The Liars Club

July 24, 2002

by Thomas Lindaman

Ann Coulter’s new book Slander has America buzzing like an angry beehive. And the ones who seem to be the angriest are the modern American left. Pulling up a website search on "Ann Coulter" reveals the two sides of her controversial book: those who love Ann, and those who think she is lying about the liberal slant in the mainstream media.

In fact, a good number of websites have devoted space to Coulter-bashers, coming up with such original titles as "Coulter Slanders in Slander," "Dumb and Dumber," and "Coulter Clash." Their reviews are pretty much the standard fare in modern liberal "intellectualism": call her everything from a shrill harpy to a liar.

Of course, no one really wants to deal with what she actually wrote because that would be logical.

And that’s precisely what the modern left cannot be when it comes to conservatives. Calling Coulter a liar is, as she points out in her book, the extent of their intellectual rebuttal to conservative ideas. They dragged out the same kind of "debate" when Coulter’s previous book High Crimes and Misdemeanors came out a couple of years ago. It seems the American left really doesn’t like Coulter too much because a) she’s not a liberal, b) she is proud not to be a liberal, and c) she breaks all of the liberal stereotypes about conservatives.

Coulter’s experience is not unusual. Any writer who deviates from the talking points of the American left is branded as either stupid or a liar. Take Gary Aldrich, for example. When Unlimited Access hit the shelves, liberals attacked it and Aldrich at every turn. Former Clinton White House employee George Stephanopolous went so far as to hiss the word, "liar" at Aldrich before they were both set to appear on "This Week With David Brinkley" to discuss the charges Aldrich made in his book. Of course as time goes on, we see Aldrich’s vindication.

But let’s focus on Coulter’s book again. Her central theme in Slander is there is a liberal slant in the mainstream media. This controversy has raged for well over a decade, if not longer. Naturally, the press is going to deny the charge it is liberal because to admit the truth would be to lose credibility. So, they deflect the charges and make the argument there is a conservative slant to the news.

Folks, I’ve studied the mainstream press for a good chunk of my adult life, and to say the media is conservatively biased is as laughable as Pat Buchanan’s chances of being bar mitzvahed. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Let’s take a look at a real-life example.

Bryant Gumbel is notorious for his open animosity towards conservatives. The blow-dried broadcasting blowhard has provided us with such insightful commentary as, "You are either a Democrat or you’re a racist." Now, if conservatives owned the media, do you think Gumbel would have a job? Do you think he’d even accept a job from a known conservative? Let’s consult the old Magic 8 Ball, shall we?

Just as I expected. "Not In This Lifetime, Bub!"

Coulter’s book does switch back and forth from intelligent analysis to smarmy, spiteful commentary, but the central point is still valid. This has the American left in a tizzy, leading to the need to discredit Coulter at any cost. But if you’ve paid attention over the past 10-plus years, you’re sure to notice a pattern.

The American left called Rush Limbaugh a liar.

They called David Brock a liar.

They called Gary Aldrich a liar.

They called Larry Elder a liar.

And they’re calling Ann Coulter a liar.

But each and every one of these people has been proven right. So, just who are the liars here?