“The only thing giving conservatism a bad name is cowards afraid to use terms like ‘faggot.’”

[sabra]

http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272611947.shtml

Defending Ann Coulter
By Cliff Kincaid
Mar 6, 2007

The Fox News Channel did a segment on Monday asking why Ann Coulter’s comments about John Edwards being a faggot have gotten more media attention than Bill Maher’s remark that more people would be alive if Vice President Cheney were dead. The answer is that Coulter made her comments at a national conference of conservatives, which included Cheney, former Ambassador John Bolton, several Senators, several presidential candidates, and was sponsored by most major conservative groups. By contrast, Maher made his remarks on a little-watched cable show. Plus, Coulter’s remarks were aired on C-SPAN.

There’s another difference: Maher has never had any credibility. Coulter, on the other hand, did have some. Back in 2003 I wrote a very sympathetic column about Coulter, noting how she demolished Bill O’Reilly during a discussion of alleged McCarthyism in Hollywood. Her book, Treason, was an excellent treatment of this controversy. She is a lawyer by training and once worked at a conservative legal group. She came out of the National Journalism Center in 1985, eight years after I went through the program.

But somehow, somewhere, something went wrong. Coulter decided that she had to stop being a serious analyst and commentator.

...

On the other hand, I have received some interesting emails from Coulter defenders. One was upset that John Edwards is exploiting Coulter’s attack to raise money for his presidential campaign. Edwards “is trying to raise $100,000 from other faggots for his faggot campaign,” he said. Another said, “It’s time we started upping the rhetoric against this (liberal) lobby.” Still another said: “The only thing giving conservatism a bad name is cowards afraid to use terms like ‘faggot.’” Finally, there was this one: “Ann shows more testosterone than you.”

I pray that these comments do not reflect the future of the conservative movement. Otherwise, there won’t be much of a conservative movement, at least in the sense that I understand the term.

[spoony]

1. The actual conservative movement

died a protracted death long ago, probably with the last of the isolationists in the 20's.

[tanyev]

2. Here's the good news, Cliff. That is not the future of the conservative movement.

Bad news: It is the present. This is what it took to (almost) open your eyes?

[Atman]

3. Conservative "movement" is the correct term...like a stinky tapered turd

No matter how you pinch it, it's still a stinky turd.

.

[Marnieworld]

4. You couldn't get Goldwater to stop calling people Faggots

Faggot this. Faggot that. Yep. That's what conservatism was all about back in the good old days. What is this world coming to? :sarcasm:

[Solly Mack]

5. Coulter decided that she had to stop being a serious analyst and commentator.

WTF has he been snorting?

AC NEVER was "a serious analyst and commentator"

[tnlefty]

9. Perhaps he remembers a time when she was only slightly batshit crazy,

as opposed to the past 8+ years when she's been totally batshit crazy and seems to be getting worse? :shrug:

[Solly Mack]

11. That must be it

lolol

[KG]

6. idiots think other idiots are geniuses.

[Dhalgren]

7. Here's something that I don't "get". Maybe someone can help me out.

Coulter isn't actually saying that Edwards is a homosexual, right? She is saying, what? That he is "acting" like a homosexual? I don't get it. If she is saying that Edwards is gay - so what? That is no insult. The problem is that Coulter is using hate speech. Somehow, she and her ilk feel it is fine to use such ugly, unacceptable language in a public, recorded, setting. This is troubling. It reminds one of how the Nazis used hate speech with impunity and how the old KKK did so often in the past.
But there seems to be some sort of concern that she insulted Edwards, when, to my mind, she simply outed herself as to what she really is.

[Mr. Ected]

8. I Think Everyone Misunderstands Coulter's Use of the Word "Faggot"

She didn't intend any homosexual connotations.

She simply was using the word like you would use "motherf*cker" or "assw*pe". She meant it to be hateful, derogatory...but not literal.

As progressives, we immediately read into it what we will. But I don't think AC was paying any attention to detail.

[Forkboy]

10. uh huh

[leftofthedial]

12. Go Ann, Go!

I wish the wingnuts would truly unleash the Coulterthing. Let it spew more and more of its virulent, out-of-control sludge. Louder! More! Show conservatism for what it really is.