Pretty much anytime I’ve written about Ann Coulter’s antics, some commenter has come along and asked me why I give her the time of day. After I while I came to agree with this criticism. Why give her any free publicity? Well, here is one reason:
Apparently it’s no longer news to the Associated Press and Reuters that a lead conservative voice at THE lead conservative conference, a conference attended by all the GOP presidential candidates (save John McCain) and even the vice president himself, publicly called a lead Democratic presidential candidate [John Edwards] a “faggot.” And it’s not news that the lead gay and lesbian civil rights group in America, and the head of the Democratic party, have called on the GOP candidatees, and the veep, to condemn her hateful comments. No, no story there. But I do hear that Anna Nicole Smith is still dead and Britney shaved her head. Oooh, how exciting.
UPDATE: Editor & Publisher notes that the Washington Post is also refusing to cover this story.
UPDATE: Not only does the New York Times story about the conference NOT mention what Coulter did, but the story DOES mention Coulter’s speech generally, and how it was apparently THE BIG DRAW of the entire conference. In other words, the most anticipated speech of the entire day was the one in which the speaker called John Edwards a ‘faggot,’ and the mainstream media thinks this isn’t newsworthy. But it is newsworthy to mention Coulter’s speech generally and how important it was to the attendees. Nice.
I don’t have to remind you that John Edwards recently had a controversy because he hired two bloggers that had made remarks construed to be offensive to some Catholics. The media did not hesitate to cover that story. But when he gets called ‘a faggot’ by a well known best selling author, Republican activist, and cable news guest? Crickets are chirping.
Coulter has said of Bill Clinton, “I think that sort of rampant promiscuity does show some level of latent homosexuality,” and Al Gore, “I don’t know if [Clinton’s] gay. But Al Gore — total fag.”
I guess it is kind of her shtick to call heterosexual Democratic politicans ‘fags’. At this point, this behavior on her part should not surprise anyone. But what about the total lack of news coverage?
