Practical approach = compromise
Don't we have free speech in this country?
Of course we do. Nobody is suggesting that the government lock Coulter up for the stupid things she said.
Her right to say it is in no way infringed by, nor does it preclude, our right to say that she's a self-inflated moron who does the conservative agenda more harm than good by behaving like a left-wing stereotype of a knuckle-dragging conservative bigot.
We don't have free speech but the libs do and their free speech includes threats of bodily harm against our President.
Medved's point isn't that we compromise our principles (unless our principles include being boorish and angry pinheads). His point is that conservatives need to be polite, civil, respectful, not foul in our rhetoric or demeanor. What Coulter said about Edwards wasn't just foul and crude, but in calling him the "f-word" she committed slander. I am astounded (perhaps I shouldn't be) that people on this forum actually think that part and parcel of being a conservative is that we have to have a hateful, distainful, scornful attitude. The general society has gotten more coarse over the past generation. We conservatives should be at the forefront of "conserving" civility.