Flyhawk strays to Marquette, checks out neocon überbabe

Loyal SooToday.com reader and frequent News Response forum poster Flyhawk25 sallied forth to Marquette this week, to attend a speech by conservative author and commentator Ann Coulter at Northern Michigan University.

Flyhawk, who enjoys sniffing around the Coultergeist but never inhales, sent us the following first-person account:

************************* My journey into the Heart of Darkness

My apologies to Joseph Conrad.

But a left-winger like me going to a speech by neocon überbabe Ann Coulter in faraway Marquette, Michigan was a bit of a walk into the dark side.

My traveling companion - the mayor of Monocle Lake, Michigan - warned me to be prepared for potential nastiness.

But since he decided to leave his .357 Magnum “at the cabin,” I decided that the reward was worth the risk.

Hizzoner and I have been friends for many years and disagree on all things political, but share a love of the U.S. constitution, the rule of law and cold beer.

Not necessarily in that order.

Returning to my academic roots, I did some research on Ms. Coulter prior to our trip.

I had expected to find that she was typical of all of the right-wing journalists whom I had been forcing myself to listen to on AM 1400 radio.

What surprised on visiting her website was that she is leading a movement to have a national memorial made to honor the late Senator Joe McCarthy.

That Joe McCarthy - senator from Wisconsin, commie hater and wrecker of many liberal celebrity careers.

On second thought, I wondered if I might not need a gun.

I needn't have worried.

Ann Coulter turned out to be any media flak’s cover girl.

Attractive.

Bright.

Opinionated.

Attractive.

Very attractive.

Pity she wasn’t around at the time of Hanoi Jane Fonda.

The televised debate would have made the WWE pale.

According to one of my new-found friends - Matthew Golden of Great Lake Strategies - who runs a right-wing consulting firm in East Lansing and was one of the people responsible for putting the event together, there were 1,200 predominantly Republican students and a few disenchanted Democrats.

And me.

The aforementioned Dems had an “information picket line” set up at the entrance.

On a scale of 10 (10 being the 1968 DNC in Chicago and one being the save-the-brown-squirrel-rally last week in Pembine, Wisconsin) this one ranked a two.

It made me wonder why they bothered in a year the Democrats should win handily.

Then I remembered my undergraduate days when spring arrived.

We’d picket anything as long as the sun was shining.

As it turned out, most of them paid their $5 student rate and walked out in three groups at separate times to sporadic, derisive applause.

Ms. Coulter ignored them.

I did not expect fireworks and Ann Coulter did not disappoint me.

She was preaching to the converted after all.

She did refer to the Democratic hopeful as “B.Hussein Obama” and pilloried Hillary in a kinder and gentler fashion than Rush Limbaugh.

Think gender affiliation syndrome.

What I did find surprising was her reference to Senator McCain as a “broken vessel” and the fact that she said that she might just have to hold her nose and vote for Senator Obama if he wins the Democratic nomination.

In all, I found her speech to be a collection of sound bites dusted off for a gathering of believers.

Not surprising, it lacked both sound and fury.

When the softball Q&A session started, I drifted outside to talk to my fellow unwashed pinkos.

I found them to be like an American version of young Liberals and NDP - fervent and a bit bedraggled.

All of mom and dad’s orthodontic budgets had been spent on the crowd inside.

When all is said and done, Republicans and Tories do have nicer teeth than the masses.

In the end, any hint of electricity or fear of confrontation was unfounded.

The Republican kids at NMU had paid $23,000 to hear a celebrity and I had paid $15 to watch.

Later on over beer, we learned more from Matt, Tracy, Alex and some other kids from Lake Superior State University than we did from Ms. Coulter.

Great bunch of serious political young adults.

Remember their names: Matthew Golden and Alex Strobehn. Twenty one years old and Republican.

The new face of conservative Michigan.

*************************