Monday 5 March 2007

A Cold Day In Hell

That distinct sense you had over the weekend that they were ice-skating in Hell wasn't your imagination: Anne Coulter finally pulled a stunt so crass that Conservatives are lining up to kick her out of the clubhouse, once and for all.

The problem arose when Coulter got up to do her signature verbal flaying of Democrat presidential candidates at The American Conservative Union Political Action Conference. It was televised, a sampling of potential Republican presidential nominees were present, and then this happened:

Coulter on John Edwards: She'd like to have said something about him, but "apparently you have to go into rehab if you use to word faggot."


So... a psuedo-pundit flamethrower who's entire schtick is to say vile, shocking things so that they can be opened up for discussion through the back door uses the anti-gay equivalent of "nigger," and "Conservatives" react by...

...um... actually acknowledging that it was a big deal? Really? The same "conservatives" who rally behind the openly anti-gay president? The same "conservatives" propping up the so-called "gay marriage ammendment?" What the HELL is going on here? Did I wake up in some alternate universe where political types act honorably? Has the Republican Party realized that being the party that's "down" with hating homosexuals is a long-term losing prospect?

Here's right-wing movie blog "Libertas" doing the right thing:
http://www.libertyfilmfestival.com/libertas/?p=4506

Over at the similarly firmly-conservative Hugh Hewitt site:
http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/g/380bdbbd-8f01-45cb-8dd8-d1370aa6f1b2

And most-importantly, all three "top" GOP candidates - Mitt Romney, John McCain (who wasn't at the event) and Rudy Guiliani - all denounced her:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/us/politics/04coulter.html?ex=1330664400&en=29da3997b1d639ef&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

This isn't about hate crimes laws or any such nonsense. Coulter is free to say whatever damn fool thing she wants to. But it's also the right of others to distance themselves from her words if they find them offensive, and the right of the Conservative "movement" to kick her to the curb if they feel she is no longer helping them with this stuff.

This is the sight of the Political Party acting like a responsible movement of mature, tasteful adults. Hopefully we can look forward to more like it... but I doubt it.

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