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Fri Feb 24 11:55:10 PST 2006
The writer asks Ann in the article:
=B3She debated Al Franken recently?
=B3=B9Yes,=B9 she said. =8CIt=B9s not an interesting debate, because liberals can=B9t
argue. So it=B9s never like point-counterpoint; all we do is hear about his
fucking U.S.O. tours for three hours. Excuse my French.=B9=B2
Ann, let=B9s see if we can have a point-counterpoint, and an interesting
debate. And by the way, Ann, I have here a DVD of that entire three hour
debate =AD And I=B9ll bet you my speaking fee tonight that I spoke about my USO
tours for less than a grand total of three minutes. How about it Ann? My
speaking fee against your speaking fee?
I mean we care about the truth, don=B9t we?
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<FONT FACE=3D"Trebuchet MS"><H1>An Evening with Ann Coulter v. Al Franken: <B=
R>
<BR>
Franken’s Opening Statement<BR>
</H1><FONT SIZE=3D"6"><BR>
</FONT> DEBATE OPENING STATEMENT – <B>UNIVERSITY OF JUDAISM<BR>
</B><BR>
Thank you. First of all, I know I join Ann in thanking the University of Ju=
daism for hosting this event. We’ve had an opportunity to spend some t=
ime with President Wexler and have dinner with many folks from the Universit=
y community.<BR>
<BR>
And I’d like to answer the question that I actually get asked the mos=
t when I do an event for a Jewish organization. Yes, I had enough to eat.<BR=
>
<BR>
You know, in these kinds of debate forums, someone has to go first. It̵=
7;s always preferable to go second, because you can react to what’s be=
en said, giving you something of a tactical advantage. More importantly, it =
pretty much spares you the chore of writing out pre-prepared remarks.<BR>
<BR>
Both Ann and I said we preferred going second, but I didn’t insist on=
it, because I understood somebody had to go first. And being a liberal, I j=
ust wasn’t tough-minded enough to insist on a coin toss.<BR>
<BR>
So, I’ll try to use my time to define the terms of the debate –=
if you will. “Whence Judaism?”<BR>
<BR>
No. I think we should talk about the Bush Administration and the Republican=
Congress and what it has accomplished over the past five years. I’m t=
alking, of course, about well over two trillion dollars added to the nationa=
l debt, the increase in poverty in our country and the added millions of Ame=
ricans, including children, without health insurance. I’m talking abou=
t the sale of our democracy to corporate interests that pollute our water an=
d our air. I’m talking about the widening gap between the haves and th=
e have nots in this country. And I’m talking about the war in Iraq.<BR=
>
<BR>
I’m talking about an increasingly corrupt, secretive, and incompetent=
federal government that rewards cronies, a Republican majority in Congress =
that’s acted as a rubber stamp, that has performed virtually no oversi=
ght and which excludes the minority party from the legislative process in a =
way unprecedented in our recent history.<BR>
<BR>
I also want to discuss with Ann the coarsening of dialogue in this country.=
I want to discuss values with Ann. Values like love, of family, of your fel=
low man, of country. Ann has said repeatedly that liberals hate America. I d=
isagree.<BR>
<BR>
Last year I had the honor of speaking at West Point. It was an audience not=
so very different from this one. Except that instead of you, the audience w=
as made up of about twelve hundred cadets. Many of whom will be going to Ira=
q in the next year or so.<BR>
<BR>
The occasion was the Sol Feinstone Lecture on the Meaning of Freedom endowe=
d by philanthropist Sol Feinstone. It’s an annual event and Sol Feinst=
ein’s granddaughter, who is about my age, attended.<BR>
<BR>
After telling a number jokes and getting the cadets on my side. I told them=
that we had been lied into the war in Iraq. I had just published a book ent=
itled The Truth (with jokes), and I told the cadets that you can’t hav=
e freedom without the truth. You can have freedom without jokes, as has been=
proven by the Dutch and the Swiss.<BR>
<BR>
I proceeded to prove that we had been lied into war, citing example after e=
xample of President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld,=
and Condi Rice, who had been National Security Advisor in the lead-up to th=
e war, telling the public information that they knew not to be true.<BR>
<BR>
At the end of the speech I received a standing ovation from the cadets. Sol=
Feinstone’s granddaughter told me she had gone to every lecture for t=
he last thirty or so years, and that I received only the second standing ova=
tion. The other was for Max Cleland, who lost both legs and an arm in Vietna=
m.<BR>
<BR>
By the way, Ann has written that Max Cleland was lucky to have lost his leg=
s and his arm in Vietnam. I disagree. More importantly, I know Max, and he d=
isagrees.<BR>
<BR>
I believe I received the standing ovation because the cadets knew that I wa=
s speaking from the heart, and that the information I had given them was all=
true. And as I said, you can’t have freedom without the truth.<BR>
<BR>
You can’t have good government without the truth. During the crafting=
and passage of the Medicare prescription drug bill, the chief actuary of Me=
dicare was told to withhold from Congress the true cost of the bill. He̵=
7;d be fired if he told the truth.<BR>
<BR>
The bill costs so much, in large part, because the bill prohibits Medicare =
from negotiating with the pharmaceutical companies on the price of drugs. As=
a result, seniors now pay on average 44% more than veterans getting the sam=
e drugs through the VA which is allowed to use its size to negotiate with th=
e drug companies. To get the bill passed, the vote was held open for three h=
ours. Tom DeLay was later admonished by Republicans on the ethics committee =
for attempting to bribe, and then extort, Republican Nick Smith of Michigan =
to get him to change his vote. The chairman of the Commerce Committee Billy =
Tauzin who ushered the legislation through, soon left Congress for a two mil=
lion dollar a year job as the chief lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry=
. Obviously, a complete coincidence.<BR>
<BR>
During the 2000 campaign George Bush ran for president by saying repeatedly=
, and I quote, “by far the vast majority of my tax cut goes to those a=
t the bottom.” Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.<BR>
<BR>
In fact, the president continues to ask for and sign tax cuts that go prima=
rily to those at the top. By the way, until George W. Bush, our country had =
never cut taxes during a time of war.<BR>
<BR>
As a result, our deficits grow and the cuts – in Medicaid, Pell Grant=
s, food stamps, low-income housing subsidies, community block grants –=
are targeted at the poorest in our society.<BR>
<BR>
George W. Bush famously said that Jesus was his favorite political philosop=
her. Frankly, I don’t get it.<BR>
<BR>
I’m Jewish. Thank you. I’m not an expert on the New Testament. =
But I know that if you cut out all the passages where Jesus talks about help=
ing the poor, helping the least among us, if you literally took a pair of sc=
issors and cut out all those passages, you’d have the perfect box to s=
muggle Rush Limbaugh’s drugs in.<BR>
<BR>
I don’t understand when the Christian right says that equal rights in=
marriage threatens marriage. I’ve been married 30 years, many of them=
happy. I don’t think that if my wife and I were walking around in Bos=
ton, where we met, if we saw two men holding hands with wedding bands…=
I don’t think I’d say “Hey, that looks good. Y’know=
, honey, you don’t like watching football on Sundays. Maybe I could ma=
rry a guy, watch football with him, and then if I wanted to have sex, I coul=
d come over and have sex with you.”<BR>
<BR>
I was just talking to Newt Gingrich the other day. And I said to him, ̶=
0;Don’t you want for a gay couple what you had with your first wife? D=
on’t you want that bond that comes with the pledge of fidelity that yo=
u had with your second wife? Don’t you want what comes with that lifel=
ong bond that you may or may not have with your third wife – I have no=
idea what’s going on there.”<BR>
<BR>
You know, Bill O’Reilly always talks about his “traditional val=
ues” – as opposed to “the far left’s secular humanis=
t values.” I didn’t realize phone sex was a traditional value. I=
didn’t think the phone had been around long enough. Maybe telegraph s=
ex.<BR>
<BR>
In her book Slander, Ann referred to Democrats and our “Marquis de Sa=
de lifestyle.” I’ve been married for thirty years. Ann, you̵=
7;re an attractive woman. And I know you support the president’s absti=
nence-only sex education. I want to congratulate you for saving yourself for=
your one true love.<BR>
<BR>
When my daughter was six years old, her teacher asked all her students to w=
rite about how their parents had met. We told Thomasin that we met at a mixe=
r freshman year of college. I saw Franni across the room, gathering up some =
friends to leave. I liked the way she was taking control and I thought she w=
as beautiful. So I asked her to dance, and then got her a ginger ale, then e=
scorted her to her dorm and asked for a date.<BR>
<BR>
My daughter wrote, “My dad asked my mom to dance, bought her a drink,=
and then took her home.” Now all the facts were accurate, but what my=
daughter wrote was extremely misleading. Now my daughter wasn’t lying=
. She didn’t realize that what she wrote made her mom seem like a slut=
.<BR>
<BR>
Ann, however, is not six years old. And she has developed her own technique=
s for misleading, by leaving out important facts. Let me give you an example=
of Ann lying by omission.<BR>
<BR>
Also in her book Slander, Ann tells her readers that Al Gore had a leg up o=
n George W. Bush when applying to their respective colleges. Harvard and Yal=
e. Ann writes:<BR>
<BR>
“Oddly, it was Bush who was routinely accused of having sailed throug=
h life on his father’s name. But the truth was the reverse. The media =
was manipulating the fact that – many years later – Bush’s=
father became president. When Bush was admitted to Yale, his father was a l=
ittle-known congressman on the verge of losing his first Senate race. His fa=
ther was a Yale alumnus, but so were a lot of other boys’ parents. It =
was Gore, not Bush, who had a famous father likely to impress college admiss=
ions committees.”<BR>
<BR>
What does Ann omit? Well, that Bush’s grandfather Prescott Bush was a=
lso a Yale alum and had been Senator from Connecticut, the home state of Yal=
e University. That Prescott Bush had been a trustee of Yale. That Prescott B=
ush had been the first chair of Yale’s Development Board – the f=
olks who raise the money. That Prescott Bush sat on the Yale Corporation for=
twelve years. That Prescott Bush, like George W. Bush’s father, Georg=
e H. W, Bush, had been a member of Skull and Bones. That the first Bush to g=
o to Yale was Bush’s great great grandfather James Bush, who graduated=
in 1844. That in addition to his father, grandfather, and greatgreatgrandfa=
ther, Bush was the legacy of no less than twenty-seven other relatives who p=
receded him at Yale, including five great great uncles. Seven great uncles. =
Five uncles, and a number of first cousins.<BR>
<BR>
Now why did Ann leave out these somewhat relevant facts? Ann grew up in Con=
necticut. Ann, did you really not know that Prescott Bush had been your sena=
tor when you were born?<BR>
<BR>
Ann, is it possible that when Prescott’s son George H. W. Bush became=
president, it totally escaped your notice that his father had represented y=
our state in the United States Senate? Did neither of your parents mention i=
t in passing at the dinner table? Did no one at home in Darien make any comm=
ents about the new president’s lineage?<BR>
<BR>
Understand. This isn’t sloppiness. This is deliberate. For Ann’=
s purposes – to claim that the media that was manipulating facts here =
– Ann herself had to manipulate facts – in such a shameless way.=
This is what she does.<BR>
<BR>
And she does it over and over and over again.<BR>
<BR>
Let me give you another example.<BR>
<BR>
On page 265 of her book Treason, Ann writes of Tom Friedman, the New York T=
imes columnist. “He blamed twenty years of relentless attacks by Musli=
m extremists on- I quote – ‘religious fundamentalists of any str=
ipe.’”<BR>
<BR>
This didn’t sound like Tom Friedman to me, so I found the one Friedma=
n column that contained that phrase – “religious fundamentalists=
of any stripe.” It was from a December 26, 2001 column called “=
Naked Air,” about an airline where everyone would fly naked. “Th=
ink about it,” Friedman writes, tongue firmly planted in cheek, “=
;If everybody flew naked, not only would you never have to worry about the p=
assenger next to you carrying box cutters or exploding shoes, but no religio=
us fundamentalists of any stripe would ever be caught dead flying nude.̶=
1;<BR>
<BR>
Let me repeat. Ann wrote of Tom Friedman, Jewish by the way, that “he=
blamed twenty years of relentless attacks by Muslim extremists on – I=
quote – ‘religious fundamentalists of any stripe.’”=
She bothered to put “I quote” in there for emphasis.<BR>
<BR>
Friedman actually wrote “no religious fundamentalists of any stripe w=
ould ever be caught dead flying nude” in service of a conceit that ill=
ustrated our dilemma of either becoming less open as a society or learning t=
o live with much higher risks than we’ve ever been used to before.<BR>
<BR>
Friedman was not blaming 9/11 on the Lubavichers, as Ann suggests.<BR>
<BR>
Now this sort of deliberate misrepresentation contributes to a coarsening o=
f our nation’s dialogue. Ann recently told an audience:<BR>
<BR>
“We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens’ crem=
e brulee,” Coulter said. “That’s just a joke, for you in t=
he media.”<BR>
<BR>
Here’s my question. What’s the joke? Maybe it’s a prejudi=
ce from my days as a comedy writer, but I always thought the joke had to hav=
e an operative funny idea. I’ll give you an example of a joke.<BR>
<BR>
Like they do every Saturday night, two elderly Jewish couples are going out=
to dinner. The guys are in front, the girls riding in back. Irv says to Sid=
, “Where should we go tonight?”<BR>
<BR>
Sid says, “How about that place we went about a month ago. The Italia=
n place with the great lasagna.”<BR>
<BR>
Irv says, “I don’t remember it.”<BR>
<BR>
Sid says, “The place with the great lasagna.”<BR>
<BR>
Irv says, “I don’t remember. What’s the name of the place=
?”<BR>
<BR>
Sid thinks. But can’t remember. “A flower. Gimme a flower.̶=
1;<BR>
<BR>
“Tulip?” Irv says.<BR>
<BR>
“No, no. A different flower.”<BR>
<BR>
“Magnolia?”<BR>
<BR>
“No, no. A basic flower.”<BR>
<BR>
“Orchid?”<BR>
<BR>
“No! Basic.”<BR>
<BR>
“Rose?”<BR>
<BR>
That’s it! Sid turns to the back seat. “Rose. What was the name=
of that restaurant…?”<BR>
<BR>
That’s a joke. What exactly is the joke in “We need somebody to=
put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens’ creme brulee?” Is it the =
crème brulee? Is that it? Because Stevens is some kind of Francophile=
or elitist? Is it the rat poison? See, I would have gone with Drano. I̵=
7;m really trying here, Ann. Please, when you come up, explain the joke abou=
t murdering an associate justice of the Supreme Court. One who by the way, w=
as appointed to the Supreme Court by Gerald Ford, and who, also, by the way,=
won a Bronze Star serving in the Navy in World War II. What is the joke? &#=
8216;Cause I don’t get it.<BR>
<BR>
Now in Ann’s defense, she doesn’t always make horribly offensiv=
e remarks or knowingly craft lies. Very often Ann is just wrong out of ignor=
ance or pure laziness. Take this from the MSNBC Show – Saturday Final =
– on August 30, 2003 – MSNBC. She is talking about how well the =
war in Iraq is going.<BR>
<BR>
COULTER: I think the rebuilding is going extremely well. Douglas MacArthur =
was in Japan five years after V.J. Day. There were enormous casualties in Ge=
rmany after World War II. The rebuilding is actually going quite well compar=
ed to past efforts. And really, all we’re getting from Democrats is co=
nstant carping.<BR>
<BR>
Ann, do you know how many combat fatalities the American military had in Ge=
rmany after V-E day? Zero. You know how many in Japan after V-J day? Zero.<B=
R>
<BR>
Ann and I have debated once before. In May of 2004, and Ann still felt the =
war was going amazingly well. Let me quote her from that debate:<BR>
<BR>
“…. This war is going amazingly well… the casualty rate i=
s incredibly small for the rebuilding. It is going better than can be expect=
ed. You cannot read about how well things are going against Al Sadr, where y=
ou have Iraqis protesting against Al Sadr; all these stories about how Al Sa=
dr had (this) vast support among the Iraquis… oh no no no. They recent=
ly held a protest march saying, ‘Al Sadr, get out.’”<BR>
<BR>
As you know, Ann, Moktadr al Sadr, recently picked the Shiite choice for pr=
ime minister for the new government, Mohamed al Jafaari. Sadr has thirty-two=
seats in the Iraqi assembly compared to Ahmed Chalabi’s zero. And rem=
ember, it was Chalabi to whom we were going to turn over the Iraqi governmen=
t.<BR>
<BR>
Things are not going amazingly well in Iraq. And they haven’t been go=
ing amazingly well since we allowed the looting of Baghdad. A week ago, form=
er prime minister Ayad Allawi said that Iraq was already in a civil war. And=
as George Bush said in September of 2004, we should listen to Allawi becaus=
e – and I quote – “he understands what’s going on th=
ere – after all, he lives there.”<BR>
<BR>
The first thing this Administration needs to do in Iraq is to start acknowl=
edging the truth and level with the American people.<BR>
<BR>
I think the one lesson we can all agree on from Vietnam is that we cannot b=
lame the troops. By and large, the vast, vast majority of our troops have pe=
rformed heroically. And they deserve our gratitude and support. And that mea=
ns supporting them after they’ve come home.<BR>
<BR>
Two thirds of the wounded in Iraq now have brain injuries. That’s bec=
ause so many of the casualties are from IED’s, and the injuries are co=
ncussive and not ballistic. Each one of those brain injuries is going to cos=
t a million dollars over the course of that veteran’s life. And we nee=
d to fund programs for those who come back with post traumatic stress disord=
er – a higher percentage than in any previous war.<BR>
<BR>
Now another value I believe in is love of country. For some reason it rankl=
es Ann that I’ve done six USO tours and have had the nerve to talk abo=
ut it. I do so because I want people to be aware of the work that the USO do=
es. I want anyone here today who is a Hollywood celebrity to think about giv=
ing up a couple weeks of your life to entertain our men and women in uniform=
. I think it rankles Ann that I’ve talked about going on the USO tours=
because she can’t conceive that anyone would actually do something fo=
r anyone else. I didn’t go to Iraq to prove that Democrats are patriot=
ic, Ann. I did my first USO tour in 1999, when Clinton was president. We wen=
t to Kosovo, a war that was vehemently and vocally opposed by many Republica=
ns. Even so, we didn’t call them traitors. I was invited by the USO to=
go to Iraq because they know I do a good job and that it means a lot to the=
troops when anyone comes over to show them we care.<BR>
<BR>
My daughter is 25. She teaches inner city kids in the Bronx. And that makes=
me proud. She hates when I say it, and that makes me even more proud.<BR>
<BR>
My son is an engineering student. He wants to build fuel efficient cars. He=
’s a junior in college and got a job at Ford this summer working on a =
new manufacturing process for power trans. I don’t know what that mean=
s either. But he got there because he works his butt off.<BR>
<BR>
But my son doesn’t feel that he got where he is because he is some ki=
nd of rugged individual. That he did it all himself. He knows that he stands=
on the shoulders of those who stood on the shoulders of those who stood on =
the shoulders of those who stood on the shoulders of those who stood on the =
necks of Indians.<BR>
<BR>
My wife and I tried to instill certain values in our kids. But we don’=
;t love them because they’re perfect. We love them because they’=
re decent, loving kids. Kids who care about others and care, by the way, abo=
ut the truth.<BR>
<BR>
One last thing. Speaking of the truth. A few months after my last debate wi=
th Ann, the following appeared in a New York Observer story about Ann. From =
the September 13, 2004 issue..<BR>
<BR>
The writer asks Ann in the article:<BR>
<BR>
“She debated Al Franken recently?<BR>
<BR>
“’Yes,’ she said. ‘It’s not an interesting de=
bate, because liberals can’t argue. So it’s never like point-cou=
nterpoint; all we do is hear about his fucking U.S.O. tours for three hours.=
Excuse my French.’”<BR>
<BR>
Ann, let’s see if we can have a point-counterpoint, and an interestin=
g debate. And by the way, Ann, I have here a DVD of that entire three hour d=
ebate – And I’ll bet you my speaking fee tonight that I spoke ab=
out my USO tours for less than a grand total of three minutes. How about it =
Ann? My speaking fee against your speaking fee?<BR>
<BR>
I mean we care about the truth, don’t we?</FONT>
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