Alan Colmes And Jane Fleming Deliver One, Two Punch To Knock Out Ann Coulter
Reported by Ellen - February 16, 2007 -
Voting fraud suspect Ann Coulter was back on Hannity & Colmes last night (2/15/07), this time to attack Democrats over their maneuvers against Bush’s Iraq policy. She was opposed by my favorite FOX News Democrat, Jane Fleming. Unlike most Democrats, Fleming doesn’t sit back and play defense while Sean Hannity and his ilk sling mud. She comes prepared with facts and arguments and she jumps in at every opportunity to put them forward. Last night, she and Alan Colmes worked in tandem to expose and confront Coulter’s vile foolishness. Updated with video.
The last time we saw Coulter, a little more than a week ago, she was making goo-goo eyes at Colmes and telling a clitorectomy joke after that failed to seduce him. Since then, she must have done something to her face. The skin looked so unnaturally stretched over her cheekbones that they looked like pink furniture knobs jutting out from her face. Links to some screen grabs are in the comments.
Predictably, Sean Hannity and Coulter focused their efforts more on attacking Democrats, particularly Congressman John Murtha, than on defending President Bush’s troop surge. Murtha has promised to introduce legislation setting stringent rules on combat deployments that would, in effect, force Bush to bring our troops home.
Fleming quickly pointed out during her first go-round with Hannity that Murtha is following in the footsteps of the Republicans who, in 1998, threatened to cut off funding for the war in Bosnia. “Murtha’s asking for some basic stuff,” Fleming said. “He wants our troops to be fully ready when they go into Iraq. The army’s only a quarter ready right now... They don’t have the equipment that they need. They’re being trained in the States on equipment that is not being used in Iraq.”
Sean Hannity used his bullyboy voice as he told Fleming, “You’re acting like you’re all concerned about the troops but this is an absolute lie.” I wonder if Hannity read my post the other day, in which I pointed out how his “concern” for the troops is only expressed as a club with which to hit Democrats over the head. He did the same thing last night while accusing Fleming of the very tactic he was using. Rather than arguing against her contention that the troops were inadequately prepared and outfitted, he immediately changed the subject to Murtha and the Democrats. Hannity continued by saying, “This is a stealth plan to defund the war, to get what they want… to accomplish here but not have the moral and political courage to vote to defund the war. John Murtha…” etc., etc.
The middle-aged Coulter cackled childishly before repeating her same old, tired attacks on Democrats. “We know that Democrats want us to lose the war.” She made the same “joke” about Murtha taking bribes two or three times, then giggled at her own wit. She was the only one laughing. Coulter looked especially pleased when Colmes challenged her slurs. Apparently, she's desperate for any attention from him.
In Round 2, Colmes and Fleming really took off. On the other hand, Coulter flailed on the ropes as she haplessly repeated ad nauseum her “joke” about Murtha’s involvement in Abscam (in which he told an undercover briber that he might deal with him at a later time). Funny, she must have forgotten how well she thinks the war is going, as she claimed less than a month ago.
Patriotic Hannity never did want to talk about the troops. He soon moved on to smearing Democrats as terror-enablers. He said the anti-escalation resolution “is a non-binding, meaningless resolution that only our enemies will benefit from.”
Fleming rejoined, “Democratic leaders are doing exactly what Americans want us to do.”
“Surrender,” Hannity said.
I liked Fleming the first time I saw her on FOX News. She was spunky and well-spoken from the start. I was hoping she'd get the chops to confront Hannity and derail his bullyboy tirades. Last night, she started to do just that. When Hannity accused her of surrendering, she said, “Sean, you really need to stop saying that… We’re saying we may de-fund the escalation, that’s absolutely true. We’re also saying that we want some assurances from our president that our troops are actually trained and have the equipment that they need.”
Oops, there she goes talking about troops again. “Patriotic” Hannity waved his paper in the air and interrupted her. “Did John Murtha plan effectively would result in America’s inability to wage this war (sic)… You do not understand the battle that we’re engaged in, a war with Islamic fascists that have hit us on numerous occasions. You guys don’t seem to understand what we’re up against.” Hannity never served in the military when he had the chance but now he was fashioning himself as a military expert.
Fleming answered coolly, “And Sean, you don’t seem to understand the fact that the escalating the (sic) troop levels in Baghdad is actually increasing violence. It’s not doing anything to stop the war in Iraq.”
Colmes broke in for his turn. “That is why, by the way, Jane, Joint Chiefs warned that the short-term surge could lead to more attacks on US troops. That’s what the Joint Chiefs said in December. John Abizaid, Chief of Central Command at the time, told the Senate in November the troops levels need to stay where they are. He’s no longer there. George Casey, the top commander in Iraq raised questions about sending more troops. He’s no longer there. But, Ann Coulter, what Jack Murtha actually said, now let me quote him. He says he wants to forbid new troops quote, unless they have adequate training, unless they have adequate equipment. His point is, ‘Yeah, we’ll give you the troops, but they gotta have x and y and z for it to happen.' Why has this administration sent troops into battle without proper training and equipment?”
Obviously, Coulter didn’t have an answer so she tried to steer the talk back to repeat her “witty” slur against Murtha another time. “Well, oddly enough, I think most Americans are more interested in what the generals on the field have to say…”
Colmes interrupted, “I just told you what some of them have to say.”
Coulter continued, “… than Jack Murtha – uh, who was busy negotiating bribes with Omar.” She laughed again at her own cleverness.
Fleming jumped in. “You need to stop that. Is that all you can focus on? A trumped up scandal?”
Awww, poor Coulter, the queen of mean, can’t take a widdle confrontation. Whenever she’s in a jam on Hannity & Colmes, i.e. whenever she gets confronted by Colmes, she complains about being interrupted. “Boy, I really can’t get a sentence out without you people jumping in.” Then Coulter fell back on her hackneyed schtick. “I think people who actually care about America and would like America to win, as opposed to the Democrats who would like America to lose. Not that that’s not patriotic, Jane. That’s very patriotic.” Coulter giggled at her nonsensical words.
Colmes didn’t let her off the hook. “You didn’t respond to what I asked you.”
Coulter sounded more than a little pathetic as she said, “I’m more interested in what the Commander-in-Chief has to say than Jack Murtha or Jane Fleming.”
Maybe she was jealous that Colmes was siding more with Fleming than with her.
Colmes said, “I just quoted Abizaid and Casey, two generals who said there should be no troop surge. The Joint Chiefs who said no troop surge.”
Coulter squeaked, “They said that six months ago, Alan!”
Colmes corrected her. “They said that in December. And you didn’t answer me why they would send troops to battle without the proper equipment.”
Coulter looked panicked. So she repeated her Murtha “joke” ANOTHER time. “According to Jack Murtha, with an Arab Sheikh, whispering in his ear...”
Colmes said, “You keep going back to what didn’t happen 15 years ago…”
“Because she has nothing else to say,” Fleming interjected.
Colmes continued, “There was no lawbreaking by Murtha. He didn’t take a bribe. He did not agree to take a bribe. And you keep going back to that and not responding to why this administration wants to send troops without proper equipment.”
Coulter giggled nervously, obviously flummoxed. “Because you’re setting this guy up as some sort of um, you know, Clausewitz, we ought to be listening to on this.”
Well, Murtha has real combat experience, unlike Coulter, unlike Hannity and unlike President Bush. But Coulter had to harp on Abscam yet again. “That’s why I think it’s relevant that he was negotiating a bribe with an Arab Sheikh as opposed to the Commander-in-Chief and the current Commander-in-Chief.”
Colmes reiterated that Murtha did not take a bribe. So Hannity jumped in with his own attack on Murtha which, coincidentally, also kept the discussion away from Colmes’ question.
Fleming interrupted, “Should we talk about how many Republican Congressmen are in jail or are indicted?”
Coulter, obviously displeased with Fleming’s ability to out-argue her, said, “But OK, Jane, are we citing them as the ones you want to listen to in this war? You’re setting this guy up as Napoleon.” She giggled even harder.
Colmes said, “I’d still like to know why they’re lacking the proper equipment.”
Fleming jumped in to get the last word. “Ann, you asked for a Democrat to come up with a plan. We’ve done that. And now that we have, you’re saying that he’s this scandalous person.”
Jane Fleming, Executive Director of The Young Democrats of America, is hereby appointed a News Hounds top dog.
Video of Part 2 of the discussion below
