The Secret to Ann Coulter's Success

Very little in the way of news must have happened last week because, as you probably know, political rabble-rouser Ann Coulter graces the venerable cover of Time Magazine. Why? Apparently so she can get a wider audience for quotes like these:

They're terrible people, liberals. They believe -- this can really summarize it all -- these are people who believe you can deliver a baby entirely except for the head, puncture the skull, suck the brains out and pronounce that a constitutional right has just been exercised. That really says it all.

Killing babies. That’s the liberal philosophy. And it’s those kinds of quotes (oh, there have been many others) that have turned her into a star. The appeal to news channels and newspapers is obvious (shock sells) but what’s the appeal to her fans?

The same as the appeal of Michael Moore or Rush Limbaugh or Al Franken, I would think. They serve as the parties’ designated loudmouths—saying all those crude and cruel little things partisans think but are usually in too polite of company to say. Of course, both sides are overflowing with loudmouths these days (the Democrats even put one in charge of the DNC), so why does Coulter get the cover of Time? Well, which other shouting-head can look decent in a miniskirt?

That’s why Ann Coulter is popular. Because she’s a woman in a man’s field. She’s exotic. Unique not because of her views but because of her gender. A pundit pioneer, really. The first woman talking head who can be as irrational and screeching as a man. If the feminists didn’t want to string her up, they might want to honor her.