I’ve noted on a few recent interviews that her routine has evolved, following Barack Obama’s election. While the right was clinging to power her bluster was all about anger and active vengeance on the myriad forces at work to destroy the lives and undermine the values of good, hardworking, clean, white, christian americans–god bless her. In short, she was the voice of power, of the new sheriff here to clean up town once and for all.

Lately, she has returned to the politics of victimization. In interviews on The View (look on youtube) and the morning show with Meredith Vierra (nbc?) she immediately and repeatedly guided the discussion to how shabbily she was treated, how disrespectful the hosts were, how they wouldn’t let her make her points. It was brilliant. She would interupt herself and say “if you’d just let me finish” etc, even though no one else was speaking, giving the impression that she was struggling against mighty forces of censorship focused on repressing her bold and selfless message. This followed on the heels of her manufactured claims that NBC had banned her from it’s show.

Of course it is a calculated tack. The winds have changed, and she knows it. The Obama administration will be a gold mine for Coulter and her ilk. After all, it’s difficult to make a living as an outraged right wing commentator when it’s your side in the driver’s seat. Remember back in the 90’s when the right whipped up the issue of alienated, disenfranchised working class white men? Now that we have a President who is only half white, we’ll see that again. She is once again positioning herself as the bitter, repressed outsider desperately trying to communicate the truth.

Should be fun.

I remember walking into an acquaintances home after playing golf one day, and on his book shelves were several Ann Coulter books. I pointed out that he had quite a few books by her (expecting him to say he reads them for fun or something like that) and he goes into a rant about how great she is and how brilliant she is. I knew at that moment we would not have a strong social relationship going forward if I let politics become a topic of conversation, so I specifically avoided letting it ever come up again.

I can understand reading her books to hear what she has to say, but I can not understand reading her books, and then coming to the conclusion that she is a social and moral leader, or thinking her rhetoric is somehow enlightened.