Writer's vitriol earns wrath of a nation
ANN Coulter hates the liberal media almost as much as she despises Hillary Clinton - but that is surely an exaggeration, as the conservative commentator owes them all - big time.
Powered by criticism from Senator Clinton and blanket coverage in the U.S. media, Coulter's new book Godless: The Church of Liberalism, has soared to the top of bestseller lists.
Last night, Godless was the most bought book on http://Amazon.com, thanks to reaction to comments about four September 11 widows.
"These broads are millionaires lionised on TV and in articles about them, revelling in their status as celebrities . . . I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much."
Coulter's sharp phrasing and caustic opinions have made her America's most famous fundamentalist Christian and, through four previous books and many speaking engagements at $20,000 an appearance, have earned her a small fortune.
Coulter owns luxury homes in Manhattan and Florida, and boasts about her wealth.
America's constitutional protection of free speech allows her to make statements that would be considered unutterable almost anywhere else.
Yesterday, Coulter, 44, responded to Senator Clinton's criticism by linking Bill Clinton, one of her favourite targets, to a rape and a suicide.
"Hey, if Mrs Clinton is going to start being concerned about angry women," said Coulter, "perhaps she should go talk to her husband who was accused of rape by Juanita Broaddrick and was groping Kathleen Willey at the moment Kathleen Willey's husband was committing suicide."
The former corporate lawyer has been a media success ever since scoring headlines at the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, when she asked if Bill Clinton deserved impeachment or assassination.
On September 13 2001, Coulter wrote of Muslims: "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."
Her favourite targets, aside from Muslims, are liberals. Sometime she hits the two with one precise jab.
"Even Islamic terrorists don't hate America like liberals do. They don't have the energy. If they had that much energy, they'd have indoor plumbing by now," she said.
Coulter has been featured on the cover of Time magazine, inspired the hatchet-tongued West Wing character Ainsley, and is now so notorious she can't walk the streets unaccompanied by bodyguards.
Those bodyguards were called into action yesterday, when a West Virginia councillor interrupted a book signing to hand her a letter asking her to retract the comments on the September 11 widows.
"Miss Coulter, I think you are a disgrace . . ." said Mark Cuthbertson before the crowd shouted him down.
She ripped the letter in two as bodyguards pulled him away.
