At the very great risk of being associated with the
"dwindling 28% who approve of the current president" (of
which I certainly am not), I must now surrender to passions
and make some response to this intriguing yet sadly
predictable thread.

Predictable, first, because it is so left-right in
orientation.  The assumption being, of course, that any
academic worth her salt must salute to the radical left and
hammer a conservative spokesperson like Coulter.  of course,
the Left has its share of blowhard as well, who are just as
offensive and mean-spirited.  I greatly dislike Coulter and
all that she stands for as a public spokesperson, but ad
hominem invective does not tell us very much about her
actual positions on a wide range of topics.

I guess what I want to point out is how predictable
knee-jerk, leftist animus toward all things right and all
things Bush has become in our little corner of the galaxy.
Ho hum.

The irony is, of course, how quickly we forget the things we
most dislike about Coulter (mean-spirited ad hominem
invective) by employing them ourselves.  I think this may be
partly what Jason Horn was trying to say.  I may be wrong,
but I believe it is accurate to say that Mark Twain also
engaged in such invective from time to time.  Apparently it
is OK if you are on the correct side of the political
spectrum.

As Jason put it, any discussion among academics about Bush,
the administration, etc., will eventually lead to
"hate-filled attacks."  An inability to hear them as such is
a symptom of our decomposing public sphere, and specifically
the sad state of political discussion in these United States
these days.  This is not a new development but it has
clearly been greatly exacerbated by the mass media, of which
Coulter is a shining example of what Poe might term its
putridity.  For a quick primer, read Deborah Tannen's
marvelous book ARGUMENT CULTURE.

I am not trying to favor either left or right here, just to
say that both sides are deeply implicated in this culture
and both sides are quite guilty.  Either side has its Anne
Coulters and Michael Moores(just to name someone from the
left who is also loud and angry).  Why is that so hard for
us to see??

peacefully yours, --Hal Bush