Mugged

December 1, 2012
Venomous conservative political pundit Coulter (Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America, 2011, etc.) delivers a blistering polemic on the issue of race in American politics since the 1960s. Arguing that "after nearly a century of Republicans fighting for civil rights against Democratic segregationists," liberals chose to come out strongly against race discrimination after the mid-1960s passage of landmark civil rights legislation, using the issue to achieve their own goals. Liberals "couldn't care less about black people," she writes. "All they care about is their own glorious selves and how courageous, forward-thinking, and fair-minded they are." Moreover, liberals (notably academia, the media and Hollywood) are to blame for the race-related incidents and controversies of the period, from riots to hoaxes. She recounts headline-making police shootings of blacks, Marion Barry's controversial mayoralty in Washington, D.C., staged racial incidents and innumerable other occasions that became opportunities for liberal accusations of racism. In each instance, Coulter offers factual summaries of incidents laced with snarls over the wrongheadedness of liberal players and their "New-York-Times-Charlie Rose-PBS thinking." Later, she considers white guilt as the animating source for many debacles, including the presidency of Barack Obama. Reading the book is like listening to a Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh talk show marathon, except that Coulter is somewhat more entertaining, at least in her brazen, self-satisfied way. Simpatico readers will enjoy her snide, nasty, outrageous provocations. The fair-minded will feel caught in a wind tunnel with no railings to grab for safety. Liberals will quite properly turn their noses up at the book, as Coulter turns her nose up at them.

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