Ann Coulter: Another Borat?

Has anyone ever seen the so-called conservative pundit Ann Coulter in a convincingly unaltered photo with Sacha Baron Cohen’s character, “Borat?” Could Coulter be another of Cohen’s projects?

It’s been suggested by Meghan Daum of the L.A. Times that Coulter’s actually a liberal satirist. The theory follows that she makes intentionally moronic remarks as a conservative to damage conservative credibility.

For example, Ann Coulter referred to widows who lost their husbands on September 11th, 2001 as “witches who acted as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them.” Cohen’s “Borat” made his share of uncomfortably inappropriate references to the human anatomy.

Borat misrepresented the culture of Kazakhstan, offending citizens of the country. Like Borat, Ann Coulter manages to offend countries other than the United States as well. On Fox TV, Ann Coulter said of Canadians protesting the Iraq war, “They need us; they better hope that the United States doesn’t roll over one night and crush them.”

When defending that remark on CBC’s Fifth Estate, Ms. Coulter began by stating that Canada sent troops to Vietnam. When the interviewer pointed out that Canada had in fact not sent troops to Vietnam, she continued to argue, hearing the fact stated no less than five times before saying she’d get back to him on that. She didn’t get back to the CBC. Canada did not send troops to Vietnam. Perhaps Coulter was thinking of the Canadians who voluntarily traveled to the United States to enlist for service in the Vietnam War. She definitely seemed confused.

At times Coulter is a convincing performer too, but her act often suffers when she’s contradicted. When an interviewer poses a position she’s not prepared for, as happens on CBC, MSNBC and even Fox News to name a few venues, she’s likely to verbally improvise, nervously flipping her hair and rolling her eyes till her segment’s over. Cohen, on the other hand seemed to keep his Borat character grounded seamlessly on Saturday Night Live from the show’s opening skit to his awkward below-the-belt kiss of Hugh Laurie during the end credits.

Borat sported the remarkable lime green thong with shoulder straps; Coulter seems to favor the odd choice of a black cocktail dress for discussing politics on morning shows.

The truly refreshing point about Borat was that after a while we were let in on the gag. He was a convincing performer, but it was a relief that he wasn’t serious.