Coulter : a knife, sharp disc, or other cutting tool that is attached to the beam of a plow to cut the sward in advance of the plowshare and moldboard (Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (30 Nov. 2004).

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I know I said I wouldn’t watch Ann on TV anymore, but I didn’t say I wouldn’t read her column. I like reading her column because I am always amazed that a person with her intelligence and accomplishment can act like such a jackass, which she does with élan.

Ann Ostrich (I am trying out various nicknames – I like ostrich, because I think of an ostrich when I look at Ann), who refers to President Clinton as a buffoon, thinks the Republicans still haven’t got it. She thinks Republicans suffer from some sort of inferiority complex that prevents them from making the most of their dominance in elections over the past quarter century. I think Republicans just don’t know how to govern very well. They know better than Ann Ostrich what they know how to do.

Republicans get elected and then push as hard as they can and pray to God that the Democrats will stop them before they screw things up. For example, most Americans believe in the right to privacy and the right of a woman to choose whether to have an abortion. The last thing the Republicans want to do is to get on the wrong side of that issue; but, they also need to pacify Conservative Nation, so they talk the talk about the right to life and hope that the other side will stop them before they actually select a judge who agrees with them. Ever ask why the President isn’t pushing for that right to life amendment to the Constitution? He is stupid, but not stupid, you know what I mean?

That, Ann Ostrich, is why the Republicans act as though they didn’t win anything. Unless they are the perennial underdog, they probably wouldn’t win anything. They may be the party of ideas; they are just not the party of good ideas.