The Daily OrangeCoulter provokes mixed reaction
Speaker, protestors throw comments back and forth
By Scott Lieber
Posted: 3/8/06, 11:46 PM EST Section: News
The first disturbance came before Ann Coulter could even mutter a word.
"Racist!" one audience member screamed. "You're ugly!"
For Coulter, a right-wing bestselling author and political pundit, it was a preview for what was to come. The College Republicans pegged Coulter's visit as a speech. But before she spoke Wednesday at Goldstein Auditorium, it turned into a circus.
The audience was split about evenly between supporters and protesters. When Coulter first came onstage, half the audience sat silently while the other half gave a standing ovation.
"I dozed off and I was almost late here tonight," Coulter began. "I was listening to that liberal talk radio."
Of course Coulter blasted Democrats and liberals. But more than anything, Coulter's visit was a study in partisan politics, not in any particular message. Quickly, her visit delved into a contest of might. Who could scream louder: the protesters or the supporters? What comment would get the most reaction: Coulter's or a jeering audience member's?
The divide grew wider as the night wore on, which is exactly how Coulter's career continues to thrive.
By the end - during the question and answer session - any hope for viable political discourse had completely evaporated. A number of protesters sarcastically asked Coulter what they could do, as Republicans, to help spread hate and racism on campus, questions which Coulter laughed at and brushed off.
Krychelle Davis, a sophomore policy studies and sociology major, asked Coulter what had personally happened in her life to make her so hateful of minorities and the gay community, to which Coulter responded: "What did it take in your life to become such a sensitive panty-waste?"
Other questions got similar responses from Coulter. Jamar Hooks, a graduate student in the College of Human Services and Health Professions, asked Coulter if she always kept her hood up while delivering speeches, then called her a bitch, flipped her off and walked away.
"Racist!" one audience member screamed. "You're ugly!"
For Coulter, a right-wing bestselling author and political pundit, it was a preview for what was to come. The College Republicans pegged Coulter's visit as a speech. But before she spoke Wednesday at Goldstein Auditorium, it turned into a circus.
The audience was split about evenly between supporters and protesters. When Coulter first came onstage, half the audience sat silently while the other half gave a standing ovation.
"I dozed off and I was almost late here tonight," Coulter began. "I was listening to that liberal talk radio."
Of course Coulter blasted Democrats and liberals. But more than anything, Coulter's visit was a study in partisan politics, not in any particular message. Quickly, her visit delved into a contest of might. Who could scream louder: the protesters or the supporters? What comment would get the most reaction: Coulter's or a jeering audience member's?
The divide grew wider as the night wore on, which is exactly how Coulter's career continues to thrive.
By the end - during the question and answer session - any hope for viable political discourse had completely evaporated. A number of protesters sarcastically asked Coulter what they could do, as Republicans, to help spread hate and racism on campus, questions which Coulter laughed at and brushed off.
Krychelle Davis, a sophomore policy studies and sociology major, asked Coulter what had personally happened in her life to make her so hateful of minorities and the gay community, to which Coulter responded: "What did it take in your life to become such a sensitive panty-waste?"
Other questions got similar responses from Coulter. Jamar Hooks, a graduate student in the College of Human Services and Health Professions, asked Coulter if she always kept her hood up while delivering speeches, then called her a bitch, flipped her off and walked away.
