N.J. Columnist Blasts Ann Coulter Without Naming Her

By: E&P Staff Columnist Bob Braun wrote a piece today for The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., that blasted Ann Coulter without naming her.

The new book by Coulter, who also writes a Universal Press Syndicate column, has many nasty things to say about the so-called "Jersey Widows" of 9/11 victims. Braun has written a number of Star-Ledger columns about these women since 2001.

In today's piece, Braun wrote: "Many children will not celebrate Father's Day Sunday because their fathers are dead. Among them are seven boys and girls who have the distinction of also knowing their mothers are the targets of a heartless woman who will make millions of dollars for herself and Random House, her publisher, by shamelessly exploiting a family, and national tragedy, for profit."

These women, said Braun, "almost alone persuaded Congress -- despite presidential opposition -- to create the 9/11 commission that exposed the feckless behavior of our national government in the face of a clear and imminent threat to our safety from Islamic fundamentalist terrorists. ... (T)hey were determined such a horror should never happen again.

"If reason and justice somehow could trump profit and ideology, these children and their mothers would now face Father's Day still in mourning but aware we are in their debt. Instead, they know every mention of that writer's name brings her even more readers, more sales. Which is why her name will not be mentioned here."

Braun continued: "The attack on the 9/11 widows was a conflation of two of the most powerful forces in our country -- rabid political ideology and profit. One provides the market for the other. When the two meet, virtually anything is justified. ..."

"Some -- but not all -- of the widows campaigned for John Kerry in the last election. That turns them and their children into raw meat for some of the devouring beasts of the fundamentalist right. And, if money can be made, so much the better."

Braun concluded: "As a gift to these seven children, don't buy the book. At least not as a Father's Day present."