Media Matters Scandal of the Week

Thu, Oct 11, 2007 at 12:27:25 pm PDT

Well, judging from my email, a lot of people want to discuss the latest manufactured Media Matters controversy, Ann Coulter’s statement that “Jews Need to Be Perfected by Becoming Christians.”

I recommend reading the transcript at the above link to get a sense of the dynamic between Coulter and CNBC host Donny Deutsch that led up to these remarks. And then check out Omri Ceren’s take on it at Mere Rhetoric: Manufactured Scandal Of The Week: Media Matters Accuses Coulter Of Wanting To Wipe Out American Jews, Action Alerts To Pull Her Off The Air Immediately Follow.

From my reading, Coulter was simply stating standard Christian doctrine—with a little extra edginess to get Deustch wound up. Looks like it worked, and now she’ll sell some more books as a result.

UPDATE at 10/11/07 1:39:41 pm:

Just received the following email, as usual from a phony address:

Nice to see you finally come out of the closet. You find nothing offensive about Coulter saying that Judaism should be discarded? Is that really “standard Christian doctrine”? Holy Heinrich Himmler, Batman!

That’s right — I’m just like Himmler, because I wrote that this is Coulter’s schtick to sell books.

UPDATE at 10/11/07 4:09:59 pm:

I saw this one coming yesterday, when I received the following email with a press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 10, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) called on mainstream media outlets to stop inviting Ann Coulter as a guest commentator/pundit and strongly condemned recent comments that Jews should be “perfected” by accepting the New Testament and that America would be better off if Judaism were “thrown away” and all Americans were Christian.

“While Ann Coulter has freedom of speech, news outlets should exercise their freedom to use better judgment,” said NJDC Executive Director Ira N. Forman. “Just as media outlets don’t invite those who believe that Martians walk the earth to frequently comment on science stories, it’s time they stop inviting Ann Coulter to comment on politics.”

Media Matters for America has a complete transcript of Coulter’s comments — and video — available here: [Link: mediamatters.org...]

“How does someone who says that Judaism should be thrown out, that Jews should be ‘perfected’ and that America would be better off were everyone Christian continue to receive a megaphone and platform from the news networks?” continued Forman. “When will the media say ‘enough is enough?’”

Notice that they directly quote Coulter as saying:

...America would be better off if Judaism were “thrown away”...

But if you read the transcript, you’ll discover that Coulter never said this.

Donny Deutsch did, however.

Note that I am not “defending” Ann Coulter’s statement; I think it was another deliberately offensive comment from someone with a long history of making deliberately offensive comments, to promote her books.

But don’t let the lies from Media Matters and their shills jerk you around.