Ann Coulter and John Edwards
I’ve just finished up a move, so I’m only now playing catchup with all the big news stories of the past several days. I personally don’t take Ann Coulter very seriously, and I find it hard to get stirred up by her “outrageous” antics, which are in fact, quite predictable. Coulter’s bread and butter, her main source of financial wealth, is saying nasty things about Democrats. I’m not even sure Ann herself believes what she writes or says, it looks very much like an act used rile up her audience and elicit the traditional “I’m so shocked” response from the other side, which in turn pumps up her audience even more.
However, referring to John Edwards as a “faggot” really pushed my personal buttons, and had me scratching my head because of the fact that Edwards has concrete proof — in the form of his two children — that he is not gay. Of course, Coulter didn’t mean that he was gay literally, just that he was weak and effeminate.
As I’ve said many times, I am more or less a political moderate, but every time I see Republican behavior like this I go even more firmly into the Democratic camp. You would never see Al Franken referring to a Republican as a “faggot” at an important Democratic meeting. He may be critical, but he would never cross that line. Sure you have your extremists posting on blogs, commenting on blogs, etc., but these aren’t the major party luminaries. Ann Coulter is an important Republican party fixture — by speaking on the CPAC stage, the party is more or less endorsing her views. It’s like saying that core of the Republican party agrees that John Edwards is a “faggot.”
Glenn Greenwald has been covering this issue pretty well over at Salon.com.
However, I think the most telling thing here is who she chose to target. John Edwards is currently ranked third in list of candidates running for the Democratic Party nomination, but I believe unless Al Gore steps in this fall, then Edwards will likely be the nominee. Hillary and Obama are destined to destroy each other. Ann Coulter’s just getting an early start on breaking down the Democratic candidate.
