.
On Monday, Coulter was on Sean Hannitys show to defend her earlier attacks on soccer.
My critics have apparently tried to persuade me that soccer really is a macho game by throwing one week of hissy fits over my column, Coulter said, speaking on Fox News from Paris.
While Coulters column unfavorably compared soccer to American football (After a football game, ambulances carry off the wounded. After a soccer game, every player gets a ribbon and a juice box), she thought a players biting of another backed up her views.
More evidence soccer is for girls. Player from Uruguay caught BITING an opponent yesterday, she tweeted last week. Not punching. Not a cross-body block. BITING!
Americans swept up by World Cup fever didnt take kindly to her sentiments including many of Coulters fellow conservatives and Fox News regulars.
Fox News host Steve Doocy brought up the column on Fox & Friends, joking that fellow host Brian Kilmeade might become agitated.
Right, Kilmeade said. I will outline what she said and try to find anything factual in it. That will be an interesting little exercise.
Im told its a sign of moral decay, Fox News host Shep Smith said of soccer after celebrating the U.S. advancing in the World Cup on Thursday after its match against Germany. Its not.
Coulter also took the opportunity to mix in a tongue-in-cheek jab at the Internal Revenue Service, referencing the ongoing scandal over the disappearance of ex-IRS official Lois Lerners emails.
Anti-soccer evidence pours in! she tweeted. Smug creep at IRS, John Koskinen, served as President of the U.S. Soccer Foundation from 2004-2008.
Coulter also faced penalty kicks from the left, with Talking Points Memo writing about how she trolled soccer fans.
Its worth noting that aside from the Olympics, the World Cup is really the only occasion when an American audience gets a chance to cheer on a national rather than a regional sports team, TPM author Catherine Thompson wrote. But apparently that doesnt jibe with Coulters vision of patriotism.
Forbes, under the headline, How Ann Coulter Lost Her Mind Over World Cup Soccer, didnt agree with her view but gave her points for getting attention and being creative.
Maybe Ann Coulter hasnt lost her mind, author Maury Brown mused at the end of his post. Maybe Ann Coulter knows how to play us all up and take advantage of a storyline.
Less surprising is the reaction of sports networks. Colin Cowherd on The Herd chalked up soccer as one more thing conservatives are slower to embrace. New stuff gay marriage, gun law change, immigration, technology theyre a little more reticent to initially embrace it, he said.
On CBS Sports Boomer & Carton, a host said, Everybodys got an opinion. Thats a weird one.
And Twitter certainly paid attention. The most commonly tweeted line asked if Coulters column was meant to appear on satirical news site The Onion.
The Ann Coulter trolling on soccer is so weak, tweeted Business Insider Executive Editor Joe Weisenthal. A big lump of jokes weve all made. Shes lost her fastball.
I care what Ann Coulter thinks about soccer. -No one, ever, Pat Garofalo, assistant managing editor for opinion at U.S.News & World Report, tweeted.
Coulter did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
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