Coulter on her controversial comments regarding Jews and Christians: The “irreligious” are “trying to stir up trouble with the religious”

Responding to Alan Colmes' questioning about her comment that Christians “just want Jews to be perfected,” Ann Coulter said that she “wear[s]” criticism from Jewish groups over the remark “as a badge of honor,” adding, “The point is: This is the same old fight we see all the time with the irreligious trying to stir up trouble with the religious.” Responding to Colmes' assertion that Coulter “doesn't want to own up to” her statement, Coulter said: “I gave a beautiful description of the Old Testament and the New Testament, but it's very frightening to secularists.”


On the October 30 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, co-host Alan Colmes said to his guest, conservative author and pundit Ann Coulter: “I haven't spoken to you since you made your infamous comment saying that people like me need to be 'perfected,' ” adding, “So how about embracing one of the great Christian virtues, as Jesus discussed, humility, and apologizing to all those people you offended by that comment?” Colmes was referring to Coulter's statement, documented by Media Matters for America, on the October 8 edition of CNBC's The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch that “we” Christians “just want Jews to be perfected.” Responding to Colmes, Coulter stated: "[I]f you're going to go around citing all the people I have offended, Alan, I have 1,000 Orthodox rabbis supporting me." Later, Colmes asserted: “You claim 1,000 Orthodox rabbis support you. I don't know who they are, but I can tell you, you know the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Congress, and many others have condemned you for that. Do you care?” Coulter responded: “I wear it as a badge of honor. It's like citing the National Organization of Women to tell me how all women feel. The point is: This is the same old fight we see all the time with the irreligious trying to stir up trouble with the religious.”

Coulter's response on Hannity & Colmes echoes remarks she made on the October 15 broadcast of Townhall Radio's The Michael Medved Show, where -- as Media Matters documented -- she claimed: “This is just the irreligious against the religious,” while responding to criticism surrounding her comments on The Big Story. Coulter made a similar statement later that same evening on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, as Media Matters also documented.

Coulter's assertion that “I have 1,000 Orthodox Jews supporting me” is an apparent reference to an October 15 article published on LifeSiteNews.com -- a “non-profit Internet service dedicated to issues of culture, life, and family” that “emphasizes the social worth of traditional Judeo-Christian principles” -- which quoted Rabbi Yehuda Levin, a spokesman for the Rabbinical Alliance for America and the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada, saying: “She said nothing that in any way indicates anti-Semitism.” The article characterized Levin as a “spokesman for some 1000 orthodox rabbis” and also quoted him as saying: “It is a fact that millions of Christians believe in evangelizing and preaching the gospel and it is their belief for a Jew to accept the tenets of Christianity and accept the divinity somehow completes them and brings them to perfection,” and noted that “Levin stressed, 'That's obviously not our belief, that's not the traditional Jewish belief at all.'”

During the show, following Colmes' assertion that Coulter “doesn't want to own up to” her October 8 statement, Coulter said: “I gave a beautiful description of the Old Testament and the New Testament, but it's very frightening to secularists.”

From the October 30 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

COLMES: I hate to break this up, but I haven't spoken to you since you made your infamous comment saying that people like me need to be “perfected.” And so I want to give you an opportunity here, because as my good friend, the conservative rabbi Shmuley Boteach points out, Jesus was the faith practiced -- or Judaism, the faith practiced by Jesus for most of his life, his entire life, actually --

COULTER: Right.

COLMES: -- and he declares in Matthew that whoever goes against the smallest of the laws of Moses, teaching men to do the same will be named least in the kingdom of Heaven, but he who keeps the law of Moses, teaching others to keep them, will be named great in the kingdom of Heaven.

COULTER: Right.

COLMES: So, as Jesus said, the meek, not the rude and arrogant, will inherit the Earth. So how about embracing one of the great Christian virtues, as Jesus discussed, humility, and apologizing to all those people you offended by that comment?

COULTER: For one thing, I guess I'm once again responding to the headlines you've read about me, as opposed to what I actually said, because what you just quoted is precisely what I said, that Christians believe all of the Old Testament, that we consider our testament the continuation, the messiah you are anticipating in your testament.

And if you're going to go around citing all the people I have offended, Alan, I have 1,000 Orthodox rabbis supporting me. It appears to be the same people who hate [conservative radio host] Dennis Prager, who were upset about my remarks. All of these organizations based on, you know -- you know, being Jewish, being Muslim, being a woman, they represent Jews the way the National Organization for Women represents women.

COLMES: Ann, I'm up against a break here, but I'm going to challenge your assertion about how much of the Jewish community actually supports you when we get back, which I'm sure you'd like to waive that and say that that's what's going on --

COULTER: Religious Jewish community.

COLMES: We'll pick it up in a moment. More with Ann Coulter right after the break.

[...]

COLMES: We're back with Ann Coulter. You claim 1,000 Orthodox rabbis support you. I don't know who they are, but I can tell you, you know, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Congress, and many others have condemned you for that. Do you care?

COULTER: Yeah, the Anti-Defamation League condemns Dennis Prager. I wear it as a badge of honor. It's like citing the National Organization of Women to tell me how all women feel. The point is: This is the same old fight we see all the time with the irreligious trying to stir up trouble with the religious.

Yes, godless liberals are upset that other people believe in God. This is the exact same thing we saw with George Bush speaking at Bob Jones University. And suddenly, The New York Times was offended on behalf of Catholics, because of some untoward remarks the original Bob Jones had made about the Catholic Church, not as bad as what the New York Times had said about the Catholic Church, I might add, and religious people just don't fall for it. We know the real enemy are secularists.

COLMES: So all the Jews offended, upset and hurt by what you said, because words do hurt and they do sting, all those Jews, the ADL, the National --

COULTER: You don't even know what words I've said, since --

COLMES: -- let me get -- let me get my question out --

COULTER: -- you don't even know what words I said --

COLMES: -- all those people are irreligious? They lack religion, right, Ann?

COULTER: -- from the beginning part of what I said.

COLMES: They lack religion, all those people?

COULTER: No, I'm saying what this fight is about. You don't even know what words I said, based on what you apparently thought was contrary to something I had said.

COLMES: Ann, I know exactly what you said. You don't want to own up to it.

COULTER: I recommend -- no, you don't --

COLMES: You don't want to acknowledge the reaction to it.

COULTER: I said that the New Testament is the continuation of the Old Testament, that Christians believe that Jews who practice the Old Testament go to Heaven. Our testament is the fast track, because we have the messiah that is the anticipated throughout the Old Testament.

And as someone said -- I heard it was [former Israeli leader] Menachem Begin, I don't know if it is -- someone asked him, “If you meet the messiah on Earth, what would you say to him?” And he said, “I'd say, 'Is this your first time?' ” That's what the whole Old Testament is anticipating. Some messiah. They think we got the wrong guy. I gave a beautiful description of the Old Testament and the New Testament, but it's very frightening to secularists.

COLMES: No, you use the classic language of anti-Semitism. However, let me move on here because there are lots of other things to talk about.

COULTER: What, like 'Good evening?'

COLMES: Let's get back to Nancy Pelosi. No, it's the classic language of anti-Semitism. You said in the past that women should be armed --

COULTER: How about eating soup? Is that a classic food of anti-Semites?

COLMES: Yeah, that's lovely, Ann. I'm going to move on in spite of yourself, and maybe save you from saying something else that's ridiculous.