On Tuesday, Ann Coulter sat down at a book party hosted by The Daily Caller to discuss her newest book, “Never Trust a Liberal over 3 — Especially a Republican.” This latest work from the bestselling author takes a critical look within the Republican Party at what went wrong in 2012 and how to improve that going forward.
In her interview with The Daily Caller, Coulter talked about getting booked on MSNBC, the specifics of Republican electoral politics and how she has started watching more CNN since Jeff Zucker took over the cable news network.
On the possibility of going on MSNBC on this book tour:
“I don’t think that’s going to happen. They have six viewers but I’m dying to go on. Can you imagine how fun that would be?”
“For two years I have been taunting Lawrence O’Donnell for being a pussy and that has not worked. Maybe I’ll have to start calling him manly.”
Reaction to Alec Baldwin’s 10 p.m. ET show:
“He should not be serious. He should be funny because he’s really, really funny. And he should definitely have me on. You know I’m constantly defending him, including on Hannity to 14 million listeners.”
Hindsight of the 2012 election:
“I think Romney was the ideal candidate.”
“He’s a businessman who was a governor. By businessman, I mean some of the people I’ve supported in the past. So I’m not just accusing Republicans here. I’ve made the same mistake. I’ve supported Pat Buchanan, Steve Forbes. For a while, I supported Herman Cain, even last year because I loved 9-9-9. Pete DuPont, Duncan Hunter, Phil Crane. We can’t run a congressman, just a businessman, just an inspirational leader. It’s got to be somebody who has been a governor or a senator. We have a fair number of them. We throw them in the debate, see who’s best. There’s Rick Snyder in Michigan, Rick Scott in Florida … Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.
Was there anyone besides Romney who might have fared better against Obama?
“Oh gag — no. Oh no, in fact I think we are going to win 2016 with a candidate who is not as good as Romney. Romney was a magnificent candidate and it enrages me that people will never see it because he narrowly lost to an incumbent. If this were the same demographics, as I’ve said a million times, the same demographics as 1980, Romney would have won bigger than Reagan did.”
Do the consultants deserve some of the blame for the 2012 loss?
“I do think it is the consultants. That’s one of the many categories. The broader category I have is people helping themselves by hurting the Republican Party. And then off that, I have various categories. And one is the consulting class and the party committees. I mean, how is it — I’ve been told it was Frank Fahrenkopf who agreed to have all of those left-wing moderators. You don’t have one Brit Hume? And as far as I’m concerned, he’s pretty moderate. You don’t have one John Stossel? I’ll take Jake Tapper. He’s a fair reporter. But we have debates with Candy Crowley?”
“And I like George Stephanopoulos but still, he did work for a Democratic president. Can you imagine Karl Rove doing a debate? It’s madness.”
“And there were too many debates. Who does that hurt? Who is that helping? That’s what hurt Romney the most, And too many of us were distracted by Herman Cain, by Newt Gingrich, by this one, by that one. They’re never going to be the candidate.
“It should have been from the beginning — and I’m not saying I like these people — it should have been Huntsman, Santorum, Perry, Romney. That’s it. We could have focused sooner. I want to get it wrapped up by mid-February because Romney — he finally won the nomination by the end of May. It’s ridiculous.”
“Start in November, December of 2015. Do January, February. We don’t need more than a dozen debates.”
Does Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan get a pass on the “no congressman” rule in 2016?
“Oh gag no. No. A — no congressmen. And if you’re pulling a congressman out of a hat, I’ll take Jim Jordan.”
Coulter also speaks highly of Louisiana Republican Rep. Steve Scalise.
What are your media viewing habits these days? Are you still watching a lot of MSNBC?
“It used to be until [Jeff Zucker] took over CNN, it’s clearly going to be one that you and I start watching.”
Have you seen the new “Crossfire?”
“I tried watching it once because I thought they were going to put me on, but then I got canceled.”
On watching more CNN:
“It used to be that if you asked me what happened on CNN, you may as well have asked me what happened on Mars that day. I don’t even think I could find it on the dial. And actually, you know when I started watching it — it was a tweet from Mickey Kaus during the Boston Marathon bombing. The night they were chasing those guys, Mickey sent out a tweet about what a great job Jake Tapper is doing. And I thought, ‘Let’s find CNN on the dial. And then I stayed with CNN through that whole thing. Piers Morgan is getting better — especially since he gave me a nice interview. And Jake Tapper. And also, I like their morning show, except they haven’t had me on, so I hate them.”