Republican pundit Ann Coulter faced The New Republic editor Peter Beinart last night in Cabot Auditorium for a debate on the state of moral values in America.
Assistant Professor of Political Science Deborah Schildkraut moderated the debate and a coin toss allowed Beinart to give his opening remarks first.
"Morality isn't easy to define," he said. "The Bible says [morality] has to do with how you treat the dispossessed."
Beinart went on to give statistics on the higher rates of infant mortality, child poverty and uninsured children in the so-called conservative red states, compared to low corresponding figures in liberal blue states.
"States like Massachusetts and Vermont tax the rich more and spend more on poor children. States like Texas tax little and spend little," Beinart said.
He said that under former U.S. President Bill Clinton, child poverty, crime, divorce, unemployment and abortion went down.
"A recent study by a pro-life group found that two-thirds of women who had had abortions said they did so because they were afraid they could not provide for the child," Beinart said. "Now, abortion [and] divorce-rates are back up under this moralist [President George W. Bush]."
He said that Bill Clinton raised the income tax while the Bush administration has given only a one percent tax cut to those who make under $50,000 a year while giving the top one percent of the nation a 30 percent tax cut.
Beinart closed his opening remarks by questioning the Bush administration's military budget cuts, which have prevented a number of U.S. troops stationed in Iraq from receiving bonuses, the Family Separation Allowance, armored trucks and bulletproof Kevlar vests.
Coulter opened her remarks with the usual one-liner her fans are accustomed to. "There's no one left to argue with on the Left - I've started to like liberals when they're afraid and shivering," she said.
"I keep hearing Democrats say they couldn't get their message out [during the last Presidential election] - I don't believe that was the problem," Coulter said. "Was it a good idea to say it's our constitutional right to stick a fork in a baby's head?"
She countered Beinart's figures on poverty in red states by calling it a "coincidence" and saying there was no causal effect. "It's like saying Ann Coulter lives in New York City, thus [New York City] produces right-wing lunatics. There were fewer poor under Bill Clinton because it was a booming economy - there are cycles. And if abortion is up, I don't see a relationship either."
With regard to Beinart's criticism of Bush's tax cuts, Coulter said, "I don't see much of a correlation between tax cuts and a better economy. There were tax cuts under Reagan and we had a booming economy."
Concerning Beinart's remarks on the Bush administration's military budget cuts, Coulter rhetorically asked, "Who cares more about the Iraqis being raped? Which party? [The Democrats had] a candidate who calls troops baby killers and rapists. Which party supports the troops?"
Schildkraut then opened the floor for questions from the packed auditorium.
One student asked Beinart whether he thought liberalism had any real thinkers left and if liberalism had entered a dark age.
"I disagree with that. Liberals and the Democratic Party are not in power but liberalism does have ideas," Beinart said. "One of the most important ideas liberals stand for is equality of opportunity, for meritocracy. Republicans want an aristocracy of wealth that will be the revolutionaries' best friend in the end. Liberals temper capitalism with justice."
Coulter disagreed with Beinart. "Yeah, [liberals] have ideas, but they're unpopular. Hillary Clinton and Howard Dean say they want to reach out to pro-lifers but they do it just so they can get them to vote for them.
"Democrats are now living on the historical memory of what the Democratic Party used to be to convince themselves the party isn't insane yet," she said.
The next question asked the speakers to give their views on Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, passed in 2001. According to the Department of Education's Web site, the aim of the bill is to "close the achievement gap and make sure all students, including those who are disadvantaged, achieve academic proficiency."
The bill depends on some standardized testing to test this gap.
"There is a value to standardized tests but it's good for bad schools and bad for good schools," Beinart said. "I agree with George W. Bush on this one, the No Child Left Behind Act will do more good than harm but you need to give bad schools the resources to pass the test - if not, it's a joke because bad schools will water down tests so [the bill] does no good."
"Rich people don't want the No Child Left Behind Act because they want to buy their way into good schools like Tufts," Coulter said. "Is it a coincidence that rich areas have all the learning disabilities and extra time on tests?"
The final question from the audience asked Coulter and Beinart whether they felt the regime change in Iraq was the right thing.
"We don't know if Iraq will turn out to be a good thing or not. I think there's no question that if Americans had known there were no weapons of mass destruction or nuclear program in Iraq, we would not have gone," Beinart said. "It may turn out that this war we went to on false pretenses may have good consequences but it's still too early to know."
"I am not wild about throwing American troops around but we had a lot of reasons for going in," Coulter said. "[Democrats] act like the weapons of mass destruction were the only reason. I think we may see a transformed Middle East by the end of the Bush term - it's like [the fall of] the Berlin Wall."
"We haven't gone to war with Syria and they presumably have weapons of mass destruction," Beinart said.
"We may not have to because we invaded Iraq," Coulter responded.
After the question and answer session, Schildkraut invited the speakers to give their closing remarks.
Beinart again went first.
"Democracy in the Middle East is a wonderful thing. I am willing to give Bush credit for the wonderful sentiments in his inaugural address, but we can't tell others to change if we don't look at our own society," Beinart said. "It's no surprise people around the world are so cynical about America," he said.
Coulter responded to this by saying that "a prediction that Osama [bin Laden]'s son will be elected is prediction 98 by liberals that's wrong. Kerry predicted no elections [in Iraq] by January in his presidential debates."
She said that Democrats always accounted for Republican successes as good luck. "[The Democrats] brought you the Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, and turned their back to the Shah of Iran."
"Keep voting Republican if you want good luck in foreign policy," Coulter said.
The event was sponsored by Programming Board's Lecture Series.
