Posted on 03/04/2007 1:18:25 AM PST by XR7
WASHINGTON, March 3 — Three of the leading Republican presidential candidates on Saturday denounced one of their party’s best-known conservative commentators for using an antigay epithet when discussing a Democratic presidential contender at a gathering of conservatives here.
The remarks by Ann Coulter, an author who regularly speaks at conservative events, were sharply denounced by the candidates, Senator John McCain of Arizona, Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts. Their statements came after Democrats, gay rights groups and bloggers raised a storm of protest over the remarks.
Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference before an overflow crowd on Friday, Ms. Coulter said, “I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘faggot,’ so I — so kind of an impasse, can’t really talk about Edwards.”
Mr. Edwards’s aides responded with an e-mail message that attacked Ms. Coulter and urged supporters to donate to Mr. Edwards’s campaign. “John was singled out for a personal attack because the Republican establishment knows he poses the greatest threat to their power,” said his campaign manager, David E. Bonior. “Since they have nothing real to use against him, Coulter’s resorting to the classic right-wing strategy of riling up hate to smear a progressive champion.”
Ms. Coulter, asked for a reaction to the Republican criticism, said in an e-mail message: “C’mon, it was a joke. I would never insult gays by suggesting that they are like John Edwards. That would be mean.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Hmmm. Is than an order, jim35? ;-)
First off, I'm going to assume that the irony of someone who defends Ann's decision to engage in crass junior-varsity trash talk on the CPAC dais on free speech grounds (ludicrously irrelevant grounds as those might be) is now insisting that those of us here who've begun to question the net contribution she's been bringing to the growth of the conservative movement lately should not themselves have the right to freely address those concerns on FR cannot be entirely lost upon you.
Therefore, if I may be so presumptuous as to try to decipher the true intent of your suggestion that I skedaddle forthwith from these boards, I can only imagine that what you are really implying is that the effort to try to interject some healthy skepticism on this & similar threads about the conventional wisdom prevalently expressed here, that Ann's continued insistence on drawing attention to herself at the expense of conservative candidates & the wider appeal of the conservative message they are attempting to market to the masses in order to win elections, is indeed as wonderful a thing as the amen chorus of barking hyenas here would seem to believe is really just a colossal waste of time.
Given the fact that those of us who take the minority view here that Ann's tiresome self-serving shtick is in all probability benefiting liberals more than anyone else at this point & who also question the direction in which most of the knees around here are jerking at the moment are vastly outnumbered (at last count, I think we were up to, what, 5?), it's quite clear you do indeed have a very valid point.
On that point, I will willingly, albeit wistfully & with great regret, concede. Touché, my FRiend!
OK. I didn't know that.
You're a liar. If you really were intent on sincerely acknowledging Coulter's error, you would do so now, and not wait for apologies to come from people you know aren't going to offer them.
Don't be silly. Coulter endorsed a candidate for President before her botched joke, and he was forced to condemn her remark. And why, if it's worth pointing out that Coulter isn't a candidate for anything, do you care what Harry Belafonte, Bill Maher, Ted Turner or any other civilian liberal says? For the record, Death of a President, that movie about a Bush assassination, was one of the biggest flops of 2006, grossing just over one quarter of its budget. Probably more people saw Coulter on YouTube.
Essentially, you have taken the well-trod "Well they do it too!" cop-out path. Congratulations, you've got company in Hannity and Rush in wimping out. To her credit, Laura Ingraham did not join the parade. Now SHE has guts.
So, you've got a problem with me, Rush, Hannity, Coulter. We should be up in arms over her.
And, on the other hand, it's okay than when a lib makes an offensive remark, or when a prominent gay lib singer has a song with a Christian bashing slur in it, the MSM ignores it, and lib politicians aren't called on to condemn or comment at all.
See, because that's my point, that has either gone right over your dull brain, or to which you really have no answer.
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