By Rob Janicki
Leave it to Ann Coulter, of the sharp as a razor tongue school of political discourse, to get into trouble while Tweeting. Coulter is a very bright and accomplished political commentator and writer. She could be described as a very good looking Howard Stern shock jock type, except she has no regular radio or television platform from which to pontificate.
The one thing about Coulter is that she pulls no punches. She tells it precisely as she believes it to be, albeit sometimes with a little theatrical flourish to enhance the audience appeal. In other words, Coulter doesn't hesitate to play to her audience with the style she chooses, while maintaining the exact substance she wishes to dispense.
Daily Mail
Conservative political commentator Ann Coulter has defended calling President Obama a ‘retard,’ brusquely dismissing her critics after her tweet set off a firestorm among advocates of people with mental disabilities.
During her appearance on Alan Colmes’ Fox News Radio show on Thursday, Coulter shrugged off the outcry over her choice of words, saying she doesn't regret using the offensive term in reference to the president and blaming ‘liberal bullies’ for the backlash that followed.
The controversy started after the right-wing pundit and author fired off a tweet following Monday night’s debate between President Obama and his Republican opponent which read: ‘I highly approve of [Mitt] Romney's decision to be kind and gentle to the retard.’...
Of course the political Left wanted to crucify Coulter for her epithet of Obama. Coulter didn't back down and instead called her detractors bullies and politically correct language police. No one in there right mind would believe that Coulter was literally calling Obama mentally retarded. It is a pejorative and derisive term to be sure and meant to convey Coulter's disdain for Obama. Those who jumped all over Coulter are predictably liberals looking for something, anything, to hang around Coulter's very lovely and slender swan like neck. it didn't work. Coulter shrugs off criticism like a duck sheds water.
Note:
As a state licensed teacher of children with learning disabilities and having taught high school special needs students for over 18 years, I understand exactly what Coulter was trying to convey in her use of the word "retard". I have no problem with that use. On occasion I would even ask a misbehaving or poorly performing student of mine why he or she was acting "like a retard" when I knew that they were purposely fooling around. This always got their attention and a change in their behavior. Was I being unkind to these students or giving them the chance to change an inappropriate behavior? One thing needs to be noted with this observation. It was not an uncommon act for a student to play up their learning disability to gain a reduced expectation from me and other adults. We called that gaming the system.
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