The Prattle of the Coulter

For some reason, pretty much every columnist these days feels obligated to write about Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ". Ann Coulter just added her two cents - although I am probably overvaluing her contribution.

William Safire, the New York Times' in-house "conservative" – who endorsed Bill Clinton in 1992, like so many conservatives – was sure Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ" would incite anti-Semitic violence. Thus far, the pogroms have failed to materialize.

Did you get that, folks? You were kidding yourself all these years if you thought Bill Safire was a conservative.

Coulter's focus seems to be on anti-Semitism - denying that Gibson's film could inflame anti-Semitic attitudes - but her editorial suggests to me something very different. It suggests to me that, beneath a thinly stretched surface of pseudo-Christianity, Ann Coulter has a very low opinion of Judaism. Beyond her comments suggesting Safire doesn't 'get it' (apparently because he's not Christian), she continues,

But again I ask: Does anyone at the Times have the vaguest notion what Christianity is?

How can I interpret that, as a comment about an organization she knows has a heavy Jewish editorial presence, particularly on the heels of her attack on Bill Safire?

Coulter concludes by reaffirming that she hates all Muslims. But I am left with the uneasy feeling that her opinions toward Jews aren't much different.

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