
The wind had gone from behind the sails of the John Edwards presidential campaign. Until yesterday. That’s when conservative “columnist” — I guess that what you would call her — came to his rescue.
Speaking to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Coulter quipped, “”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.”
By 12:15 a.m., the Edwards campaign had spun Coulter’s outrageous, homophobic and childish comment into political gold. I received an email from them with the subject heading “Shame on You, Ann Coulter”.
“This is just a taste of the filth that the right-wing machine is gearing up to throw at us. And now that it’s begun, we have a choice: Do we sit back, or do we fight back?” read the e-mail written by Edwards’ campaign manager, David Bonior. “I say we fight. Help us raise $100,000 in “Coulter Cash” this week to show every would-be Republican mouthpiece that their bigoted attacks will not intimidate this campaign. I just threw in 100 bucks. Will you join me?” Just click here.”
It also provided a link so that recipients could watch Coulter’s comments for themselves.
For an operative like Bonior, a former congressman whom I’m no big fan of, comments like this are a gift from heaven. They motivate the NetRoots and help raise money.
As far as Coulter goes, I’ve been observing her since she just started her legal affairs column in Human Events. She’s a classic provocateur and not necessarily a serious person. Her book Treason rewrote the history of the Cold War in a pernicious way. Lost in her analysis, that liberals were on the wrong side of the struggle against the Soviet Union, is the great heroism of Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, the trade union movement, George Meaney, Lane Kirkland and Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson and Arthur M. Schlesinger, more on whom I will have later this week. Her hero is Joseph McCarthy, who, if anything, did a disservice to the cause of anti-Communism.
I would say more about her and her personality but Gitell.Com does not operate with the benefit of a corporate shield.
If you’re looking for a quick-witted, verbally-fluid, blonde, conservatrix, try Laura Ingraham. I often disagree with her much of the time, but, at least, she’s listenable. She’s smart, and she has a contagious laugh.
Here’s what Glenn Greenwald had to say about the fracas. And Andrew Sullivan’s.