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