Conservative Media Watchdog Group: Ann Coulter Is A Wasteland

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Accuracy in Media has long scored the media's liberal biases, and has built a reputation as a conservative critic of journalists who elevate left-leaning ideology over straight reporting in their stories. Now AIM is turning on Ann Coulter, and says the once-golden gal who aced the limelight has turned sophomoric. It seems the right is closing in on her like the jars that capture and extinguish fireflies.

[UPDATE: Bizzyblog's Tom Blumer offers a textured portrait of the Coulter controversy. He also delves into the use of a certain F****T-word in rock music. That note reminded me of Madonna and blonde hair. True Blue, Madonna's first album as a blonde, reportedly sold some 20 million copies worldwide. But her previous albums, in which she was a brunette, sold about five mllion each. I guess we need a word for the Coulter flap. How about Blondealia, which comes from Joana Pitman's 2003 book, On Blondes, What Exactly Is It About Blonde Hair?]

[UPDATE 2: Pho's Norka Pages from Akron has a long take on Blondealia and Coulter's blazing remark, a story rich in drama and, perhaps, disaster as he pores through the cascade of commentary. And JMZ of Writes Like She Talks brings the important news that the Human Rights Campaign wants to wax Coulter by making her advertisers wane. I guess they want to make those companies feel like they are spending money for nothing. Apologies to Dire Straits.]

Cliff Kincaid, an AIM columnist, says Coulter isn't worth reading anymore. In his view, she has flickered into irrelevance after a high-wattage start. "But somehow, somewhere, something went wrong. Coulter decided that she had to stop being a serious analyst and commenter," Kincaid said. His Coulter column also notes that there is no equivalence between Coulter's performance at CPAC, where she used the word "faggot," and comedian Bill Maher, who made some ill-advised comments about whether Vice President Dick Cheney deserves a longer lifespan. Kincaid's take: Nobody cares about Maher because nobody watches his show.

"The practice of defending Coulter by pointing the finger at liberals who say or do similar things begs the question of what Fox News has become, and whether it, too, is serving the interests of conservatives it claims to represent." That is Kincaid's point -- and it is made with considerable energy, charm and insight about the limitations of Coulter as an advocate for conservative views. In a previous COLUMN , AIM described Coulter as the "Britney Spears of the Right," a classic putdown.

Bottomline: Thoughtful conservatives are saying Coulter does not know what is proper and what is not. She is baffling, not captivating. And Coulter could be on the verge of being tossed into the great cultural Cuisinart. Chopped liver.