Ann Coulter: "The Left is Trying to Co-Opt Gays"
WASHINGTON - Conservative commentator Ann Coulter brought today's audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington to its feet in applause after urging the Republican party to include gays - perhaps getting the last word on the place gays have in the conservative movement after a tussle that pitted social conservatives against libertarians at this year's conference.
"The left is trying to co-opt gays," she said. "They should be on our side."
The fight over the Republican party's acceptance of gay conservatives and gay rights came to a head at CPAC, after organizers invited the gay conservative group GOProud to be an official participant. Some social conservative groups protested the convention as a result, but gay conservatives and their allies this week declared victory, observing that they were well-received at the event.
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Coulter noted today that she has been a strong supporter of GOProud. The right should embrace gays, women and other minority groups that liberals are trying to exploit, she said.
"We watched this for 30 years," she said. "The left keeps using one group after another to destroy the family. That is their goal, to destroy the family."
"Liberals want the family destroyed," she continued. "Then you have loyalty directly to the state."
Mainstream culture encourages gays to be liberal, Coulter said, just as it has told women that if they don't support abortion rights, they are against women's rights.
Coulter, who's known for peppering her speeches with puns and one-liners, also railed against liberals for their praise of pro-democracy protesters in Egypt and for health care reform.
"Liberals could not have been less interested in democracy when it came to taking out Saddam Hussein," Coulter said, mockingly adding that it has been "adorable seeing them get all choked up about democracy now."
She said it's unclear what the outcome in Egypt will be, and "you don't go around disturbing countries where you have a loyal ally."
Coulter blasted President Obama for not acknowledging the death of the Iranian woman called "Neda," which helped mobilize protesters in Iran in 2009, but for telling Egyptians that he hears their voices.
"He didn't hear our voices and we're protesting on the streets of Washington, D.C.," she said. "As long as Obama can hear their voices, maybe we should ask the Egyptians what they think of Obamacare."
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