Ann Coulter on Faggots

The NY Times rounds up the usual suspects called on to denounce Ann Coulter's joke about John Edwards.

On another site a someone commented that being a “faggot” is not an insult because “…there’s nothing wrong with that.” For those who condemn Ann, why is being called a homosexual bad? Are homosexuals evil? Why do you think so?

I’ll defend Ann’s speech because she is MY bomb thrower. What I find interesting is reaction of many on the Right’s knee-jerk desire to disavow its bomb throwers like Ann. There is little of this reaction on the Left to its much more numerous and much higher profile bomb throwers. Is it to the kind of gentility that maiden ladies once exhibited? Are our pundits really that desirous of being told that they are good little boys and girls? If we disapprove, perhaps we can simply avert our gaze. It’s really not necessary to be shown to take a kick. Let’s leave that to the jackals and the sideline snipers.


UPDATE:
One of the problems that many political nerds have is that they don't understand the context of Ann's joke. You have be be current with the news. To understand the joke you have to know THIS:

Isaiah Washington [Grey's Anatomy star] reportedly agreed to undergo a psychological assessment following discussions with ABC executives about his denial at the Golden Globe awards that he had called co-star T.R. Knight a "faggot,"

Say, "faggot" and you have to go into counselling. Get it now?

Of course the perennially aggrieved won't let their lack of a funny bone stop them from their favorite diversion: denunciation as moral cleansing. I have not read so much moral grandstanding since reading "The Scarlet Letter."

By the way, one first out of the box, Right Wing Nuthouse edits its posts and deletes comments it does not like.

By the way, for the punning impaired, the headline is a pun.

UPDATE:

Flopping Aces chimes in. Sounds as if he gets the joke.
Six Meat Buffet does also.
Someone posting as Blackredneck comments:

I am ssoooo tired of the Coulter bashing. As always, I’m amazed at how quickly Republicans are to throw one of their own under the bus. And it does seem to be those who are most effective at what they do. My first reaction was “gosh, what a bunch of prissy saps.”

Exactly.

But I believe some elements of the blogosphere are becoming (or trying to become) “respectable.” They have developed large (by internet standard) readerships and they now care – very much – about what they believe “respectable opinion” thinks of them.

It’s a common phenomenon in Washington, DC. A man gets elected as a Conservative and after a while the arbiters of DC society talk about how Representative X has “grown;” which means that he has abandoned his conservative ideals and is now an ineffective drone, part of the Washington hive; mouthing conventional platitudes and endorsing “approved” ideas.

It seems to be happening in the blogosphere. The almost hysterical desire to distance oneself from Ann Coulter can only be understood in this way. But I’m persuaded that most don’t realize the power of convention. I imagine that we’ll see much more of this in the years ahead as blogging goes mainstream.

And from Six Meat Buffet, we get this spoof of an Edwards ad: