On Caldara's KOA show, Coulter claimed women's suffrage "explains the destruction of America"

Summary: Appearing as a guest on Jon Caldara's Newsradio 850 KOA program, right-wing pundit Ann Coulter asserted that women aren't "concerned with how capital is generated and created," and claimed that women's suffrage "explains the destruction of America." Her remarks echoed those in a 2007 blog posting that quoted her as saying, "If we took away women's right to vote, we'd never have to worry about another Democrat president."

On the June 16 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Jon Caldara Show, frequent guest and right-wing pundit Ann Coulter told host and Independence Institute President Jon Caldara that giving women the right to vote "explains the destruction of America." Coulter added that women aren't "concerned with how capital is generated and created, and ... what keeps the economy booming. They just want to ... divide up what Dad brings home." She further stated that women "really seem more interested in keeping abortion legal, and more goodies, and ... dividing up what Pops brings home."

During the interview, Caldara said that he would give President Bush "great credit and some pretty good grades" for his time in office and asked, "But does that make up for the absolute nonsensical stuff he's done on fiscal policy, energy policy, foreign policy, Medicaid policy? So let me just put it out there. Do you want to go down the rant, or -- how do you say [Bush] was the greatest president?" Coulter replied, "I mean, for one thing, the biggest issue facing the country, he gets an A+ on, and that is Islamic terrorism. Now, moving that aside, he cut taxes. That's really big." She then added, "As for the spending, you know, sorry, we lost that when you people gave women the right to vote."

Later in the broadcast, after Caldara asked, "So if there was a constitutional amendment -- if it was on the ballot this fall -- to end women's suffrage, that is, to take away the vote, you'd vote for it?" Coulter responded, "I've been lobbying for this for years. Where have you been?"

Coulter's comments about women's suffrage echoed remarks that appeared in an October 2, 2007, New York Observer blog post, which quoted her as saying, "If we took away women's right to vote, we'd never have to worry about another Democrat [sic] president. It's kind of a pipe dream, it's a personal fantasy of mine, but I don't think it's going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women."

From the June 16 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Jon Caldara Show.

CALDARA: Let me concede a point. Yes, I believe the United States is safer. I support, in large parts, the war on terror. And in that part, I will give [Bush] great, great credit and some pretty good grades. But does that make up for the absolute nonsensical stuff he's done on fiscal policy, energy policy, foreign policy, Medicaid policy? So let me just put it out there. Do you want to go down the rant, or -- how do you say he was the greatest president?

COULTER: I mean, for one thing, the biggest issue facing the country, he gets an A+ on, and that is Islamic terrorism. Now, moving that aside, he cut taxes. That's really big.

CALDARA: I'll give you that one.

COULTER: As for the spending, you know, sorry, we lost that when you people gave women the right to vote.

CALDARA [laughs]: By the way, have you ever read John Lott's essay on that?

COULTER: Oh, yeah; I cite it constantly.

CALDARA: Yeah. For those who don't know --

COULTER: I knew about it before he had printed it, because the great Phyllis Schlafly invited him to speak at a luncheon where I was speaking. We were all dumbstruck by it. I mean, it totally made sense. I had guessed that; I had been writing that; he actually ran the numbers. Oh, and by the way, let me explain, you and I know what we're talking about, your listeners don't --

CALDARA: So you actually remember there's somebody out there listening.

COULTER: -- because I cite him constantly for this. It's a fascinating study, because women didn't get the vote all at once in the United States. I mean, federally they did, but states had been giving women the right to vote at various times. In fact, the first few states were, you know, these total right-wing Western states, like Wyoming, I think, may have been the first, or some state like Wyoming.

CALDARA: I believe Colorado was.

COULTER: Oh, OK. Well, congratulations. And what he did is -- for leading the way in this stupidity -- what he did was look at government spending before women got the vote and after women got the vote. In every case, in every state, and federally, women get the vote, and usually it takes a few years for women to start exercising it, so it doesn't hit immediately, but it basically explains the New Deal. [laughs] It explains the destruction of America. Women want their -- women aren't, you know, concerned with how capital is generated and created, and, you know, what keeps the economy booming. They just want to, you know, divide up what Dad brings home.

CALDARA: So if there was a constitutional amendment -- if it was on the ballot this fall -- to end women's suffrage, that is, to take away the vote, you'd vote for it?

COULTER: I've been lobbying for this for years. Where have you been?

CALDARA: I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page.

COULTER: I've written columns about it, I've talked about it. It's really kind of a pipe dream; I don't think it would happen, because unfortunately, my minority -- women -- is a majority.

CALDARA: Don't you understand, you are fighting a dichotomy here. At one point, you want women to lose the right to vote, and on the other point, you are trying to fight against a Muslim takeover of the United States. If you want one, ya gotta have the other. Let's think ahead here, Annie.

COULTER: I don't know, they really seem more interested in keeping abortion legal, and more goodies, and, you know, dividing up what Pops brings home, and rather than --

[crosstalk]

CALDARA: Those countries where women can't vote are the ones who are also giving us the terrorists.

COULTER: Well, you know --

CALDARA [laughs]: You gotta pay the price somewhere. All right, let's get back to George.

COULTER: OK, the rooster crows; the sun comes up. That doesn't mean the rooster crowing caused the sun to come up. We had a perfectly civilized country before the '30s.

CALDARA: Let's get back to your column, Miss.

—J.M.

John McMahon is an intern at Colorado Media Matters.