Is Keith Olbermann wrong when he implies that Ann Coulter is actually a man?

[originalpckelly]

Poll question: Is Keith Olbermann wrong when he implies that Ann Coulter is actually a man?

:shrug:

Isn't that sort of insensitive?

[terrya]

1. Yes, and I'm surprised that he's doing that.

It's wrong, period. Insensitive to transgendered people.

There are plenty of reasons to hate Ann Coulter without getting into this.

[PA Democrat]

12. Yep. There's so much material on her hateful remarks. Why stoop to her level?

I think when people engage in attacks on her appearance or sexuality it is a distraction and appears to be hypocritical. Her remark about Edwards was despicable, so why reply in kind and call her a man or transgendered?

[VelmaD]

2. when it comes down to it...

Keith isn't exactly the most progressive when it comes to GLBT and women's issues.

[terrya]

6. I've picked up on that, also.

Maybe that's a holdover from his ESPN days or something.

[originalpckelly]

10. It's kind of weird how people can support him blindly.

I just don't get it, I thought we didn't believe in that sort of thing.

[Berry Cool]

24. No. In his ESPN days, Keith actually testified in sexual harassment cases.

This is on record. Women who worked for ESPN came to him with their stories of being sexually harassed by male employees. He believed them (apparently was witness to some of them) and testified on their behalf.

He does NOT, to my mind, have any "women issues" as far as sexism is concerned--quite the opposite. However, I do think he has a few GLBT issues. A few. As most heterosexual males do.

In other words, he's supportive of gay rights, but he still thinks Anderson Cooper somehow owes it to us to tell us what his sexual orientation is. I think that's wrong.

And he's supportive of gay rights, but he mocks Ann Coulter for looking transgendered. I think, like many people, he's confused and a little scared by the whole transgendered thing, and uses it as a way to take cheap shots at Coulter, rather than sticking to ridiculing her opinions. And that he's wrong.

But he's not the only one. Randi Rhodes and Stephanie Miller do it too. I'd like to see them stop it as well.

[MoonRiver]

49. DU, including moi, have done this to AC for years.

I don't know if it is wrong. She's a lying hypocritical bag of shit.

We also insult * and Pickles about their appearances. Petty yes, but considering the circumstances, understandable.

[Lil Missy]

3. Nothing like a slanted poll, is there.

[Bucky]

25. Since you don't argue the underlying point, can I assume that you agree it's insensitive?

[Robson]

42. Great poll

I actually think its a great poll because it makes you think and not just react. Hypocrisy is always hypocrisy regardless of the politics or ideology.

When you sink to the same level as the other side then you've been compromised and beaten. That goes for an individual, a talking head, an elected official or the President.

[frogcycle]

4. what a push-poll!

:rofl:

[Little Wing]

5. Yes, and while I support your T friends, I don't appreciate my having to also

support your GBL friends just because.

Ann Coulter is a fucking whore slut, and while calling her a man because she looks like a man and talks like a man and has a few features of a man legitimizes calling her a fucking man, it doesn't mean one is anti-gay or anti-lesbian or anti-bisexual. It's bullshit to lump all 4 into one.

[originalpckelly]

7. So now it's fair to make fun of people because their fugly?

:shrug:

[Little Wing]

9. When they are propped up as "hot" by the opposition

you're damn right it is

[originalpckelly]

14. Then just say she's an ugly duck and don't call her a man.

It's very simple. We have really sweet people who deserve love and respect just as much as anyone else. I used to do it, until I came to the realization how awful it really is to say that.

[Swagman]

31. every duck is lovely -even an ugly one !

Anne Coulter defies description !:puke:

Come on when he calls here a "man" he's attacking her sexuality and saying something that will hurt her the most..and she bloody well deserves it as she's just a nasty nasty person.

Don't see how gay/straight/lesbian comes into it really !

[Chovexani]

21. Wait, what?

I don't appreciate my having to also support your GBL friends just because.

You do realize which website you're at, right? Democratic Underground? Where we, you know, support GLBT folks "just because" it's the right thing to do.

As to the rest of your ignorant ass post: real life actual GLBT DUers have repeatedly said this behavior is offensive, on numerous occasions. Sorry, but straight people don't get to decide what offends GLBT people and what doesn't, just as white folks don't get to decide what offends black folks and what doesn't.

And if you think it's bullshit to lump gender identity in with sexual orientation, you fail at human biology and sociology. Try reading some queer theory sometime, if the words aren't too big.

On second thought, your post proves you pretty much fail at life.

[Little Wing]

37. No, it's not about that

Apparently you fail at reading. I support the GBLT community, as meaningless as that shallow statement is. What I'm saying is that I can still call Ann Coulter a fucking MAN and still support the other options, and lumping them all together is a bullshit paradigm. I support gay people. I support lesbians - who are in fact gay people. That rules out the L because it's no different from the G. I support Bisexuals, who in fact all fall into the G parameter, if only by 50%. I also support Trans-gendered people. But I can call Ann Coulter a MAN and do all of the above.

[Swagman]

26. what have you got against whores & sluts ?..or fucking for that

matter. :shrug:

[OffWithTheirHeads]

8. I thought KKKolter was a female impersonater.

Does that count? I don't want to offend my GLBT friends but when one pretends to be something they are not, especially a public spectacle like Ann the man, I think we should be able to call them on it.

[originalpckelly]

13. No, I've learned this lesson. What you're implying is that...

a man dressing as a woman is wrong, that there is something inherently wrong with that so it can be used as an insult. It's like saying by implication that being a woman is bad, so calling a guy a woman is offensive to him, that's sexist while this is anti-transgender.

[Bucky]

32. That is so white of you!

Wow, what an ironic thing for me to write!

[mondo joe]

11. I just think it's not funny.

Of all the things to mock about Coulter, this seems so unfunny and cheap.

[terrya]

16. Exactly.

I think, for instance, if Eleanor Roosevelt, who wasn't exactly beautiful, was alive today, you'd better believe the right wingers would be incessantly ridiculing her looks. And we'd be pissed about that. I would think.

[dsc]

15. This is about the same as dissing a conservative for being gay

or being a person of color. I don't see why this is acceptable.

[Mz Pip]

17. I wish he would focus

on the content of her speech instead of making lame jokes about how she looks. I don't think it adds to the point that Ann is divisive and hateful.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[uppityperson]

55. Exaclty and thank you. Focus on what she says rather than her looks.

Focus on what is important about her, not on how she looks. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but hate speech is apparent even to those who do it.

[Clark2008]

18. It's a joke.

Yes, friends, it is possible to support people in the GBLT community while still pointing out the alleged hypocrisy of a anti-GBLT Republican who MIGHT be transgendered.

The joke is NOT that Ann Coulter could be transgendered - the joke is that so many anti-gay Republican males worship the ground the person walks on, thus making them hypocritical of their own alleged beliefs.

[originalpckelly]

19. I don't think it is very reasonable to say she is.

And even if she were, that's not something bad.

Until we have hard evidence of this, I don't think it is appropriate to call her hypocritical.

[Berry Cool]

28. There are pictures of her as a child

that clearly show her as having been a girl. OK, so her sex organs weren't in them, but if she wasn't a girl in these pictures, then her parents were, for some reason, dressing her in drag for years.

[Bucky]

34. While I agree with your overall point...

I hate you for making me think about Ann Coulter's sex organs

[Berry Cool]

46. OMG

:rofl: I deeply apologize. Nobody, and I mean nobody, should have to think about...well, I won't mention the elephant in the room. :rofl:

[Clark2008]

36. That's exactly why I think the joke is on the hypocritical anti-GBLT

Republians and not her - sex organs withstanding.

[Chovexani]

27. There are plenty of androgynous people out there who aren't trans

One of my roommates, for instance.

And I'm sorry, but your entire post is bullshit. When GLBT people are screaming from the rooftops that you're fucking BEING OFFENSIVE, and you refuse to stop the behavior, you cease to support us. Sorry, that's just how it is.

Supporting someone means respecting them, and fucking listening. Jesus, how hard is this for people to grasp?

[Clark2008]

35. And you need to fucking LISTEN.

*I* don't call her "Mann Coulter" on this board. Go ahead, search (and I'm quoting, now, so this doesn't count). So, don't fuss and bitch at me.

I am just pointing out that some people can understand the difference between making fun of anti-GBLT Republicans who are hypocrites and making fun of transgendered people, which I don't think was his point. The joke is on them (the anti-GBLT Republicans who think she's "hot"), not you or anyone else who may be GBLT. Maybe Keith Olbermann DOES have a problem with transgendered people, but I don't - and never said I did.

So, in effect, because you accused me of something I did not do, your entire post is BULLSHIT.

P.S. I don't think I own a bigoted bone in my body. I couldn't give two shits about what someone does in the privacy of their own home, what color they are, who they screw, what they screw with, who they love or who they hate. Sorry to be so hateful with you, but I think you entirely missed my point and went into an accusatory mode. I, personally, know two people who have successfully and completely trans-gendered and they're both so much more happy. I also have two very close gay friends - one lesbian and one gay male and THEY think it's funny when people call Ann Coulter such names because they know that the joke is on the Republicans who adore her and not on them. Please stop lumping all GBLT supporters into one mold - that's also bigotry.

[dsweet]

20. There's a fine term for her.

Horse Faced. Long pointy face with big teeth. Quite charming on a horse.

[Bucky]

29. Serious question: if Coulter had an identical twin who was liberal

... would you be making the same comments about that twin's looks?

[dsweet]

43. Horse face is a description of the face's shape

Sure I would. My point was the it appears people are equating her equestrian appearance with masculine features. I think it could be argued that John Kerry has a horse face, but I like him all the same.

[Bucky]

51. Did you really go around calling Kerry "horseface"? Of course not.

It's wrong to attack someone for their looks. It's pathetic for a liberal to try and justify it.

[dsweet]

53. Bucky

I just did minutes before your post. I'm sorry I seem to have struck a nerve with you.

[Bucky]

22. I've always found that observation tacky, both from Keith and at DU

She's not an unattractive woman (going by looks alone that is---obviously when she talks all beauty flees the room). If a human liberal brain were transplanted into her skull, and an attractive wig then covered up the large scar the process left, no one on DU would be calling her "Mann Coulter."

[Bjorn Against]

23. I simply don't think Ann Coulter is human...

Whether he/she is male or female is really irrelevent to me, I want to know what species he or she is. Ann Coulter simply does not look like either a human male or a human female to me, maybe I am being discriminatory towards aliens but if aliens have invaded our planet then I really think Ann Coulter is one of them.

[Clark2008]

40. That's probably a better point. eom

[blondeatlast]

30. Absolutely. nt

[xchrom]

33. yup. n/t

[Daedelus76]

38. the joke has been made before

Ann Coulter got "Stupidest Man of the Year Award" a few years ago.

Wheather or not she looks like a man, her attitude and behavior is not lady-like.

[Marr]

39. As a man, I take a offense.

We've already got most of the famous Nazis and serial killers. Don't try to pass Coulter off on us, too!

[Lilith Velkor]

44. Excellent point

Some of my best friends are men.

[Pathwalker]

41. Ha! you all should have seen Law & Order last night!

They had an "Ann Coutler" type on(played by the actress who was Andy's last wife on NYPD Blue), who was almost murdered by a man with Parkinson's disease. Unfortunately, he missed and killed someone else. What was most disturbing was the scene between Fred Thompson (!!!) and the Ann character. This scene gave him the chance to disavow, yet stand behind Ann Coulter - it seemed almost like a tailor-made-for-his-candidacy moment. It also had Ron Silver playing the man's defense attorney.
The comments made by the Ann character regarding stem-cell research were vile, vile, vile - she called the man a spaz, called the Democrats a "culture of death" - it was in fact sickening.

Honestly, this show looked like it had been written by Fred Thompson's campaign staff.

Personally I don't care what Ann Counter's gender is - I just want her to shut up, or be made irrelevant. She should be looked upon with great scorn - for all the hideous, horrible crap that comes out of that mouth.

[stray cat]

45. Attacks on a person's appearance was considered wrong with Imus

I like Olbermanns show alot but I agree if slams on a person's appearance is wrong its wrong whether you dislike the person or not.

[Berry Cool]

48. Which is exactly what Keith himself acknowledged one night when he named himself

amongst the Worst Person in the World winners for criticizing someone (was it Glenn Beck?) for calling Rosie O'Donnell "fat" when he realized that he himself had once called Roger Ailes "fatass." "Besides," he said, "I'M a fatass!"

Keith is learning. Give him enough time, and he'll realize that it's better to lay off the insults to the looks of the people whose behavior he doesn't like. And with luck, he'll even learn that his objections to Anderson Cooper's style of journalism do not justify his insistence that Cooper tell us all which way he leans in the bedroom.

[lonestarnot]

47. I don't know, but I wouldn't want to look up her skirt.... ack.

[marmar]

50. There's plenty to attack Coulter on without stooping to this level....

I'm surprised sometimes at how quickly the gay and transgender jokes fly around here when Ann Coulter or Mark Foley are the subjects of threads.

[drbtg1]

52. Well, then, Randi Rhodes would need to be condemned as well

Nearly once a show, you can hear the tape, as they go to commercial, referring to Coulter and then Austen Powers saying, "She's a man, baby!"

[Maven]

54. I think "condemned" is too strong a word

Well-intentioned people need to be made aware of the issue, and if necessary, called out on the behavior.

The same way Al Sharpton called out Bill Maher last night for the stupid homophobic jokes that now appear in literally every show he does.