Last Thursday, I had the honor of participating in a live debate with Ann Coulter at the 27th annual Founder's Night event for Colorado's Independence Institute, one of the most truly awesome state-based think tanks in this sweet land of liberty.
If and when audio, video, and secret drone footage becomes available, we''ll post it here. In the meantime, here's a report from The Colorado Observer that gets the flavor of the friendly but often spirited argument between myself and the author, most recently, of Demonic: How the Liberal Mob is Endangering America.
Snippets from the Observer:
Drawing both admiration and occasionally scorn from the diverse audience due to their widely varying opinions, both could agree on the most important issue in the 2012 election cycle.
"I object to having this discussion at all when we're facing financial Armageddon," said Coulter in her opening remarks. "It's silly to even talk about these things, whether it's gay marriage or contraception."
"The spending problem is not due to women, it's not due to men, it's due to humans, mostly politicians. It's in the form of entitlements," declared Gillespie. He pointed to Medicare, Medicaid, and defense spending. "That's what we need to be focusing on if we want to reduce the amount of government, the amount of borrowing, and hence the amount of future control over our lives via taxes and redistribution."
Coulter and Gillespie…tackled civil unions and gay marriage, one of the hot button social issues at both the national and local level. Colorado's state Senate passed legislation supporting civil unions out of committee this week.
"I don't think there is a difference," Coulter argued when asked if civil unions and gay marriage remained substantially different. "Protecting gay rights is done by contracts," said Coulter. She said she respected the collective wisdom of state referenda that have consistently shot down such legislation, favoring the "civilizing" effect of the institution of marriage. "Marriages should be protected."
"The difference between same sex marriage and civil unions is what you pay the caterer," quipped Gillespie. "Gay marriage is upon us and will continue in the future. The poll numbers are there. Gays are moving into a place of legal equality under the law. That is right and proper and good," Gillespie maintained….
The speakers differed on the impact of third parties in presidential elections. "Whoever wins this election, it's not the Libertarians' fault," joked Gillespie, who quickly added the important caveat that voters should stay true to their principles. "If you can't vote what you believe in the privacy of the ballot, move to Russia."
"No one is saying you can't vote what you believe. This country is going to be Russia if you don't get rid of Obama," Coulter countered.
