Liberal Seek Ban on Metaphors In Wake of Arizona Shooting

by Ann Coulter

See also (videos) :

• Huckabee : Obama's Finest Moment (2011-01-17)
• Ronald Reagan's son talk about his father 1981 assasination attemp (2011-01-10)
• A psychologist analyses Arizona Shooting suspect (2011-01-12)
• Outrage over the Media spin on Arizona shooting (2011-01-11)
• John Stewart (Daily Show) comments on Arizona Shooting  (2011-01-13)
• Tucson shooting and political campaign rethoric (2011-01-11)

Nous n'avons pas besoin qu'on nous souligne la mauvaise réputation d'Ann Coulter auprès de certains intellectuels et média influents au Canada. 

Sa dernière visite ici fut ponctuée d'appels outragés ...pour la faire taire à tout prix.  On ne semblait pas s'embarrasser du fait qu'on lui niait carrément le droit d'expression, sur la base des "propos extrémistes continuels et indéfendables" dont on l’accusait.   

Quand un doyen universitaire (Ottawa) fait appel à une telle rhétorique, ... sans fournir de faits suffisants pour la démontrer, prétextant "l'évidence des propos haineux" de Mad. Coulter, et l'impossibilité de la tolérer dans une société civilisée, condamnation sans appel, il faut prendre un peu de recul.  Ce sont en effet des propos étonnants pour ne pas dire inquiétants dans la bouche d'un académicien, duquel on attend toute la modération et la rationalité nécessaire.  

Ayant suivi Ann Coulter depuis plusieurs années, bien avant sa visite au Canada, et pour l’avoir entendue débattre sur tous les grands média américains, radio, télé, web, nous savions l'irritation violente de la gauche dite "progressiste" à son égard.  Bien qu'elle ait le goût des déclarations chocs, "tout juste sur la ligne de la provocation", il nous semble indubitable que Coulter démontre tout un intellect, de la rigueur à revendre et qu'elle appuie régulièrement ses raisonnements sur des faits vérifiables. 

Personne n'est parfait, mais on ne peut douter que si elle défendait les points de vue en vogue chez l'intelligentsia des 2 cotés de la frontière, elle serait une vedette.  Son talent et sa compétence, ne sont donc pas en cause. 

Le harcèlement qu’elle subit devient plutôt la démonstration d'un manque d'intégrité flagrant d'une classe autoritaire qui nous abreuve de sophismes pour pousser nos sociétés toujours plus loin des attentes du peuple.  

On comprendra donc pourquoi, dans cette question explosive de la tuerie de Tucson (Loughner), nous lui donnerons une voix qui pourrait peut-être proposer une réplique recevable à la thèse  trop unanime des grands média canadiens et américains, thèse aussi infondée que dangereuse : la droite et le conservatisme doivent être bâillonnés a tout prix. 
 
B. F. pour LEQ

After the monstrous shooting in Arizona last week, surely we can all agree that we've got to pass Obama's agenda immediately and stop using metaphors. 

At least I think that's what the mainstream media are trying to tell me. 

Liberals instantly leapt on the sickening massacre at a Tucson political event over the weekend to accuse tea partiers, Sarah Palin and all conservatives who talk out loud of being complicit in murder by inspiring the shooter, Jared Loughner. 

Of course, to make their case, they first must demonstrate: 

(a) Right-wingers have called for violence against anyone, especially conservative, pro-Second Amendment Democratic congresswomen; 

(b) Loughner was listening to them; and 

(c) Loughner was influenced by them. 

They've proved none of this. In fact, it's nearly the opposite. 

Needless to say, no conservative has called for violence against anyone. Nor has any conservative engaged in any "rhetoric" that was likely to lead to violence. Every putative example of "violent rhetoric" these squeamish liberals produce keeps being matched by an identical example from the Democrats. 

Sarah Palin, for example, had a chart of congressional districts being targeted by Republicans. So did the Democratic Leadership Committee. Indeed, Democratic consultant Bob Beckel went on Fox News and said he invented the bull's-eye maps. 

Similarly, every time liberals produce an example of military lingo from a Republican -- "we're going to target this district" -- Republicans produce five more from the Democrats. 

President "whose asses to kick" Obama predicted "hand-to-hand combat" with his political opponents and has made such remarks as "if they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun" -- making Obama the first American president to advocate gun fights since Andrew Jackson. 

These are figures of speech known as "metaphors." (Do liberals know where we got the word "campaign"?) 

It's not that both sides did something wrong; neither side did anything wrong. The drama queens need to settle down. 

The winner of the most cretinous statement of 2011 -- and the list is now closed, so please hold your submissions -- is MSNBC's Chris Matthews, who on Monday night recalled Palin's statement, "We're not retreating, we're reloading," and said, I quote, "THAT'S not a metaphor." 

Really, Chris? If that's not a metaphor, who did she shoot? 

By blaming a mass killing on figures of speech, liberals sound as crazy as Loughner with his complaints about people's grammar. Maybe in lieu of dropping all metaphors, liberals should demand we ban metonyms so that tragedies like this will never happen again. 

As for Loughner being influenced by tea partiers, Fox News and talk radio -- oops, another dead-end. According to all available evidence, Loughner is a liberal. 

Every friend of Loughner who has characterized his politics has described him as liberal. Not one called him a conservative. 

One friend says Loughner never listened to talk radio or watched the TV news. Throw in "never read books" and you have the dictionary definition of a liberal. Being completely uninformed is precisely how most liberals stay liberal. 

According to voluminous Twitter postings on Saturday by one of Loughner's friends since high school, Caitie Parker, he was "left wing," "a political radical" "quite liberal" and "a pot head." 

If any public figure influenced this guy, my money's on Bill Maher.

But liberals have been so determined to exploit this tragedy to geld conservatives, they have told calculated lies about Loughner's politics. 

In the most bald-faced lie I have ever read in The New York Times -- which is saying something -- that paper implied Loughner is a pro-life zealot. This is the precise opposite of the truth. 

Only because numerous other news outlets, including ABC News and The Associated Press, reported the exact same shocking incident in much greater detail -- and with direct quotes -- do we know that the Times' rendition was complete bunk. 

ABC News reported: "One Pima Community College student, who had a poetry class with Loughner later in his college career, said he would often act 'wildly inappropriate.' 

"'One day (Loughner) started making comments about terrorism and laughing about killing the baby,' classmate Don Coorough told ABC News, referring to a discussion about abortions. 'The rest of us were looking at him in shock ... I thought this young man was troubled.' 

"Another classmate, Lydian Ali, recalled the incident as well. 

"'A girl had written a poem about an abortion. It was very emotional and she was teary eyed and he said something about strapping a bomb to the fetus and making a baby bomber,' Ali said." 

Here's the Times' version: "After another student read a poem about getting an abortion, Mr. Loughner compared the young woman to a 'terrorist for killing the baby.'"

So that's how the Times transformed Loughner from a sicko laughing about a dead fetus to a deadly earnest pro-life fanatic. (Never believe a news story written by Eric Lipton, Charlie Savage or Scott Shane of The New York Times -- or for simplicity, anything in the Times.) 

I wouldn't have mentioned Loughner's far-left world view immediately after a tragedy like this, but now that liberals have opened the door by blaming Loughner's politics, they better brace themselves. 

And when I say "brace themselves," I don't mean they need to actually strap themselves into a brace. That's a metaphor, Chris.