My friend Michael Gross (left) had to 
know this would happen. In the September issue of Vanity Fair, a writer named Michael Joseph Gross (right) published a profile a profile of Sarah Palin which one can fairly describe as unflattering (“Anywhere you peel back the skin of Sarah Palin’s life, a sad and moldering strangeness lies beneath.”) A number of people found the piece to be unfair and containing errors, including the political pyromaniac Ann Coulter, who used her column to attack not Michael Joseph Gross, a reasonably productive magazine writer and author of a book called Starstruck, but to lay into Michael Gross, an enormously prolific writer of a bazillion magazine articles including an astonishing 26 New York magazine cover stories, as well as such bestselling books as Rogues’ Gallery: The Secret History of the Moguls and the Money that Made the Metropolitan Museum, 740 Park, Genuine Authentic, and Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women. In her column, Coulter calls Michael “a typical, head-up-the-butt, New York reporter”, which, like so many of her comments, seems both 1.) harsh and 2.) inaccurate, at least in Michael’s case; I hold no brief for the other bloke. Anyway, this unleashed into Michael’s in-box a torrent of hate e-mail, which he quoted on his website:
“if you are the so called writer for vanity fair,this one’s for you! were you in Sarah’s bedroom,did you see whether her busband had sex with her….who are your so-called un-named sources and how many of them might have been peering through Sara’s bedroom windows…you’re peeping tom article is typical low life,new york jew smear….yes i am an anti semite,and those like you make my feelings all the clearer as to why” —
Sheila Lee (aug77@cox.net):
“Just wanted you to know that she could kick your ass…with one hand tied behind her back. Sad day in manhood…you pussy. Those terrorists use guys like you in place of sheep. I wish it weren’t true..I know guys like you can’t hardly wait.”–Michael Emley (maemley@comcast.net):
“You are an ass-clown.”–Sean Naylor (naylor41@mac.com):
“You are one fucked-up piece of shit. I just read Ann Coulter’s article about your Vanity Fair Article and have have to say, she hit it bang on. You are a real, gooy-gash piece of garbage. You need to find something else to criticize Sarah Palin about. Something thaT HAS SIGNIFICANCE REGARDING THE LIVES OF THE aMERICAN pEOPLE, NOT THE RETARDS WHO STRUGGLE TO READ VANITY fAIR.”–mIKE bOILEAU (boileau.mike@gmail.com)
A minor incident, but it says a lot about Hit-And-Run Coulter and her fans.
On the plus side, the Vanity Fair article did give us this brilliant Edward Sorel illustration above.
A few points:
1. To Ann Coutler–is Sarah Palin really worth defending? Is she really the person you want in the White House with her finger on the button? (P.S. Always double-check the byline to make sure you’ve got the right writer. Good thing you don’t work as an editor of an alumni magazine. Mistakes with names can be deadly. I once made a mistake with the name of a deceased dentistry professor (from 40 years ago) and it resulted in dentistry alumni putting out a contract on my life.)
2. To Ann Coutler fans–ok, I get it you like and follow Ms. Coutler. But wouldn’t it be better to read the Vanity Fair article for yourself and form your own opinions? Maybe it’s even worse than Ann says it is. (P.S. It might even help you send your hate e-mail to the right writer.)
3. To the right-wing gestapo: Are you aware of all the naughty words your fellow members of the God-squad are using? To make American safe for five-year olds, shouldn’t they have their tongues (or at least fingers) cut off?
On his blog, Michael Gross comments about my comment: http://www.mgross.com/gripebox/gross-and-grosser/
It’s too bad that Mr. Gross has the same name as the writer of the Vanity Fair article but it isn’t Ann Coulter’s fault. It would be odd for anyone to refer to everyone in their writing using their middle name. In your own post, you refer to Edward Sorel. Are you sure there is only one Edward Sorel? Perhaps Mr. Michael Gross could change his name to John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith. Then he should be safe from confusion.
Greg, thank you for commenting, but clearly you know little of the conventions of journalism. Generally speaking, once someone establishes a byline, it is respected as something unique and valuable. Yes, more than one person in a field can have the same name, which is why, once a byline has been identified with one person, subsequent writers with the same name will frequently adjust it–they use a nicknames, or initials, or middle names. Which, I’m sure, is why Michael Joseph Gross uses his middle name. Which is also why no other person has been using the name Ann Coulter to publish recipes or market advice or pro-Obama editorials. No editor would allow it. And Ann Coulter is intelligent enough and sophisticated enough to know all this. As you say, it is not her fault that Michael Gross and Michael Joseph Gross have similar names, but it is her fault that she didn’t copy the byline on the piece accurately, and it is surely her fault that she cannot admit that she has made a mistake.