Review: Ann Coulter

Ann Coulter is a lot like Rodney Dangerfield. Rodney delivers round after round of punchy jokes about I get no respect. For Coulter, it's Liberals are godless traitors.

Too much of her material, especially towards the beginning, was about the Jersey Girls, the widows of 9/11 who demanded public congressional investigations. That part was a snooze, and uncomfortable for everyone.

She claims her assault on the Jersey Girls is generating massive controversy, but charges of godlessness and treason are met with silence ... so obviously liberals are happy to concede that they're godless traitors. What she fails to account for is that no one much listens to her when she's not going to the extremes of attacking widows of terrorism, or using ugly language.

She was at her most engaging during her Jimmy Carter bit, and maybe World War II.

Only once was she booed outright -- when she said there are no liberals in the U.S. Armed Forces. First there was just some consternation in the audience, but then she said, "Well, there aren't!" and so she got loudly booed.

Visibly taken aback, she said, "I didn't realize there were so many liberals in the audience!" That should be taken as a measure of everyone's great civility. The University of Pittsburgh and the Young Republicans did an excellent job setting the tone.

A little hecking broke out toward the end of her talk, but Coulter was warmed up enough to go back and forth. She then answered maybe a dozen audience questions. Shorter answers included, "First, I'd deport all the liberals," but longer ones, like about the supposed effete wussiness of liberals, were actually more interesting.

She was asked about illegal immigration, which she deplores, but she focused very narrowly on its illegality. She said that a system which accepts immigrants based on their willingness to break the law is untenable. When someone shouted "Then change the law!" she actually said, "Fine. We just can't have it illegally," which got a strong round of applause.

Coulter took that opportunity to give a jolly wave goodbye, and everybody left smiling.