Thursday, March 10, 2005
Hipper and cuter than you or me, Mary Kunz has a little story about some local radio moron flirting with Ann Coulter in "The Buzz" today. Because she is convinced that her Republican Party membership makes her even more adorable (as if that were possible), Ms. Kunz notes in an aside that "UB isn't known for playing host to right wingers".
Now, I happen to know this for an outright falsehood: the reason I don't subscribe to the Distinguished Speaker's Series is that it is filled every year with conservative Republican pols and blovators, interspersed with media mediocrities with a local connection-- who may as well be either Republicans or Senate Democrats for all the good they are. The last one I went to was Dick Cheney, fer chrissake.
A difference between left leaning journalists and ideologues like Ann Coulter (or Mary Kunz, it should go without saying) is that on the left there is better fact checking. They seem more comfortable just making stuff up, and attacking the patriotism of anyone who questions their version. I couldn't let it stand, so I checked. In fact, last year J.C. Watts spoke; the year before that Rudy Giuliani was a speaker; for the 1999/2000 series former President George Bush was a speaker; the year before that saw General Colin Powell; P.J. O'Rourke spoke in 1997; David Gergen spoke the year before that; the program hosted the McLaughlin Group the
year before that. 1993-94 was a banner year for right wing nuts: I saw GOP rising star Dick Cheney (evil then, too) and George F. Will. Other notable Republicans who have appeared as guests of the Distinguished Speaker's Series include Gerald Ford, Jeane Kirkpatrick and John Tower. (Tower left his Superman suit home, and appeared sober to me, so I guess he was "distinguished" that night.)
I mean, it wasn't even that clever a remark-- to be stupid and wrong, in the cause of such a pointless little anecdote, is really the sort of thing that makes Mary Kunz just about the most irritating thing about the Buffalo News.
Now, I happen to know this for an outright falsehood: the reason I don't subscribe to the Distinguished Speaker's Series is that it is filled every year with conservative Republican pols and blovators, interspersed with media mediocrities with a local connection-- who may as well be either Republicans or Senate Democrats for all the good they are. The last one I went to was Dick Cheney, fer chrissake.
A difference between left leaning journalists and ideologues like Ann Coulter (or Mary Kunz, it should go without saying) is that on the left there is better fact checking. They seem more comfortable just making stuff up, and attacking the patriotism of anyone who questions their version. I couldn't let it stand, so I checked. In fact, last year J.C. Watts spoke; the year before that Rudy Giuliani was a speaker; for the 1999/2000 series former President George Bush was a speaker; the year before that saw General Colin Powell; P.J. O'Rourke spoke in 1997; David Gergen spoke the year before that; the program hosted the McLaughlin Group the
year before that. 1993-94 was a banner year for right wing nuts: I saw GOP rising star Dick Cheney (evil then, too) and George F. Will. Other notable Republicans who have appeared as guests of the Distinguished Speaker's Series include Gerald Ford, Jeane Kirkpatrick and John Tower. (Tower left his Superman suit home, and appeared sober to me, so I guess he was "distinguished" that night.)
I mean, it wasn't even that clever a remark-- to be stupid and wrong, in the cause of such a pointless little anecdote, is really the sort of thing that makes Mary Kunz just about the most irritating thing about the Buffalo News.
// posted by Bill @ 6:59 PM 
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