The country is more polarized than ever and a tremendous amount of hate is infecting political dialogue, USC Gould School of Law Professor Susan Estrich told an audience of students, staff, faculty and others Nov. 8.
Estrich spoke about her book “Soulless: Ann Coulter and the Right-Wing 
Church of Hate,” (ReganBooks, 2006) and answered questions from the audience. An hors d’oeuvres reception and book-signing followed the discussion.
Estrich, the Robert Kingsley Professor of Law and Political Science at USC, said she is interested in civil discourse, but radical pundits – and media outlets that air only black-and-white debates – make it all but impossible.
“It’s gotten just ridiculous out there,” she said. “This is what debate is like in this country: Two people on extreme ends of the issue screaming at each other. We have Michael Moore screaming at Ann Coulter.”
Coulter, a conservative political commentator, recently published the controversial book “Godless: The Church of Liberalism.” She became known for making brash comments and saying “vile things,” Estrich said, including calling liberals “gutless wonders” and casting Democrats as the opposition party to God.
“She just decided to be a ‘pundette’ and started saying these outrageous things,” Estrich said. “These things would come out of her mouth, but because she wears a black cocktail dress and has long blonde hair people say, ‘Oh, isn’t she pretty? Isn’t she funny?’”
Estrich also touched on the results of the midterm election held Nov. 7. The first woman to run a presidential campaign when she worked for Gov. Michael Dukakis in 1988, Estrich called the Democratic Party’s newfound majority in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives “a major victory.” Recruiting really good candidates helped the party achieve the victory, she said.
Estrich said she hoped the election’s results were stirring enough to entice current law students to consider going into politics.
“There is no field in which you can go in and wield power as quickly as in politics, because of the idiots who came before you,” she said. “I would just urge you, if you have a passion to go into politics at all, don’t let the disgusting part of it get you down because it is just as exciting as ever.”
Estrich, a Fox News commentator, has been a professor at USC for 16 years. She was the first female president of the Harvard Law Review and the youngest woman to receive tenure at Harvard Law School. She is the author of The Case for Hillary Clinton (ReganBooks, 2005) and How to Get Into Law School (Riverhead Books, 2004). She is scheduled to appear with Coulter on Sunday, Nov. 12, on “The Big Story with John Gibson” on Fox News Channel.
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