Fire-Breather: I don't much care for Ann Coulter; I disagree with her about so many things. But I will say this: she is brilliant. She and David Horowitz are about the only two conservatives (to be fair, Horowitz is quite socially liberal) to recognize the rhetorical "missile gap" in the culture war. Back in the 1960s, back when Horowitz was on the Maoist side, the left significantly stepped up the rhetoric against the right: they were pigs and fascists, cold-hearted social darwinists who wanted to gas the poor, rape the environment, take away civil rights, throw the geezers off medicare, and retire to their smoke-filled parlors to have a chuckle about it all. Simply put, the message on the right was that the left was wrong; the message on the left was that the right was evil.

To this day it continues, with few exceptions. One of the exceptions, Horowitz, is dismissed as a right-wing demagogue, which he essentially is. But he learned his trade and tactics on the left, and now only practices the same craft on the right. That is one of the most subtle bits of media bias. Horowitz, who is taken very seriously on the right, is dismissed as mainly a crank by the mainstream media because his rhetoric is, objectively, over the top. But no more so than the rhetoric of Jesse Jackson, who until a few years ago was thought of as a serious American statesman.

Another exception, as her success shows, is Coulter -- who learned, mainly from the likes of Horowitz, that telling the truth will get you zero attention. Exaggeration, dramatics, bold accusations, and hot-button words are a publicity hound's best friends. So why is she suddenly getting the mainstream attention Horowitz never got? She's got nicer legs.

Anyhoo, my point is that Drudge has the scoop on her book, Treason, which has already pushed Hillary down the charts on Amazon. Here's an example of what I'm saying -- Coulter on Tailgunner Joe:

Despite the left’s creation of a myth to defeat legitimate charges of treason, McCarthy had so badly stigmatized Communism, his victory survived him. In his brief fiery ride across the landscape, Joe McCarthy bought America another thirty years. For this, he sacrificed his life, his reputation, his name. The left cut down a brave man, but not before the American people heard the truth.

Honestly, who really believes this? The honest right repudiated McCarthy; Buckley, who saw the actual Pinko threat from his CIA time, still thought McCarthy was doing more harm than good; even his protege, Nixon, moved well to the left and went to the ChiComs with hat in hand. So why does Coulter make him the hero? Because it gets headlines, makes a splash, and offers a chance to use the leftist tactic against the left: be loud, outrageous, and totally confident -- and the public will follow.