Posted on 03/04/2007 8:28:45 AM PST by ajolympian2004
Enter Ann Coulter.
Her "faggot" joke was not just a distraction from all the good that was highlighted and represented at the conference. It was the equivalent of a rhetorical fragging--an intentionally-tossed verbal grenade that exploded in her own fellow ideological soldiers' tent.
There are countless conservatives who bring their children to CPAC. It's a family-friendly event. I brought mine last year and the year before. I met several parents with their kids there this year. We expect CPAC to be a place where conservative role models speak with clarity, passion, and integrity. There are enough spewers of mindless filth, vulgarity, and hatred on TV, at the movies, and in the public schools. We don't expect our children to be exposed to that garbage at the nation's preeminent conservative gathering.
I was in the back of the ballroom and did not see any children in the audience during Coulter's speech. But what if there had been?
Would you want your children hearing the word "faggot" spoken in such a casual and senseless manner? Would you like your first-grader or three-year-old running around the halls of CPAC singing "faggot, faggot, faggot?" Not me. Not anymore than I'd like my toddler singing "gook, gook, gook" or "sambo, sambo, sambo"--favored epithets hurled at conservative minorities by leftist haters groping around in their empty intellectual quivers. There were hundreds of young conservative college students in the ballroom. Would you be proud of your college-age daughter spewing such epithets in her campus debates with leftists?
With a single word, Coulter sullied the hard work of hundreds of CPAC participants and exhibitors and tarred the collective reputation of thousands of CPAC attendees. At a reception for college students held by the Young America's Foundation, I lambasted the substitution of stupid slurs for persuasion-- be it "faggot" from a conservative or "gook" from a liberal--and urged the young people there to conduct themselves at all times with dignity in their ideological battles on and off campus.
I made something else explicitly clear: Not all of us treat the communication of conservative ideals and ideas as 24/7 performance art. You can and should use humor to convey your message. You can enlighten and entertain--without becoming a tired old schtick. You can joke without becoming the joke.
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The rest of her coverage, great pics from the event and photo album link here -
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/006981.htm
Michelle, quit being a drama queen. She gave you something to pontificate about, be thankful.
I think this was a calculated move on Coulter's part. Now, she will draw a distinction between Edwards's support of his Catholic-hating bloggers and his condemnation of a single word by Coulter.
Michelle, get over it: these kids know more than you think.
I agree completely. Why stoop down to the level of leftists? Especially when Mr. Edwards is a married man with children. C'mon Ann, you may disagree with the man's positions and ideaology, but keep away from such childish personal attacks.
Especially when you know that the media gives a free pass to hateful speech given by leftists, but that anything vile said like this by conservatives gets magnified by a factor of 10,000x. It just amplifies the message that conservatives are 'bigots', while liberals are caring. Even if in reality it is the other way around usually.
BTTT!
all of this righteous indignation plays right into the hands of the "gay mafia"
Malkin is consistent. I think all the hand wringing is dumb, though. SHE'S ANN COULTER, for God's sake. That's why people go to hear her speak.
The kind of parent that drags kids to a 'family friendly' event like CPAC is what keeps a lot of therapists at work for decades! Sheesh! "Hey kids, we're going to CPAC and see Duncan Hunter and Mitt Romney! And if you're really good we will stay for the panel on government finance!"
I am getting a bit tired of Ann's over the top rhetoric. Was it really necessary for her to refer to the 911 widows as harpies and say for all we knew their husbands were about to divorce them. She seems to have lost her ability to make points without going over the top. It is a shame because I generally enjoy her shtick.
Michelle, take a day off. Go for a hike. Swim, ski, hop in the sack, you chose, but get a life.
Now can we please get back to trashing Gulliani, Mc Cain & Romney? ....tongue firmly planted in cheek :0)
My apologies to fellow horse lovers.
You're very ignorant of the American public.
99.99999% of the American public has NO IDEA about the little-twinkie-girl bloggers (whom know one ever heard of)...and has NO IDEA that Edwards fired them.
I would also guess that 75% of the American public has NO IDEA what a blogger even is.
Annie wanted attention for Annie...and Annie gets what she wants...even if it trashes CPAC....
If you enjoy her schtick, and I do, nobody does it better ...
Have to agree with Michelle here. Whatever cheap thrill Ann or her fans got from that was not worth it.
If you ask me, Ann has lost use of her stiletto wit and replaced it with a greasy hacksaw. It's a shame.
Ann said that she couldn't talk about Edwards without using the word "faggot." Imagine if she had talked about him.
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