If only liberals still had Air America: a week of Ann Coulter, Scooter Libby & Walter Reed

By: Steve Yuhas

What a week for Democrats.  Scandal is “rocking” the country over the playground taunt by Ann Coulter directed at John Edwards that used the word ‘faggot’ (never mind that he is not gay, but in the ‘other America’ he talks about he may very well be a homo).  Democrats are lining up to celebrate the prosecutorial victory against Scooter Libby because his conviction, in their minds, vindicates their depiction of the GOP as corrupt.  Then there was the anomaly at Walter Reed Army Medical Center that the left seize onto in order to paint all military and veteran medical centers as uncaring and draconian. 

Ann Coulter said what pundits and reporters are now referring to as the new “F” word.  No, not THE BIG “F” word (only rappers can use that) – she said “faggot” (a word that fags use all of the time) when she referred to John Edwards as being a sissy during a meeting of conservatives.  For some reason most of the people there got the joke, but in the world of liberalism there is no sense of humor allowed so Coulter is being demonized almost as much as West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd is for being a former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. 

Oh wait, that seems to be okay with the left.  I’m beginning to understand: do not call a non-fag a fag because that makes real fags upset.  Get upset with Ann Coulter when she talks about Arabs in a disparaging way, but don’t talk about the leader of the Democrats in the Senate and his illustrious rise to power in the Klan.  And, if all else fails, attempt to keep your sense of humor to yourself because nobody wants to upset the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), who “condemned” (how UN of them) Coulters “anti-gay slur” and they are particularly apoplectic as they demand that NBC not feature her on their stations. 

GLAAD wrote, “No credible news organization should be associating itself with Coulter or anyone else who trades in on-air anti-gay slurs."  Meanwhile she draws an audience and sells millions of books – gay logic?  Ignore her.  Gay authors sell 200 books and are lauded as the best thing since Jane Austen.  Keep those interviews coming.

Who knew that a word that is used all over the world within the gay community to talk about themselves is supposed to be purged from the vocabulary of everyone else?  I’ve yet to see a statement from GLAAD or any other gay group about the word fag being used on gay satellite radio or on gay TV.  It is really the typical gay bi-standard (or is it double standard) – I forget.

Coulter made clear that she was not implying that Edwards was a homo – she was making fun of the fact that we’ve gone so stupid in this country that when an actor uses the word fag he has to go to rehab the way Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears does – and he didn’t endager a child or not show up for work!  Rehab for nicknames – an interesting Stalinist concept; I wonder what other words will end up on the list.

Scooter Libby, Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff, was convicted of committing perjury to the grand jury that empanelled to investigate who “leaked” the name of CIA analyst to the media.  He was also convicted for obstruction of justice exactly the way Martha Stewart was.  He faces jail time for not remembering dates and names from years ago about conversations about a non-covert CIA analyst.

Valerie Plame was not a covert agent and her identity was not a secret anywhere in Washington, but Patrick Fitzgerald had to prosecute someone to make his years of expense and time worth anything so he picked Libby.  The irony is that Plame and her husband, Joe Wilson, are everywhere – so much so that we can’t get rid of them.  As they are out whoring their life story for books and movies Wilson is putting together his lawsuit against the Vice President.  American as apple pie: pretend you’re under-cover, get a spread in Vanity Fair, get a multi-million book deal and then complain about an invasion of privacy.

Interesting stuff when you think about it.  A non-covert CIA analyst is “outed” to reporters who already knew she was a CIA analyst.  A special prosecutor is called in because someone allegedly leaked her name to the press to find out who did the leaking and whether or not it violated the super secret agent act.  There was no violation of the super secret agent law because Plame was not a super secret agent, but Fitzgerald had to prosecute someone so he figured that he’d scapegoat Scooter Libby because that would legitimize his enormous budget for not prosecuting a crime that didn’t happen.

Add in the case of Walter Reed Army Medical Center and it was a trinity of scandal for Democratic bloggers and “strategists” (what is a strategist anyway – they’re all over the news, but they don’t do anything except yap – for what it is worth – I’m now a strategist). 

Walter Reed is really a story because there were flaws in how the hospital was being run and a general lost his position over it and the Secretary of the Army is no more.  Some soldiers returning from war did live in barracks that were substandard and the newspapers and legislators are making a cottage industry out of complaints, but of all the stories this week the two prior to this got the most attention and it was the Walter Reed story that was the most important not because of the scandal, but because it was real.

Our men and women in uniform deserve the best medical care that our country can provide for them and changes will be made, but Congress has oversight responsibilities for our military.  Anyone could have held a hearing – it is not like the mold just showed up. Democrats and Republicans alike did not look into the conditions at Walter Reed until newspapers did and then once anomalies and anecdotes of wounded warriors made the news Congress acted.  That is fine and dandy – they held hearings and issued statements, but when it comes down to it – Congress is responsible for raising a military and Walter Reed is in their backyard.

When the photo ops with wounded soldiers were done did politicians just miss talking to anyone who was unhappy?  The story stinks because Walter Reed is a wonderful hospital that treated over 6,000 soldiers who would have very well been dead just a decade ago.  Nobody could have foreseen the number of casualties that would result from this war, but as has been said in the past – you go to war with the army you have and that includes the support team around them.  It would be nice to upgrade every hospital and every barracks and maybe the Congress will take some pork out of their spending bills and throw a few dollars to housing and hospitals like Walter Reed for our troops.

Yes, this was a good week to be a Democrat.  You could complain that Ann Coulter used the word fag and that John Edwards said ignore it, but is using it to raise $100,000 so he’s almost as hypocritical as a former Vice President Gore riding a private jet and telling the rest of us to bike from Los Angeles to New York.  Scooter Libby was prosecuted and found guilty for lying about a crime that never happened – how Martha Stewart; I wonder if Libby bakes?  And Walter Reed became the rallying cry for a Congress that heretofore just went there for photo ops with wounded soldiers for their re-election campaigns and websites.  Walter Reed is not new and they could get to it in 15 minutes – Walter Reed should not have happened, but the fact that it did reflects just as poorly on Congress as it does the former commander.

This was a very good week for Democrats because reality is all about perception.  It doesn’t matter if the perception is real or not – just that the perception is that the GOP is a bunch of gay bashing, CIA leaking, Walter Reed patient hating folks who need rehab to heal. 

Surely there are more important things to talk about than Coulter or Libby.  Focus on spending millions to make Walter Reed and all military hospitals the great places that they are, aesthetics aside.  Medical care is wonderful for our military and although living conditions came into question – the facts are that the doctors, nurses, technicians and janitors of Walter Reed are helping to save lives that would otherwise been lost.  Successful medicine at Walter Reed should be the story, not only the fact that a few barracks are not in the best shape, but the power of the purse rests with Congress and they can build new barracks the way they build bridges to nowhere with a stroke of a pen.

Steve Yuhas is a radio talk show host on AM 600 KOGO and may be reached at steve@steveyuhas.com or www.steveyuhas.com