And either regrets it OR wishes she had some of that protective armor our troops have been requesting.
For those of you who missed it, Ms. Coulter appeared on CNN and debated none other than the "Lion of the Left," KGO's Bernie Ward. I doubt she's listened to his show. If Ann was a guy, I'd say Bernie castrated her. But then again, who knows what's underneath those skirts she wears (I'm keeeeeeeding!).
AND a sample of what the cable audiences are exposed to when intelligent articulate "liberal" voices are given the opportunity to discount right wing nonsense:
BLITZER: Bill Krystal of "The Weekly Standard" also wrote an op- ed piece in "The Washington Post" suggesting it's time for Rumsfeld to go. What's is your take on this, Bernie?
WARD: Well, I've said this before and I'll say it again. This is an administration that has never cared about the soldier fighting who is fighting this war. We have a president who refuses to attend the funerals of the people that he sends over to die and now it turns out that if you make the ultimate sacrifice and you lose a child in this war, you get a form letter. That Rumsfeld is so busy that he personally cannot sit inside 1,300 letters to the parents and the families of people lost in Iraq.
He sent them over there without enough equipment, they didn't have the body armor, he was asked seven months ago about the humvees, he did nothing about that. Now he turns around -- and when they die because he didn't send enough troops, he doesn't have heart to sign the letter to the parents saying I'm sorry your child died.
BLITZER: Ann, well, that's a fair point. What do you think?
COULTER: I think that that is the level of complaining about Rumsfeld that he probably is doing a pretty good job. I mean, as secretary...
BLITZER: But you agree he should be personally signing those letters of condolences to those families? Even he now acknowledges that was a mistake.
COULTER: For one thing, I think if he were sitting around signing the letters personally, people would be carping that instead of paying attention to the war and how much body armor is needed, he's signing letters. I mean, I haven't looked ...
BLITZER: But how much time does it take to sign 15 or 20 letters a week or 30 letters a week, whatever it is. It doesn't take a whole lot of time for someone to bring in the letters and he signs them and then that's it.
WARD: He don't care, Wolf
COULTER: Did Secretary Marshall sign all of the letters during World War II? I mean, has anyone looked into that? I suspect not. I suspect this is some all new, carping complaint and that was a lot of letters to be signed.
WARD: Wait a minute, wait a minute. Holy cow! We're now comparing the 1,300 to the hundreds of thousands that died in World War II? Here is Rumsfeld, who sent them there...
COULTER: No, we're comparing secretaries of defense and...
WARD: And by the way, Ann...
COULTER: ... what the duty of the secretary of defense is.
WARD: The duty of the secretary of defense is to respect the people that he sent to die. And he sent them over there and they died and let's remember the level of criticism, Ann. The level of criticism isn't that he just didn't sign the letters.
The level of criticism is -- the former colonel that Wolf just had, that his way of fighting this war was a disaster and certainly the piece, and that he sent them over there without the equipment and when it came to his attention, he didn't do anything about that. Isn't he the one who said hey, you go to war with the army you have and not the army you wish you had?
BLITZER: Ann, go ahead.
COULTER: But the criticism is that he did not sign the letters personally. I just heard you say that. I have seen the reports on this. That is what the criticism is. And I think the fact that you concede immediately -- oh, that's not the criticism -- shows how silly it is. I mean, it reminds me of when Ronald Reagan was running...
WARD: Ann, if you had lost somebody...
(CROSSTALK)
COULTER: ... and the complaint was that he dyed his hair. If that's the best you have on this guy, I'd say he's doing a pretty good job.
WARD: Well, that's too bad because the families who lost all those children over there -- and you don't care about them, either -- the families who lost those children over there deserve more than a form letter and this is only the latest, Ann.
COULTER: No, you're right, conservative Republicans hate the military. Good point, Bernie. WARD: Yes, they do, in fact, Ann, they're coming home to no jobs, they're coming home to no doctors, they're coming home to a V.A. system that had their budget cut, they're coming home to a system that can't handle them. Yes, you're right, Ann. You guys have shown tremendous care about the soldiers you sent over to die. You're right. The evidence is overwhelming.
COULTER: Democrats love them so much you don't want them to get hurt fighting a war.
WARD: Yes, we'd like to see that if you send them over, Ann, you don't get killed needlessly...
COULTER: We had an election on that.
WARD: You don't get them killed needlessly. You see them as cannon fodder. You see them as the next book.
COULTER: Is this going to be me sitting here while harangue me?
BLITZER: All right, let's...
WARD: Ann, you can handle being harangued.
Actually, Bernie's been making the rounds on the cable networks. I heard that Fox wants him to appear more often. They've either realized strong dissenting opinion makes great TV OR representatives like Bernie discount their cause.