Ann Coulter speaks locally

BY JERAMY GORDON
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Conservative political commentator and author Ann Coulter spoke to a crowd of about 400 Friday as part of the Reagan Ranch Center’s Young America Foundation monthly roundtable luncheons.

Coulter poked fun at both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates at yesterday’s luncheon, but also touched on some highly controversial issues.
Located “in the heart of the Left Coast” on one of the busiest streets in Santa Barbara, the Reagan Ranch Center Roundtable luncheons bring conservative speakers in once a month.
Coulter took swipes at all presidential candidates yesterday, including John McCain, but hit Barack Obama the hardest, referring to him as “O-Bambi” on one occasion.
“The one good thing I can say about Obama,” Coulter said, “is that he’s probably the least dangerous person named Hussein I know.”
The majority of Coulter’s speech focused on the current presidential race and the war on terrorism. Despite her conservative background, Coulter was at one point actually rooting for Democrat Hillary Clinton this November.
“My brave little Hillary is at the end of the line,” Coulter said.
Coulter said the greatest accomplishment of the Bush administration has been the war on terrorism, but it is the fault of the left-wing media that the majority of America doesn’t know that, she said.
“Just as we’re not allowed to say the war in Iraq is actually going well,” she said, “we’re not allowed to remind the public that there hasn’t been another terrorist attack on U.S. soil in nearly 7 years.”
Coulter joked that the biggest issue with the Republican Party is their ability to solve issues.
“The biggest problem Republicans face this year is that Bush has been so successful at fighting the war on terrorists,” Coulter said. “The problem is that the Republicans solve the problems, then they have nothing to run on.”
Coulter stressed that now is not the time to drop out of that fight.
“The silver lining on an Obama presidency is we’ll get the terrorism issue back,” she joked. “And if you’re still wondering what Hillary’s stand on terrorism is, just listen to that woman give a speech.”
Coulter even took a jab at herself, saying the reason she can stay so up to date on politics is that she doesn’t have a job. “Unless you consider bedeviling Allan Colmes a job,” she said.
Colmes is best known as the liberal co-host on Fox News Channel's political debate program Hannity & Colmes.
Coulter is the author of six New York Times bestsellers — “If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans “(October, 2007); “Godless: The Church of Liberalism” (June 2006); “How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)” (October, 2004); “Treason: Liberal Treachery From the Cold War to the War on Terrorism” (June 2003); “Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right” (June 2002); and “High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton” (August 1998).
Coulter is the legal correspondent for Human Events and writes a popular syndicated column for Universal Press Syndicate.
She is a frequent guest on many TV shows, including The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Hannity and Colmes, The Glenn Beck Show, HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, and has been profiled in numerous publications, including TV Guide, the Guardian (UK), the New York Observer, National Journal, Harper's Bazaar, and Elle magazine. She was the April 25, 2005 cover story of Time magazine.
Coulter’s speech can be seen online at www.yaf.org.
The Reagan Ranch Center is located at 217 State Street in downtown Santa Barbara.
The center, run by the Young America’s Foundation, is dedicated to preserving the memory of former President Ronald Reagan.
The Center includes classrooms, a theater, meeting rooms, a library of conservative resources, Young America’s Foundation’s Reagan Ranch offices, and more. Many events for the Center are planned over the next year as they fulfill their mission of reaching increasing numbers of young Americans with the principles and ideas President Reagan so cherished.