(JNi.media) Ann Coulter, the left’s devil and the Right’s darling, likes to provoke, but was her comment about Jews during the GOP debate one tweet too far? Those who love her and loathe her expect provocative statements from the conservative commentator, but after criticizing the number of times the topic of Israel came up debates with the tweet, “How many [expletive] Jews are there” in the United States, Coulter immediately received a plethora of offended responses, even from those who were professed fans. Some of the Jews who have shifted to the right partly out of disappointment with the Obama Administration over policies affecting Israel were flummoxed. Some tweeters wondered if Coulter had been drinking or if her account had been hacked; others stated flatly the tweet was inappropriate; others denounced Coulter as an anti-Semite who had spontaneously cast aside her pro-Israel clothing. Others noted Coulter’s controversial statements about Jews and other groups in the past and said there was no surprise there.
Ann Coulter is the author of ten New York Times bestsellers, with titles like “Demonic: How the Liberal is Endangering America,” and other titles that start out with words like Slander, Treason and Guilty. She has appeared on most media outlets, but says she has a very short list of journalists she will allow to interview her a second time (the list includes Jonathan Freedland of The Guardian, Time Magazine’s John Cloud, and Jamie Glasov of Frontpage Magazine). Coulter was born in Connecticut, the daughter of Vince Coulter, an FBI agent, and Nell Husbands Coulter. She graduated from Cornell, received a JD from the University of Michigan and was editor of its law review. She had a private practice in New York City and worked for the Senate Judiciary Committee where she handled crime and immigration issues for Michigan Senator Spencer Abraham. Coulter became a litigator of the Center for Individual Rights in Washington, DC. She caught the public eye as a critic of President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial and when she wrote briefs for Paula Jones, who accused the president of sexual harassment.
On Wednesday, September 16, at 8:05 PM, the conservative commentator tweeted, “How many [expletive] Jews do people think there are in the United States?” The tweet ran during the closing remarks of the three hour, Republican debate, when four of the eleven candidates—former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Marco Rubio and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie—had noted their support for Israel in their closing remarks. Previously she tweeted, “What will AMERICA look like after you are president?” and commented that Huckabee sounded like he was running for Prime Minister of Israel.
The first response to Coulter’s unkind tweet was from Louise Mensch: “One more thing to thank the Jewish People for—your career is over.” Anti-Israel tweeters expressed support for Coulter’s view that the GOP was pandering to Jews, although it was unlikely they would agree with her on much else. Azzmador tweeted: “No, she’s quite correct to question Jewish Power and hypocrisy,” and cited a meme based on an earlier Coulter quote: “If Israel had our open-border policies, it would be overrun with Palestinian, Jordanian and Eritrean criminals. Jews forthrightly ask, ‘Is it good for the Jews?’ Why can’t Americans ask, ‘Is it good for Americans?'”
Ali Abunimah commented, “Support for Israel, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism often go together” (how he manages to find a connection between anti-Semitism and support for Israel is something worth pondering… or maybe not). Tweeter Kilgore Reinhardt called Coulter: “The smartest, most courageous woman in America.” As was to be expected, the Twitter feed quickly descended into expressions of anger against Coulter and outrage against the Jews by pro-Palestinian activists. A mini-debate broke out over the notion that the Jews killed Jesus, with Christian defenders of Jews saying their Savior laid down his own life, so no one was to blame. A few Jews commented that Coulter, while stating her views in a trashy manner, had a point, that Jews and Israel were mentioned too often in the debate, presumably feeling that excessive outward expressions of support for Israel is ultimately bad for Israel and for the Jews. Some tweeters praised Coulter as another plain speaker like Donald Trump, who seems to gain more points in polls with every remark that is deemed offensive, while others predicted this would be the death knell for Coulter’s support, just as Sarah Palin was shot out of the media sky after her rambling speech in Iowa earlier in the year, when her teleprompter crashed.