We Need A Sharpton

He's loud. Bombastic. Obnoxious. Reviled. But he gets the job done. The size of his mouth and the volume of his voice instills fear into those with whim he disagrees, and his threats make people do his bidding to the point where we're all afraid to mutter "the 'n' word". Of course, he's a raging hypocrite and only stands up for things that will get him the most press. Beyond that, he's silent.

Being a member of the media (sort of), I'm reluctant to point the blame in my direction. But the hypocrisy coming from the media tends to be unreal. Case in point: the latest Ann Coulter nonsense. She's one of these conservative loudmouths who will spew anything she wants from her confused mind and dismisses those who disagree with her as moronic liberals. Heaven forbid someone dares call her on her stupidity. But the latest thing goes beyond reason.

Coulter appeared on The Big Idea with Donnie Deutsch the other day and revealed a side of her which shouldn't surprise me, but does anyway. You can read a partial transcript of her interview here or watch the interview here. Or hell, just read it here:

DEUTSCH: Let me ask you a question. We're going to get off strengths and weakness for a second. If you had your way, and all of your - forget that any of them -

COULTER: I like this.

DEUTSCH: - are calculated marketing teases, and your dreams, which are genuine, came true having to do with immigration, having to do with women's - with abortion - what would this country look like?

COULTER: UMMMMM (pause) ... It would look like New York City during the Republican National Convention. In fact, that's what I think heaven is going to look like.

DEUTSCH: And what did that look like?

COULTER: Happy, joyful Republicans in the greatest city in the world…

Break

COULTER: Well, OK, take the Republican National Convention. People were happy. They're Christian. They're tolerant. They defend America, they -

DEUTSCH: Christian - so we should be Christian? It would be better if we were all Christian?

COULTER: Yes.

DEUTSCH: We should all be Christian?

COULTER: Yes. Would you like to come to church with me, Donny?

DEUTSCH: So I should not be a Jew, I should be a Christian, and this would be a better place?

COULTER: Well, you could be a practicing Jew, but you're not.
DEUTSCH: I actually am…

Break

DEUTSCH: That isn't what I said, but you said I should not - we should just throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians, then, or -

COULTER: Yeah.

DEUTSCH: Really?

COULTER: Well, it's a lot easier. It's kind of a fast track.

DEUTSCH: Really?

COULTER: Yeah. You have to obey.

DEUTSCH: You can't possibly believe that.

COULTER: Yes….

Break

COULTER: No, we think - we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say.
DEUTSCH: Wow, you didn't really say that, did you?

COULTER: Yes. That is what Christianity is. We believe the Old Testament, but ours is more like Federal Express. You have to obey laws. We know we're all sinners -

DEUTSCH: In my old days, I would have argued - when you say something absurd like that, there's no -

COULTER: What's absurd?

DEUTSCH: Jews are going to be perfected. I'm going to go off and try to perfect myself -

COULTER: Well, that's what the New Testament says.

After a commercial break, the conversation continued.

DEUTSCH: Welcome back to "The Big Idea." During the break, Ann said she wanted to explain her last comment. So I'm going to give her a chance. So you don't think that was offensive?

COULTER: No. I'm sorry. It is not intended to be. I don't think you should take it that way, but that is what Christians consider themselves: perfected Jews. We believe the Old Testament. As you know from the Old Testament, God was constantly getting fed up with humans for not being able to, you know, live up to all the laws. What Christians believe - this is just a statement of what the New Testament is - is that that's why Christ came and died for our sins. Christians believe the Old Testament. You don't believe our testament.

DEUTSCH: You said - your exact words were, "Jews need to be perfected." Those are the words out of your mouth.

COULTER: No, I'm saying that's what a Christian is.

DEUTSCH: But that's what you said - don't you see how hateful, how anti-Semitic -

COULTER: No!

DEUTSCH: How do you not see? You're an educated woman. How do you not see that?

COULTER: That isn't hateful at all.

DEUTSCH: But that's even a scarier thought. OK -

COULTER: No, no, no, no, no. I don't want you being offended by this. This is what Christians consider themselves, because our testament is the continuation of your testament. You know that. So we think Jews go to heaven. I mean (Jerry) Falwell himself said that, but you have to follow laws. Ours is "Christ died for our sins." We consider ourselves perfected Christians. For me to say that for you to become a Christian is to become a perfected Christian is not offensive at all.

Stating that Jews need to be perfected and hiding behind the New Testament to defend her view is stunning. Kudos to Deutsch for not letting her off the hook and reacting with the kind of incredulity her statements deserve.

Okay, so she's saying that Jews should be Christian. Even Southern Baptists, who used to publicly state this, have backed away from this stance. But what angers me most isn't her opinion. I vehemently disagree with everything she says anyway. No, what gets to me is the lack of coverage this has received. I only heard about this from a friend and the transcripts came from the widely-read "Editor and Publisher" website. A Google search of "ann coulter perfecting jews" shows many bloggers chiming in about this, but no major network report. One blogger was from ABC. It's not until page 2 that I saw the story from CBS News.

Why is this? Had Don Imus said this, he would have been shot. It would have been major news, the way the "nappy-headed hos" thing was. No, this story seems to have been ignored. And I don't get it. Imus had his career trashed for an offhand comment he made. He apologized but it still wasn't enough for Sharpton and Imus had to be fired. Where's the outrage about Coulter's remarks? Where's the our advocate calling for her immediate dismissal or an all-out boycott of her books? It won't happen because many people realize that few take Ann Coulter as seriously as she thinks they do. She said something stupid and we all realize it us such and are willing to comment and then move on. Sharpton isn't happy until lives are ruined. Has he ever once apologized for the 1987 Tawana Brawley case? No. He just yells and yells and people do his bidding. You have to admit, he's played the game well. People are afraid to publicly disagree with him. Jews need a Sharpton. I guess we had one with Meir Kahane but he was violent. Blacks have Sharpton. The poor and downtrodden from Curtis Sliwa. Who do the Jews have? Jerry Seinfeld?