Coulter: Pundit; Lightning Rod; Publicity Hound; Deadhead?

The Lemmming Home would like to thank Grateful Dead News for finding this story on July 21, 2006.

From America Online this is 'Required Reading' with the AOL Book Maven, Bethanne Patrick.

Bethanne Patrick: Hi, this is AOL's Book Maven, Bethanne Patrick, and today I'm speaking with Ann Coulter who is just out with a new book called 'Godless: The Church of Liberalism in America.' Ann, you just told me you were out until 3AM last night with Bobby Weir.

Ann Coulter: My life-long crush.

Bethanne Patrick: I love it. You have to tell us more about why you got to go out with Bobby Weir. Everyone should know that Ann Coulter is a big Dead-head.

Ann Coulter: Yes, well they saw an interview I did recently and invited me to the show. It was at Radio City Music Hall, and it was one of the greatest nights of my life. I was like an Orthodox Jew meeting Moses. Bobby is of course every girl's lifelong crush and he's every bit as cool and as wonderful as I could hope he could be. And the band, 'String Cheese Incident' started for them. It was one of the greatest nights of my life.

People are often incorrectly surprised that there are a lot of conservative dead heads. I'd mentioned that in an interview, and actually on the 'Tonight Show,' that one of my friends -- who was a fellow Deadhead -- would get up in the morning, smoke a bowl, turn on Rush Limbaugh, and start making his candles for 'Grateful Dead' merchandising. I met his brother at the show.


Bethanne Patrick: I've heard this a lot. You're not the first conservative to be a big Grateful Dead fan. How do you reconcile the free-wheeling ideas and lifestyles of other Deadheads, and the band itself, with your own, very hard-core, right-wing, conservative beliefs?

Ann Coulter: I actually think the lifestyle is more consistent for a right-winger. I mean, the smoking issue, for example. Conservatives don't have a problem with personal freedoms. Liberals are the ones going around taping up no smoking sings every place. And this is one of the things I always loved about 'Dead' shows, they genuinely were friendly, or we were, since I considered myself one of them, genuinely interested in other ideas, and they wouldn't get angry and pout-y, and call you a Fascist and walk away. You could talk about anything.

A lot of my San Francisco Deadhead friends were total Deadheads, and often, I admit, many of them gravitated towards liberalism because of their interest in drug legalization laws. However, you start with that and the whole edifice starts to fall of the usefulness of government regulation generally.

Bethanne Patrick: So, how is your reception at these events? Bobby and Phil and everyone else, they see Ann Coulter and they don't say, 'Oh my gosh, run away, she's evil.' They say, 'Oh, we embrace her, we love her, she's our greatest fan?'

Ann Coulter: Well, I had a great time, they were all very friendly. The 'String Cheese Incident' band members were hilarious, and they agree, obviously, on many conservative principles, on capitalism, for example. 'String Cheese Incident' famously -- and I found out last night that it was my former fiancé who was the lawyer who brought the case -- 'String Cheese Incident' sued Ticket Master so they could sell tickets at different prices. Ticketmaster had total control of it, and they now have control of it. So, they're totally with me on that, although, I must say, they said to me, 'You have to explain why you support George Bush.' And I said, 'Ok, I'll give you a thirty-second explanation,' because what they were talking about was Iraq and not tax cuts, for example. And I said, 'Ok, I'll give you a thirty-second explanation,' and I began with the attack on 9/11. And they did say something that cut me off at the knees and I could go no further. They think it was an inside job and then I just laughed and said, 'You know, if you think it's an inside job, the rest of my explanation falls apart.'

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