I believe she has grieved along with the rest of us for the survivors of 9/11, those who had someone killed that day. Her invective is aimed at a particular group of 9/11 widows, those called the "Jersey Girls." They were lefty activists to start and used their victimhood as a platform to start bashing Bush. Their position, and the position of a lot of the media that covered them, is that they were unassailable because they were victims. In fact, there was even a columnist who used those words.
Words aside, it meant that they couldn't be contradicted, even disagreed with. While that might have some emotional appeal, that's not how our system works. In our system, we voice all viewpoints and let the people decide...so silence is agreement. While I understand the emotional appeal and sympathy these ladies create, my rational side recognizes that they're trying to pre-empt debate on a crucial national issue. Being a person committed to rationality, I act (and Ann Coulter has acted) in a way that I find emotionally trying but intellectually necessary.
If you interject yourself into a political debate, you're a participant and fair game for criticism and disagreement. It's reprehensible for them to expect anything else. I despise them for creating what was a no-win situation for everyone else.
There is an unspoken assumption that they have some special expertise because of their experience. Yet, many others who experienced the same losses still support Bush. So obviously there was no special insight awarded by the experience.
So...the media, who for the most part don't approve of Bush, portrayed her comments (a column and interviews, actually) as anti-widow.
It's something that we on the right are used to seeing. We've also been told that John Kerry couldn't be contradicted on defense issues because he's a "decorated veteran." So the media portrayed the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth as a mean-spirited organization bent on discrediting Kerry.
Ann Coulter, for her faults, is fearless. She believes (correctly, I'd say) that it's in the interests of truth and honest debate to face this BS head on.
If you stick around you'll see there's a lot of disagreement about Coulter...and that it's an unwritten but ironclad rule that every Coulter thread must include pictures.