What A Bitch!

[captainrick]

Ann Coulter .... need I say more, ....

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2922565

Controversial columnist draws fire for gay slur

Reuters

WASHINGTON - 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 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 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.

Copyright 2007 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright ? 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures

[JamesSavik]

Here's what she said:

?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.?

_______________________________________________________________

Later on she apologized for insinuating that gay people are like John Edwards.

I'm almost too confused to be insulted. John Edwards is kinda cute.

[DesDownunder]

Looking from the outside at the situation, it seems to me that Coulter may just have a defective smartass gene.

[colinian]

Coulter is like her "joke" -- very unfunny.

Oh, and she shouldn't be called a "bitch" because doing that gives bitches a bad rep!

Colin

[blue]

I'd have to agree with Colinian.

Des, it would be nicer, a real blessing, if it were only a defective smartass gene.

[DesDownunder]

I agree with Colinian also,

Blue I was definitely not meaning my "defective smartass gene" comment to be taken as excusing her.

I had meant to imply by my comment that she was incapable of using humour without revealing that she was deficient of the mental faculty to recognise the difference between what is funny and what is hurtful.

The fact that she thought she was being humorous not only makes her ignorant, lacking in compassion, and anything but funny, it also makes her, by wilful act of attempting such humour, a bitch. I am more than happy to accept and agree with Colin's post that this would give bitches a bad rep.

This was the motivation behind my comment.

I hope this clears up any misunderstanding.

Heaven forfend that anyone thinks I am trying to excuse such a person.

[The Pecman]

Howard Stern was screaming mad about this today on his Sirius Radio show. You can call Stern obnoxious (and a hundred other things), but he's right on in slamming this bitch about the use of this word. And he's the furthest thing from being homophobic, though he does poke fun at gay people (and many others) on his show, including occasional cast member George Takei, who also weighed in during the anti-Coulter bashing.

At least she didn't call him "mah niggah," or words to that effect.

[Trab]

Sorry for the thread interruption, but:

he's the furthest thing from being homophobic

Hmm. The furthest thing I can imagine is a fully out, possibly flaming, homosexual.

[The Pecman]

My point was that some gay people erroneously think Howard Stern is hostile towards them. He's not. Granted, he makes fun of retards, fat people, black people, white supremesists, middle-Easteners, the handicapped, and many others, but the worst you can say is that he does obnoxious satire.

Stern has actually campaigned vigorously for gay rights for ten years, arguing that (paraphrasing) "gay people absolutely should have the right to marry. Why shouldn't they be allowed to be as miserable as straight married couples?"

I'm still outraged at Coulter's remarks. The fact that she had the nerve to come back and say, "oh, 'faggot' isn't an incendiary word by itself. It's commonly used as an insult on schoolyards. It's only offensive if I was using the term with a gay man."

That's like saying, "it's OK if I call George W. Busy a ni@@er, because we all know he's a white man."

To me, there are some words that are patently offensive, and 'Faggot' is one of them. Somebody should remind Coulter that the meaning of the word derived from pieces of burning wood. There are those who believe, historically, that after some gay people were burned at the stake, the word was later applied to them as well, and that's where the term took hold -- though this is in dispute. There's a good history of the word 'Faggot' here on Wikipedia. Quite enlightening.

But it's still not a word I like. "Queer" I can live with, and "Gay" is fine.

[JamesSavik]

To me, there are some words that are patently offensive, and 'Faggot' is one of them. Somebody should remind Coulter that the meaning of the word derived from pieces of burning wood. There are those who believe, historically, that after some gay people were burned at the stake, the word was later applied to them as well, and that's where the term took hold -- though this is in dispute. There's a good history of the word 'Faggot' here on Wikipedia. Quite enlightening.

But it's still not a word I like. "Queer" I can live with, and "Gay" is fine.

I've never heard that Pecman- thanks for the link.

I don't even like the word queer but, if that haven't heard it used as an insult by someone with a Southern accent, it sounds like an invitation to a brawl.

[Tanuki Racoon]

I've never heard that Pecman- thanks for the link.

I don't even like the word queer but, if that haven't heard it used as an insult by someone with a Southern accent, it sounds like an invitation to a brawl.

Yes, "faggot" is a word that should be used only when describing a bundle of kindling sticks -- and then with extreme caution. "Fag" isn't much better except those damn Brits who keep wanting to bum a fag; I really have to bite my tongue.

[Graeme]

Yes, "faggot" is a word that should be used only when describing a bundle of kindling sticks -- and then with extreme caution. "Fag" isn't much better except those damn Brits who keep wanting to bum a fag; I really have to bite my tongue.

Australian's have also been known to bum a fag...

Happily, I don't smoke.

[JamesSavik]

Australian's have also been known to bum a fag...

Looking for a ticket...

[The Pecman]

I don't even like the word queer but, if that haven't heard it used as an insult by someone with a Southern accent, it sounds like an invitation to a brawl.

As far as I'm concerned, gay people reclaimed the word Queer some years back. TV shows like Queer as Folk made it publicly acceptable, but I think it's similar to the N-word in that I don't mind it coming from another gay person, but I might slug somebody if they used it in a derogatory way -- as in, "there's too many F'in queers in West Hollywood."

[Tanuki Racoon]

as in, "there's too many F'in queers in West Hollywood."

You just noticed that?????

:: running like hell whilst laughing hysterically::

[The Pecman]

You just noticed that????

Actually, I was just in West Hollywood a few days ago, and was surprised to note how the area is being taken over by Russian immigrants. No kidding, the city is in a transition where there may be soon more Russian-speaking people than gays.

My old apartment building there (where I first hooked up with my current partner) had quite a few Russians living there, back in the early 1980s. Strange, how cultures change and melt and merge together over time.

Now, don't ask me how many Russian gays are in the area...