Marking the fifth anniversary of the tea party movement, conservative U.S. Fox TV personality Sean
Hannity interviewed conservative syndicated firebrand columnist Ann Coulter Wednesday on his Fox News
Channel program.
Hannity led off by saying that he
sees the tea party as "stronger than ever."
Coulter made a distinction between
"fantastic" grass roots tea party supporters who helped bring about a
Republican-controlled House in 2010, and "conmen and scamsters" who
have arisen to trick "good Americans" into sending them money.
She maintained that "rich
groups" going after "establishment Republicans" had their own
agenda.
"The key word is 'Republicans,'"
she said.
The only way to repeal Obamacare is
to elect a Republican majority, she said. Coulter recommended Thomas Sowell's Wednesday column to the Hannity
audience in which he writes: "The Republican establishment's criticisms of
[Texas] Senator [Ted] Cruz are criticisms of his rule-or-ruin strategy, which
can destroy whatever chance Republicans have of taking back the Senate in 2014
and taking back the White House in 2016."
Hannity replied, "I disagree –
because I read the column."
He said the establishment
disappointed him and lacked a winning vision.
Coulter insisted success— in
repealing Obamacare as well as other issues— depended on a big GOP win. None of
Obama's policies will "fall on their own" unless they are rescinded
by a Republican-controlled congress.
Hannity held firm that the
establishment had not fought sufficiently hard to overcome the president's
policies.
"Give them a majority,"
Coulter countered. "Give them a majority!"
Hannity expressed skepticism. If the
Republicans gain control of the congress "then what are they going to tell
us? 'Give us the presidency. Then we can really do something.'"
She answered that if it were not for
"shysters and con men" Republicans would have already been in control
of the Senate.
Hannity shot back that the
establishment is the problem and that their opponents are pressing for sticking
to principles.
In wrapping up, Coulter asserted
that the anti-establishment forces were not genuinely opposed to immigration
amnesty.
She urged the audience not to donate
to the Senate Conservatives Fund.