Posted on 03/04/2007 2:52:03 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Outspoken U.S. conservative columnist Ann Coulter is drawing fire from Republicans and Democrats alike after publicly using a derogatory gay slur in reference to Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards.
"Ann Coulter not only once again went out of her way to use a nasty epithet, she pushed her offensiveness up a notch," Amy Ridenour, president of the National Center for Public Policy Research, said on Sunday.
Coulter made the comments on Friday during a speech at the influential American Conservative Union's Political Action Conference, calling Edwards a "faggot."
"We conservatives have enough trouble overcoming the false things that are said about us without paying for a platform upon which we shoot ourselves annually in the foot," Ridenour, whose group helped sponsor the conference, said in a statement on the center's Web site.
Coulter said the comment was a joke and on her Web site she carried the speech with the comment, "I'm so ashamed, I can't stop laughing." She then said Edwards' campaign chairman's main job was "fronting for Arab terrorists."
Edwards, a 2008 presidential contender and the party's 2004 vice presidential candidate, said Coulter's comments were "un-American and indefensible."
"The kind of hateful language she used has no place in political debate or our society at large," he wrote in comments posted to his Web site on Saturday.
"I believe it is our moral responsibility to speak out against that kind of bigotry and prejudice every time we encounter it," Edwards added.
The candidate also posted a video of Coulter's comments, asking supporters to raise $100,000 in so-called "Coulter Cash" for his campaign to "fight back against the politics of bigotry."
Coulter's Friday speech raised objections from Republican presidential hopefuls Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) of Arizona, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as well as Democrats.
In a statement on Sunday, Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said, "It was an offensive remark. Political discourse ought to be more substantive and thoughtful." McCain, the only contender who did not attend the event, and Giuliani called Coulter's words inappropriate, according to the New York Times.
"Ann Coulter's words of hate have no place in the public sphere much less our political discourse," Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) of Massachusetts said in a statement released on Saturday.
Several conservatives were also quick to denounce Coulter's comments in a variety of online columns.
Coulter is no stranger to controversy.
At the same conference last year, she used the word "raghead" -- a slur against Muslims -- in referring to U.S. homeland security policies. In a column published in the National Review after the September 11 attacks she urged an invasion of Muslim countries and forced conversion to Christianity.
What a whore. Edwards.
Thats because these Ann threads never end. I think shes probably had about enough. Where is Anna Nicole when you need her?
Politically cleansing her free speech eh? I guess when a Dem. Senaotr or House Rep. calls Bush Hitler that is OK. Coulter is a political pundit and that is how she makes a living. She has to be different because she is a female and outwardly very conservative, two things the mainstream media dislike. Besides she meant Edwards has no testicular fortitude, not he is an actual homosexual. Coulter knows he is married and not from New Jersey.
It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it.
But notice that Edwards did not come out denying he was a queer but rather calling Ann a bigot for calling him a queer.
This means to me that he is queer.
Exactly. The point of the joke was that the last time somebody in the public eye called somebody a fag, they had to check in for retraining. Then, of course, FReepers weren't up in arms about the usage, just the sentence.
Results 1 - 10 of about 2,020,000 English pages for +Bush +Hitler. (0.27 seconds)
Technically, the facts would seem to indicate that "He plays for both teams"
I do not understand. Are Edward's people upset because he has been likened to a homsexual or is the PC crowd upset because homosexuals been labeled faggots? Or is it both? Edwards is visibly queer and homos are fags.
PC always stands the truth on its head. That is Ann's standard message. She consistently draws fire by speaking truth to power.
Ann is correct. The only way to oppose PC is to throw it in the face of those who by insisting upon it pervert the truth for their political interests.
The fascist PC police demand apologies only from conservatives.
From Rooters you get dreck.. from drecksters..
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
LOL - what a worm.
How is this any different than what Kilborn, O'Brien and Leno do all the time? They goofed on Edwards AND Kerry being gay all the time during the election. Someone had even posted the jokes here recently.
Why are Ann's jokes bad while Bill Maher sincerely saying the world would better if Cheney were dead is OK?
It was not a gay slur. It was about politically correct.
You know..this horse has enough whip marks on it....
We have flogged it long enough, lets move on with our lives, lest we be confused with Democrats
Right on!
Coulter has more more gonad power than many men of the Republican Party .
The truth is, liberals biggest fears are the following conservatives:
Women & Blacks.
They claim to support them, only under their terms. Publicly, they support them. Privately, keep them down, because that is their voting base. What idea have they ever actually come up with, except giving money, to support either? It's been going on for untold years, and unfortunately will go on for many more. The despicable thing is, other groups will fall into the same trap, of listening to talk instead of demanding action. The only ones that have ever helped any minority group is the conservatives, and that is through demanding self-responsiblity, self-respect, and pride in oneself, not financial aid for those undeserved. This ideal is lost, we are not allowed to speak of it anymore. Sad. Thank you Free Republic for the chance to think and speak.
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