**Op Ed** Date: January 24, 2003 Contact: Daniel Borchers Founder and President Citizens for Principled Conservatism (240) 476-9690 CoulterWatch@yahoo.com www.CoulterWatch.com Ann Coulter: The Freshest Face of the Conservative Movement (a.k.a. Exemplar of Extremism) While “conservative firebrand” Ann Coulter is certainly the freshest face of the Conservative Movement, the question remains, is Coulter – and should she be – the new face of Conservatism? If Coulter is truly an “exemplar of the Conservative Movement,” why must we sanction her incessant extremism and even revere her “wisdom” as worthy of emulation? As “a Christian and a conservative,” Coulter demands hatred of the Left as our American patriotic duty, boasts of her own enmity towards fellow Americans, and vilifies all things liberal. As a “pro-lifer,” Coulter, in a debate on partial-birth abortion, expressed her daily desire to kill fellow New Yorkers. Post-9/11, Coulter remains on a rampage to “kill, kill, kill” and, again, “kill, kill, kill.” Coulter advocates execution for political intimidation, assassination to pave the way for racial profiling, and terrorism to destroy political enemies. As a “constitutional scholar,” prior to 9/11 Coulter suggested caning to shame inner city blacks. After 9/11, Coulter advocated mass deportation of legal residents based on race and religion, implementation of a system of Muslims spying on their neighbors, holding detainees incommunicado indefinitely without a lawyer, conducting military tribunals for American citizens in America, and torturing prisoners. As a “civil rights advocate,” Coulter defends Sen. Trent Lott’s nostalgia for segregation, wants to repeal women’s suffrage, and seeks the reinstitution of poll taxes and literacy tests as voting requirements. As a “best-selling author,” Coulter’s book Slander is filled with vilification and inaccuracies. This “investigative journalist” relies on LEXIS/NEXIS for primary research and expresses her opinions as facts. Everything Coulter touches turns to gold, from her hair to her heresies. Coulter can do no wrong in the eyes of her cadre of colleagues who countenance even her most extreme statements. Coulter’s career debunks the myth of liberal bias in the media. In just her first few years as a pundette, Coulter gave over 500 interviews. Despite (or because of) her outrageousness, Coulter’s interview schedule last summer was full, including many coveted television appearances and even guest host spots on Crossfire and numerous nationally-syndicated talk radio shows. Why is Coulter hailed a conservative hero when she violates every conservative percept she espouses? In reality, this “exemplar of the Conservative Movement” is mainstreaming extremism within the movement. Conservatives should eschew Coulter’s polemics and propaganda and insist upon principled leadership with moral clarity of vision. Anything less corrupts Conservatism. ###