Undue Praise

Now I'm not a regular viewer of "The View," but a segment from this Monday's episode grabbed my attention. The segment posted below shows the ladies' conversation with far-right critic and best-selling author Ann Coulter, whose new book Guilty is now in bookstores. See below:

Before I continue, I'd like to wonder aloud how these women are allowed to talk about real issues. I don't watch "The View," only certain clips on YouTube, but every time I see a clip, I am aghast at the lack of intelligence sitting around the table. Half of Joy Behar's statements are grossly incorrect. Elizabeth Hasselbeck is pretty, but also pretty dumb, and Whoopi and Sherri Shepherd are the most lilly-livered apologists going. The only person I have an ounce of respect for is Barbara Walters, but don't push it Barbara. 

That said, let me also say that I am not usually a supporter of Ann Coulter, as I feel that she represents the neo-conservative takeover of the Republican Party, a movement that I despise, but I have to give her credit where credit is due. Coulter is spot-on when it comes to single mothers and their portrayal in American society. Isn't it bizarre that we portray these women as heroes? Coulter is just citing facts: 80% of prison inmates are products of single mothers, 70% of juvenile delinquents are products of single mothers. Coulter even goes on to point out that when single motherhood is taken out of the equation, black and white crime rates are the same! Yet somehow, the most irresponsible members of society are exalted.

The response? Sherri Shepherd says Coulter isn't "compassionate enough." Whoopi Goldberg says that Coulter doesn't have kids and isn't married, so she wouldn't understand. Whoopi is right, the facts Coulter cited would change if Coulter was married, had the picket fence and 2.5 kids (please imagine sarcasm dripping off of your monitor). Ridiculous. Now, I'm not trying to attack all single mothers. There are undoubtedly millions of single mothers who don't have juvenile delinquents for children. All I'm saying is that the numbers don't lie. If we want to fix some of our problems in the United States, we're going to have to stop being apologists for every race, culture and religion and address our issues head on, no matter how politically incorrect they may be.

While Ann and I don't often agree, she is correct on this one and does have "thirty or forty years of social science evidence" to back up her claims. What do you think. It surely is a hot button issue. Hopefully I get some passionate comments.