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Ann Coulter Battles John Stossel & a Room Full of Libertarians: This Is Why People Think You’re ‘Pu**ies!’

Feb. 22, 2013 9:47am Becket Adams

Conservative talker Ann Coulter appeared Thursday on Fox Business Network’s “Stossel” to do battle with the show’s Libertarian host — and his 1,400+ Libertarian guests.

Their biggest point of contention? Social Conservatism versus the Libertarian “Individuals Should Be Left Alone” approach.

The evening began pleasantly enough, the two discussing whether the U.S. should’ve invaded Iraq following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Coulter believes military action was justified because Saddam Hussein was “definitely looking for uranium from Niger.”

But then things became a little more heated when Stossel decided to shift gears and brought up legalizing drugs.

“Libertarians and pot,” Coulter laughed. “This is why people think libertarians are pu**ies.”

Now although Fox censored the word, Mediaite’s Andrew Kirell was on the scene and can testify to Coulter’s language.

She continued:

We’re living in a country that is 70-percent socialist, the government takes 60 percent of your money. They are taking care of your health care, of your pensions. They’re telling you who you can hire, what the regulations will be. And you want to suck up to your little liberal friends and say, “Oh, but we want to legalize pot.”

You know, if you’re a little more manly you would tell them what your position on employment discrimination is. How about that? But it’s always “We want to legalize pot.”

Stossel went all in Libertarian versus Social Conservatism: “Why can’t gays get married?”

“Well, they can,” she answered. “They have to marry a member of the opposite sex.”

The 1,400+ Libertarian students, who were there as a part of Stossel’s annual taping at the International Students for Liberty Conference in Washington, D.C., became increasingly hostile, jeering and booing Coulter along the way.

“This is another one where you’re just sucking up to liberals when there are big fights,” Coulter continued.

“No, we believe the individual should be left alone,” Stossel responded.

“Marriage is the most important institution to civilize young people. I make divorce a lot more difficult,” she said. “Liberals want to destroy the family.”

She explained that the left wants to destroy the family so that people will become totally dependent on government.

More jeers and boos.

“How is it any of your business what I choose to put in my body if I’m not affecting anyone else?” one student asked during the Q&A session, prompting a standing ovation from the crowd.

“First of all, for alleged individualists, you’re very mob-like,” Coulter said. “Second of all, it is my business because we are living in a welfare state … Right now, I have to pay for, it turns out, coming down the pike, your health care. I have to pay for your unemployment when you can’t hold a job. I have to pay for your food, for your housing. Yeah, it’s my business!”

Now to be clear, Coulter is no stranger to hostile environments and she and Stossel have long been on good terms. So it was not surprising to see the segment end amicably as the Libertarians students gave her a respectful send-off.

Still, that’s not to say that Coulter versus Libertarianism wasn’t something to see:

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Editor’s note — We’ll be discussed this story on Friday’s BlazeCast:

RELATED:

Libertarian heavyweight responds to Coulter: Yes, libertarians are pu**ies

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Comments (764)

glennpatstu
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 12:16pm
Anne is hilarious. A woman with a gigantic adam’s apple telling people to be more ‘manly’.

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Muddywood
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 12:15pm
Most young libertarians are nothing more than cheap liberals

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Chuck T
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 12:14pm
God bless Ann Coulter; she may not be perfect (who is?) but she’s right on the button calling libertarians on the sheer selfishness and shallowness of thought of so many. It is frankly amazing to me how closely-aligned many are with the Left as they shout for their lemming-like, Woodstock-ish version of “independence.”

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alecF1
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 12:14pm
Libertarians are way too wrapped up in mental masturbation and being armchair attorneys. Bad thing is most Americans agree with the broader libertarian philosophy like myself. Problem is that I get really pissed off when I think of all the libertarians I know that didn’t vote against glorious leader because it was Romney instead of Paul or Johnson. Thanks for doing your part. You didn’t need to waste your vote for a third party candidate, you just didn’t vote at all. Great decision! I don’t see the libertarians shaping American politics right now in hopes of getting a shot at the 2016 election. Just more screaming and hollering without being heard because they get wrangled into some symantics over personal liberty like drug use or gay marriage. This is all anyone hears from libertarians instead of and overall message of liberty. Just a waste.

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DebateMe
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 12:10pm
What I get out of that whole exchange is that Coulter beieves there is quite a lot of common ground between republicans and libertarians. Her beef seems to be that libertarians are not prioritizing issues properly and in many cases are putting the cart before the horse.

I tend to agree with this. I’m much less interested in the controversies of legalizing pot or gay marriage as opposed to our form of government morphing into communism and our economy crashing. It’s like having emotional turmoil over a mild headache when you’ve got a malignant tumor.

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The Third Archon
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 12:09pm
“The 1,400+ Libertarian students, who were there as a part of Stossel’s annual taping at the International Students for Liberty Conference in Washington, D.C., became increasingly hostile, jeering and booing Coulter along the way.”
LOL–well for all the flaws of American “libertarianism,” they DO tend to reject authoritarianism when it comes to “social issues.”

““No, we believe the individual should be left alone,” Stossel responded.”
A point that Coulter pretends escapes her (just like she pretends she actually BELIEVES the fascist tripe she spouts).

““Marriage is the most important institution to civilize young people. I make divorce a lot more difficult,” she said. “Liberals want to destroy the family.””
How does extending an institution to others destroy it? How does someone, who you don’t even know, else’s marriage affect your own in any way, shape, or form?

““Second of all, it is my business because we are living in a welfare state … Right now, I have to pay for, it turns out, coming down the pike, your health care. I have to pay for your unemployment when you can’t hold a job. I have to pay for your food, for your housing. Yeah, it’s my business!””
That’s ALWAYS been true–society, by nature and definition, has ALWAYS been comprised of interdependent individuals…and that SAME fact is the source of OUR, the People’s, authority to regulate the use of OUR productive machinery, and to choose how we want to divide indi

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- The Third Archon
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 12:11pm
  *individual rights and invest in the welfare of individuals. It is precisely BECAUSE we are interdependent that we have an incentive and a need to invest in the welfare of each other.
  
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davidwjohnson
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 12:09pm
You can’t turn around in 100+ days a progressive society which took 100+ years to build.

Libertarians will have to choose the most important topic, change public sentiment, them move on to the next issue.

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alecF1
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 12:00pm
She is right. We have libertarians still pissed about Gary Johnson not getting into the final debates when they won’t vote to stop unabashed communism because the candidate doesn’t support legalizing pot or toting 100% of their libertarian banner? We’re completely broke, being subjugated by a government that’s trying to take our firearms away, while libertarians are worried about gay marriage and getting jacked-up on black-tar heroine than stopping the massive gravitation to communism. Yes, at this point George Bush or Bill Clinton would be 80% better than glorious leader. And yes, if you sat on the sidelines because Ron Paul or Gary Johnson weren’t there for you to cast your vote to, then you should enjoy the communist state that is getting ready to stamp you out because you’re a libertarian. It’s like the college libertarian crowd is trying really hard to look cool and be invited to the parties by wanting to legalize pot instead of being treated like they’re conservatives on campus. Have you ever lived next to a drug house or where homeless drunks came and went all day? Drugs might as well have been legal because they didn’t give a damn whether it was or not and they made my family’s life a living hell. Put a drug house or some drunk bums like you see on the street next door to you and then tell me how much you like them and their “total freedom” when law enforcement tells you “nothing we can do”. Enjoy the threats and unchecked bestial drug-induced minds with

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- justangry
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 12:50pm
  Think the gun laws Romney and Obama endorse would have passed already had Romney won the election?
  
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ProudCapitalist
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 12:00pm
Libertarians bury their essential message with the constant emphasis on legalizing drugs and their anti-war position, which make them look like a bunch of hippies from the 1960′s and lacking seriousness. If the primary message were individual responsibility, freedom, and limited government, the legalization of drugs would be a by-product of success, and needn’t be mentioned at all, and limiting government to its few enumerated powers, like defending the various States from foreign attack and requiring a declaration of war before military action could take place, would reduce the likelihood of war.

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- The Third Archon
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 12:21pm
  “Libertarians bury their essential message with the constant emphasis on legalizing drugs and their anti-war position”
  CORRECTION–CONSERVATIVES bury the (American) “libertarian” message by focusing on the parts that are most controversial to them…which is a clever political strategy and perfectly fine with me since as a Radical I’m MORE than happy to watch the Right in America rip each others’ throats out.
  
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WOLVERINES56
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 11:59am
After reading Stossel’s book, “Why They Can’t…,” I realized that my viewpoints were a lot more Libertarian than I had thought. Where I did not agree, drug legalization for example, he made some very compelling arguments. In the case of narcotic prohibition, Stossel made accurate parallels with alcohol Prohibition nearly a century ago.

Nevertheless, the greatest threat to our nation, and way of life, is not whether or not we currently accept these Libertarian principles. We are at the verge of losing our country, forever, if we do not expel these lunatic liberal Democunists from government at the first possible opportunity. As Ann said (but it seemed the mob was not paying attention), they regulate and intrude into so many aspects of our lives, that we already ARE a Socialist country. After we boot these vermin out, then Conservatives, and Libertarian minded Republicans can hopefully get this ship straightened out. Voting Libertarian, Constitution, or any other 3rd party, like it or not, hands the 2014 election, again, to the Democunists. Then, it is without question, “GAME OVER, MAN!,”

Now, if that “moderate” faction of the GOP that fears Conservatives and Libertarians as much or more than they do Liberals, and continue to spit in our face and say “we don’t want you,” then 3rd party votes are just fine. We won’t win, but really, who the hell cares? Either move to Uruguay, Hong Kong, or Costa Rica, or build a really well stocked bunker.

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Minnaloushe
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 11:59am
Ever heard of a libertarian dictator?
Thought not.

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Minnaloushe
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 11:58am
I could see Torquemada as a republican or democrat, but *never* as a libertarian.

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ishshah
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 11:56am
Marriage is defined as the two becoming one in the child that is created. Homosexuality is an abnormality and therefore contrary to what defines marriage.

Homosexuality is the fruit of the adulterer and the sexual immoral person.

This video is a striking example of the depraved state of the citizens of the United States.

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- sharpeye
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 12:57pm
  That is between We The People and God. It does not “Pick Your Pocket” or “Break Your Leg” so “Mind Your Business”.
  
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- sharpeye
  Posted on February 22, 2013 at 12:59pm
  Fact is I am sick of ALL of you telling me how to live.
  
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Smokey_Bojangles
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 11:55am
Chris Christie.John McCain.Mitt Romney.Micheal Bloomberg. Chris Gibson.John Barrow.Scott Brown…..

I see no conservatives on that list.

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Brettfan
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 11:53am
Ann Coulter is great, but she tends to ramble a bit to make her point like Dennis Miller. Also Ann’s best work is in dissecting the liberal-progressive mind and the socialist society.

But where she has failed the conservative movement in America is when she inserts her self into politics. She was bashing Romney when it was convenient for her between 2008 and 2011. But as soon as it became very clear to her that a lot of rinos and democrat infiltrators were going to nominate him in the republican party for president and her equally awful choice of Chris Christie would not run, she started not only to back Romney but defended him. So she tucked tail and started to oppose conservatives like Glenn Beck, Michele Malkin, Rush Limbaugh, Dana Loesch and Mark Levin, who did not and still don’t like establishment candidates. So she failed us big time.

She then came out with a Three Cheers for Romneycare article which really ruined her. So that was where she failed us. A much better women to have used, in my opinion, would have been Dr. Monica Crowley, Laura Ingraham or Michele Malkin. I am well aware that maybe Sarah Palin or Dana Loesch could not go on since they don’t work on Fox News. Palin left the channel and Dana is sometimes on CNN, but is looking for other ventures after leaving Breitbart.com.

Where Conservative and Libertarians differ the most is on social issues, defense issues, war on terror tactics, and some theories. Ran out of characters so I end it there.

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KidCharlemagne
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 11:49am
Ann can’t ever get her story straight on anything though:

Ann Coulter.com (Feb. 1, 2012): “Three Cheers For RomneyCare!”

How is it that she has room to ever complain about the welfare state, when she has previously endorsed government-run healthcare before??

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gyro
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 11:46am
CABERNETQHS — Bingo

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iamnotu
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 11:44am
Basically, i must be a libertarian too cause I want the government to leave me alone. But I do love Ann, she always says what she means and leaves the PC at home.
I am also concerned about our ever growing socialist country, when will we take it back from the takers? Like all of these kids.

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olderjarhead
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 11:43am
Republican, democrat = same thing. We have a two headed, one party system. Republicans fear tea partiers, and libertarians, because they are a threat to the establishment. The difference is minimal whether we elect democrats or republicans. To put it a better way, both party’s fear FREEDOM! Alas, most Americans are ignorant.

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KidCharlemagne
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 11:41am
Can’t Ann Coulter stop smoking pot on her own?…..

Why does she need the government to stop herself from smoking pot??

If she would quit doing drugs, then there would be no need for her to rely on the government to protect her from them…..

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Really2012
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 11:40am
Why is it the the lib’s 3rd view on marriage, which is government shouldn’t be involved in defining marriage, isn’t a more broad mantra?? The government shouldn’t be involved in a lot of things.. Health care, retirement, etc. etc. etc..

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American_Made
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 11:39am
Remember Coulter thinks Gov. Christie is God like. That would be the same Christie that bent over and let Obama have his way. The same Christie that helped Obama win the last election. I have absolutely no love for Coulter. We should not have ANY Government welfare of any kind. That means no one is responsible for what I do with my body but me. The government should have nothing to say about my health care. They should have nothing to say about marriage of any kind as that is between my wife my God and myself. Government should treat us all equally regardless of color, religion or marital status.

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VTHS
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 11:39am
Good lord, folks.

Look, first of, most call me a radical libertarian. I wear that badge proudly. However, how in the world can we have any sort of rational discussion with someone like Coulter when she calls us a bunch of pu$$ies or nerds? She accuses us of caring only about drugs and won’t give a word in edgewise for counter arguments.

Some of you all should look at the next part of the Stossell interview as John, and the audience give Dennis Kucinich a run for his money as it relates to economic liberty and health care.

However, Glenn is right in that many on my side act as equally shrill and irrational as Coulter. Frankly, I get tired of not subscribing 100% to Rothbard. I get tired of being browbeaten for being a big fan of Ayn Rand.

One of the biggest problems, aside from big government, is civility. Why in the hell can’t people be more civil? Look at how Milton Friedman debated and contrast it with Ann Coulter. Its like comparing Masterpiece Theater with WWF.

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sharpeye
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 11:38am
Yea let’s all kneel down to the great ann colter. Republicans are the right wing of the same bird. Fact is they would be doing everything Obama is doing, they are just pissed they don’t hold the reins of power. I am one of the INDIVIDUALS who did not vote this past Presidential election. It has been a scam for longer than I thought. It is time to see how much Americans will take from tyrannical government. Greedy business owners padding their own pockets with bonus’ while their employees struggle and their companies go under, lazy welfare recipients who savor scamming the system, enjoy the nightmare you have created.

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azstrik27
Posted on February 22, 2013 at 11:36am
I consider myself a Conservatarian…a conservative Libertarian.

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