Ann Coulter's new book, "Godless: The Church of Liberalism"

Ann Coulter's best-selling new book unfortunately has a title that makes it sound like a fundamentalist screed: "Godless: The Church of Liberalism." However, the book might be interesting reading for those on both sides of the evolution controversy, because -- according to Uncommon Descent -- almost half of it is devoted to science and evolution. An ad for the book says --

Coulter uncovers the essential truth about Darwinism that liberals won't confront: It is bogus science.

After a century and a half of examining the fossil record, Coulter states, evolution's proponents have failed to substantiate its claims, and instead one supposed piece of evidence after another has been exposed as a hoax.

But liberals cling devotedly to Darwinism, Coulter says, because they desperately need to disprove the possibility of God's existence at any cost -- and will accept no challenges to their "official religion."

I am really surprised to find myself on the same side as the fundies in this debate over evolution. And I certainly strongly disagree with Ann Coulter's support for school prayer.

Ed Brayton's blog Dispatches from the Culture Wars attacked Coulter in an article titled, "Ann Coulter Crosses the Line":

I didn't think it was possible for me to despise Coulter any more than I already did, but a friend just emailed me a link to this article from Media Matters wherein she compares herself to H.L. Mencken. And that just crosses my line..... Mencken is the finest essayist America has ever produced. Coulter is a carnival barker on the midway of right wing politics. She's not fit to sweep up the ashes from his cigar.

However, I think that Ed is the one who has crossed the line here. Coulter was not the one who initiated the comparisons to other well-known people -- the interviewer did that when he called her the "opposite of Michael Moore," the well-known Academy Award winning documentary filmmaker. And Ed wanted to show off that he is so-o-o-o sophisticated that he knows that "Mencken is the finest essayist America has ever produced." Ed, Ann Coulter has at least become a #1 best-selling author on eBay, which is more than can be said of you.

Also, the book has aroused controversy outside of science and evolution -- an article titled "Hillary lashes out at Ann Coulter" says:

Coulter writes in a new book, "Godless: The Church of Liberalism," that a group of New Jersey widows whose husbands perished in the World Trade Center act "as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them."

She also wrote, "I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much."

Coulter appeared Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show, and reiterated her stance, saying the women used their grief "to make a political point."

Her criticism was aimed at four New Jersey women whom she dubbed "The Witches of East Brunswick," after the town where two of them live.

They have spent the years since the 2001 terror attacks supporting an independent commission to examine government failures before the attack, and in the 2004 presidential campaign they endorsed Democrat John Kerry.

Calling for an independent commission to examine government failures before the attack hardly sounds like they were "enjoying their husbands' deaths." I think that Coulter did cross the line this time, and unfortunately those remarks may hurt her credibility. There is a proposal to ban her book in New Jersey. Her attacks on the 9-11 widows are further discussed here.