The NYU College Democrats

Ann Coulter Defense by the NYU College Republicans: Epic Fail

Did anyone catch the  fantastically “coherent” response from College Republicans Secretary Annie Peck to Ned’s write-up of Ann Coulter’s  disastrous performance at NYU in the comments over at NYU Local?

Let’s start with a basic defense of the deregulated, supply-side economics and neoconservative foreign policy that the Republican Party has used so successfully to royally screw up the country over the past few years. Annie writes:

first off all, the conservative view has not failed. it has, in fact succeeded. we ran on cutting taxes from their high of 70% during the Carter administration, and the tax rate fell 30% under Reagan.

Nope. Check out this exhaustive write up of 30 years of U.S. tax policy by the Congressional Budget Office. Or don’t…I’ll sum it up for you with this nifty graph of U.S.  tax rates over time for the last three decades:

Long story short, Annie may have gotten her information about tax policy during the Carter years from one of Ann Coulter’s books (see here for more on her commendable fact-checking abilities).

Try again, Annie!

We ran on defeating communism, and george h. w. and reagan both accomplished that. We ran on defeating terrorism and keeping our country safe and….WE HAVENT BEEN ATTACKED ON AMERICAN SOIL IN 7 YEARS. under george bush.

Nevermind that the Soviet Union fell largely of its own devices, or that control of Washington was split during the glasnost era with Democrats in power in both chambers of Congress, or that U.S. funding of the Mujahadeen was largely the work of a Democrat from Houston. Nevermind that the seven years in which the U.S. has not been attacked by foreign terrorists almost mirrors the 7 years during the Clinton Administration in which – you guessed it – we also weren’t attacked by terrorists.

Nevermind that the mastermind of the September 11th attacks remains at large, while the mastermind of the attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 was apprehended, tried, convicted, and sent to rot in prison. Never mind that your buddy George W. Bush led the nation into a poorly-conceived war of choice in Iraq. Nevermind that Afghanistan is collapsing into mayhem while we struggle to simultaneously occupy two different countries. Nevermind relevant facts, Republican rule has been a great success!

But, please, go on Annie:

as far as republicans hating basically everyone, Abraham Lincoln was a republican who basically freed the black from slavery.

Not even going to comment…nothing to see here people, move right along!

and my last point(sorry to make this so long) is the reason we chose to bring Ann Coulter on to campus.

Thissss ought to be good:

It’s not because she had something enlightening to say about the presidential election or an inspiring message for the republican party, it is because she is a political commentator with absolutely no goal except to look hott and get laughs. she writes comedy routines that pertain to conservatives and get liberals riled up. if you even take her seriously, regardless of your party affiliation, you need to reevaluate yourself.

And with that, Annie, we couldn’t have said it better ourselves…

But in case you were wondering what all the hub-ub was about, let me offer you a hint:

1. The NYU College Republicans (of which you are an officer) invited Ann Coulter to campus by billing her as the “First Lady of American Conservatism”. If, as you say, “regardless of your party affiliation” you can’t take the ‘First Lady of American Conservatism’ seriously, then conservatism may truly be dead in this country after all…
2. About 57% of this country (according to 2008 exit polls) believes that looking “hott” and “getting laughs” does not qualify a politician to lead this great nation of ours. That’s why your ‘maverick’ experiment with Vice-President Palin failed so misreably…just sayin’ this is a lesson here that you might want to take with you…
3. I know you say that you didn’t invite Ann Coulter to campus to inspire the Republican Party, but at the end of the day, if you don’t want Ann Coulter to be the voice of the Republican Party, here on campus or elsewhere, you probably should have reconsidered inviting her to campus. Then again, we’re not complaining. Keep programming events like these…perhaps Barack Obama’s share of the vote at NYU can improve from 90% in 2008 to 96% in 2012. The more you alienate and marginalize people who don’t appreciate her “jokes”, the easier you make our job…

And with that, I think we can finally put this embarassing episode of campus politics to rest.

-Neal Shechter