Syndicated columnist Ann Coulter studied at the National Journalism Center in 1985, and was the keynote speaker Wednesday night at the NJC's 30th anniversary dinner. The following is excerpted from an e-mail interview with Miss Coulter:

Question: You are an alumna of the NJC. What was the most important lesson you learned there?

Answer: That no one cares about your opinion, especially if you are 20 years old. You have to know something -- we used to call them facts -- whether by old-fashioned reporting or some specialized knowledge such as the law or history, which have become two of my specialties. [NJC founder M. Stanton Evans] was irritated when I left NJC for law school, but look how handy that legal knowledge came in when we ended up with a felon in the White House! (Don't count on that happening again, kids! Abjure law school.)

Q: Conservatives have succeeded to a large extent in building an alternative "New Media" structure in talk radio, cable news, and the Internet, but the mainstream press seems as biased as ever. Why?

A: Because the MSM's motto is: "The consumer is always wrong!" Apparently, that's what happens when you've been a monopoly for 50 years.

Q: Everybody in Washington last week was buzzing over the accusations flying between Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. Any thoughts on that?

A: Yes, among the allegedly "fierce" attacks was this one, in which Obama said: "Senator Clinton is claiming basically the entire eight years of the Clinton presidency as her own, except for the stuff that didn't work out, in which case she says she has nothing to do with it. … I don't think Michelle would claim that she is the best qualified person to be a United States senator by virtue of me talking to her on occasion about the work I've done."

Oh, yeah. That is VICIOUS. Democrats are such girls.

Q: Your confrontational approach to liberalism has inspired a lot of young conservative women. Any chance you'll ever be recognized as a feminist icon?

A: No, I think that title belongs to John Edwards.

-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times