She's No Henny Youngman

The problem with Ann Coulter is that she is a comic, not a journalist and most certainly not a pundit.

A comic will take things out of proportion and to the extreme, for a laugh. Everyone knows the comic is "joking" even if the premise of the joke may have some merit. If Coulter billed herself as a comic, and put her books out as comic commentary, the public would not be generally swayed to give her commentary credibility.

Comics come from all perspectives, conservative to liberal, and take cracks at famous people, including politicians. When they find weak spots, the comics heighten them and fabricate scenarios and opinions for the sole purpose of getting a laugh. The comic many times may not even share the opinion contained in the joke, but, most times, they do.

With Coulter being given the status of journalist and pundit (nd beyond, in some cases), even if only in a cursory loose way, she gets elevated among her partisan fans as having some relevance in the political and social world. People may laugh at what she says, and many go home feeling righteous about her nasty comments. A lot laugh and just write her off as a comic, but they still retain some of her underlying belief systems that allow her to make such statements in the name of intellectual commentary. Still others laugh uncomfortably, wishing they could figure a way out, liking her jokes, but disdaining her underlying premise.

That's why, if she just came out of the closet and admitted she is a comic, we could all get back to our daily routines, and not have to relegate to her any status above and beyond the world of comedy.