Peter Daou
nails this straight on:
Anybody who watched Ann Coulter's June 14th appearance on the Tonight Show had to realize that it was a watershed moment in the war between the establishment media and the progressive netroots, a community fresh off the successful YearlyKos convention. It was also a signal to Democrats that liberal ideology can be denigrated with impunity. Had the words "Jew" or "Christian" or "Conservative" been substituted for "Liberal" we'd be waking up to a national scandal.
Coulter has labeled an enormous segment of the American citzenry "sub-human, as creatures deserving of public scorn and worse."
There's more ...
Never mind that Jay Leno and George Carlin sat like trembling lambs while Coulter spewed gutter-level invective at millions of Americans - we've already seen the same obsequiousness from Larry King, Matt Lauer (who ended his faux-debate with Coulter by saying "always fun to have you") and others. The larger issue here is that despite an uproar from the progressive netroots, NBC saw fit to give Coulter a platform to continue her liberal-scapegoating and to slander women who lost their husbands on 9/11. (For the record, many rightwing bloggers denounced Coulter and several Democrats attacked her, but their focus was the substance of Coulter's words, not a criticism of the media outlets who continue to provide her a national forum.)
I watched last night's Leno show and was astonished when the audience cheered loudly after each of Coulter's invectives. I was dismayed by Leno's delicate handling of her outragous comments. I expected George Carlin to jump up and deliver a death blow ... But nothing. Instead, he sat there holding his head, as if it were about to explode.
Daou acknowledges that many of us feel that the best strategy is to ignore someone like Coulter. That if we give too much attention to this hate speech, we are further enabling it. This time, it crosses the line. It needs to be dealt with.
"The defining issue of our time is not the Iraq war. It is not the "global war on terror." It is not our inability (or unwillingness) to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable health care. Nor is it immigration, outsourcing, or growing income inequity. It is not education, it is not global warming, and it is not Social Security.
The defining issue of our time is the media.
After last night's "performance," I think he's right.